The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-13


 unmeasured terms the efforts of these States to relieve themseIyes. so far as they may in view -ofs sthe limitations of the Federal Constitution, of the great disaster which this mistake inflicted upon them. The fifteenth amendment, as has been more than once declared by the Supreme Court of the United states. does not confer the right to vote but protects the negro from being dis | criminated against on account of his
 race, color or previous condition of | servitude.
 At the formation of the Federal Gov ernment, there was party headed by Edmund Randolph which favored mak- ing the qualifications of citizenship the
 same in all the States, but Benjamin | Franklin and others opposed it on the | grounds that 1t was a subject on which | the people were jealous. and 1t would
 not be well to excite their opposition by depriving some of them of the right
 to vote as to federal officers. when the | same citizen might have the right to vote for State officers. It was, there- fore, determined, after full discussion, to leave the question of fixing the qualifications of voters to the States respectively. and the following pro- vision was adopted and has remained unchanged as a part of the federal con- stitution:
 "The HoIse of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State. shall have the qualifications re- quisite for the electors in the most numerous branch of the State Legis- lature."
 The same rule obtains with refer ence to the selection of Presidential electors, the whole question, by the terms of the Constitution and the action of the convention, being left with the States. each of which was to appoint in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct. a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress"
 Now. the new constitutions of tho Southern States. and especially the new constitution of the State of Alabama, with which am more familiar, do not discriminate. against the negro on &C., count of his race. color or previous con- dition of servitude. within the inhibi- tion of the Fifteenth Amendment. The permanent provision now in force Is not materially different from that of the State of Massachusetts. in that it prescribes that every citizen, whether white or black. who can read or write | any clause of the Federal Constitution
 in the English language. is entitled to vote. This provision was intended. and has the effect to put the control of | the government in the hands of the in
 telligent and yirtuous. but it Is objected
 by our opponents that we. in the tenn porary plan, excepted certain classes l the educational clause embodied in tho Vat Ta doing so. what more did we do than
 did the State of Massachusetts? The election law of that State, as under stand 1t, provides that the voter must be able to read the Constitution of the Commonwealth in the Engilsh lan- guage, and ito write his name, except
 that. no person who is prevented from
 reading and writing as aforesaid by physical disability, or who had the right to vote on the first day of May in the year 1857. shall, if otherwise qualified, be deprived of the right to vote by reason of not being able to read or write"
 The truth is, that every statesman
 who proposes legislation for the benefit
 of his people must proceed along prac-
 tical lines. If his measure Is to be
 submitted for the ratification of the
 voters. it would be supreme folly for
 him to expect them to accept and ap- prove a measure which. by its terms, disfranchises them. Hence 1t is that every such measure, whether submitted for the ratification of voters in the South or in the North, must contain a
 saving clause which protects the rights of existing voters, of such a number
 of existing voters as will give reason able promise of It's acceptance Hence
 the insertion of the saving clause in
 the Alabama Constitution which pro-
 tects from Acknowledgement all who fought the battles of the country. with out regard to the army in which they
 enlisted, Federal or Confederate. The charge made against us is that
 we adopted this constitutional provision for the purpose of excluding the negro. The true philosophy of the movement | was to establish restricted suffrage and
 to place the power of government in
 the hands of the intelligent and virtu- | ous, and while any provision for
 restricted suffrage would exclude moro | negroes than white men, in its practical operation the Alabama provision. so far as the permanent plan is concerned.
 and the exaction of a poll tax as a con dition to suffrage, so operates as to exclude not only the large mass of | negro voters. but quite a number of white voters who do not feel sufficient interest in their own government to contribute to the school fund the small amount exacted as a poll tax. and who are so indifferent to their own interests
 as that they fail to meet the provision
 of the constitution which requires that any voter under the permanent plan shall be able to read and write any clause of the Constitution in the Eng
 fish language. although the free public
 schools of the State are open to them. As stated by Judge Cooley, the right
 of suffrage Is not a natural right, be- cause 1t exists, where 1t is allowed to
 be exercised, only for the good of the
 State--to say that those whose parti- cipation in the affairs of the State would endanger and imperil the good
 of the State have, nevertheless, the
 right to participate, is not only folly
 in itself. but it is to set the individual
 above the State.
 You will hear 1t frequently said that the provisions of the Southern consti- tutions which protect the right of the worthy and intelligent negro to vote are not fairly enforced. We have but one case arising in this State which puts this question to the test. In the county of Limestone in this State a negro who had fought in the Union Army claimed the right to register un- der what Is commonly designated as the grandfather clause in the temporary plan of the new Constitution of Ala bama. The right was denied by the reeiatrara in that county. WhereuDOu