The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-05-22

" LILLIAN Il. w Eltril.
JAMES T. PRITCIlARl.
A.FINNEN t;ALBKEATH
HENRY L. DILL.
HARRY :. CARVER. Secretary.
TO REPEAL The FIFTEENTH AMEND
NEWT.
y recent article that has appeared
in Harper's Weekly respecting the re-
peal of the Fifteenth Amendment,
has created much talk throughout
the country. Doubtless the feeling,
which has been inherent in the breasts
OF the white people OF this country,
has been wrought to q higher state
of excitement by the recent action OF
President Roosevelt in appointing
negroes to public office and other
wise attempting to raise the standard
Of race equality. BY a recent de-
cision of the Supreme Court of the
United States, it is apparent that
States can indirectly disfranchise the
negro so long as in wording their
constitutions they do not draw the
direct race line. The recent constitu-
ton adopted by the State of Alabama
is an excellent example, and it was on
a decision rendered i'll the case Of
Giles against this commonwealth
that the Supreme Court took such
decided grounds, If this be the fact,
there is strong feeling, even in some
OF the Northern States, that tlencgro
is suffering all of the disadvantages
of the disfranchisement and that the
Supreme Court has practically rem
dered the Fifteenth Amendment i'll
operative.
The article referred to asserts that
with the present state of popular
sentiment, it is certain that the Eff
tenth Amendment could not be
passed, and calls the attention TO the
fact that the State Of New York,
which ratified it, rescindcd this rati-
tication nearly three months before
the adoption OF the amendment was
proclaimed. Whether three-fourths
Of the States would now concur in
that amendment is as vet doubtful,
although it is plain that the drift of
public feeling is in that direction.
eve deem it probable that even now
at this early stage of the discussion,
a majority of the States would favor
the repeal of the amendment, and al
though the majority might fall short
Of the three-fourths prescribed by the
constitution, its moral affect on Con-
gress would probably suffice to pre-
vent the enactment of legislation to
make the amendment effective"
While Harper's Weekly argues that
the Thirteenth Amendment, which
lorbids slavery in the United States,
or any place subject otis jurisdiction,
should stand, and that the first sec
tion Of the Fourteenth Amendment
should never rescinded, it points out
grave objection to the second section
OF the Fourteenth Amendment at is
obvious that this section forbids any
States, whether north or south, to
impose any educational or property
qualification for suffrage. 1t is
Just as much a violation OF the con-
stitution for Massachusetts, to insist
that voter shall be able to read rs
it is for South Carolina. Congress
has never enacted the legislation
needed to enforce this section and it
is probable that if any attempt were
made to enforce it, three-fourths Of
the States would combine to rescind |
this section of the Fourteenth Amend
ment."
In commenting upon this article
the Baltimore Sun says:
"Thc situation may be summed up |
in n few words: The negro i'll the
South is not allowed to exercise the
voting privilege on the scale on which
the authors of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments to the consti-
tuition intended that he should exer-
else it. These amendments are there
fore practically imperative, for while
Congress has the power to enforce
them 1t does not seem to be inclined
to provide for their enforcement If
there is no intention to make them
operative because of Northern indif-
ference or opposition, would it not
be better to repeal them? The North
has its own suffrage problems which
NAV become vastly more complex
and dangerous in the future, In this
view it is conceivable that the North
ern States would have as great a con-
Germ i'll the repeal Of the Fifteenth
Amendment and part Of the Four
tenth as the South. Evidently that
is the view ofso enlightened a journal
as Harper's Weekly, which is doubt
less a fair exponent Of non-partisan
opinion in the North
TO MUZZLE THE PRESS.