The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-03
CpIrrcrsrNo THE COURT.

CH1TICISING THE CoUhT. Quito a number of our Northern con temporaries have taken correct and sensible view of the somewhat famous Giles case, and have admitted the cor rectness of the Supreme Courts findings As a sample of the other side we copy entire an editorial from The York (Pao Dispatch, as follows:
 The decision in the United States Supreme Court against Jackson w; 1les, a negro of Alabama, has been taken py many persons to mean that negroes nave no hope of relief from the new constitu- tions of Southern States: by wnlch tney are deprived of the ballot, Sucn con clusion, however, is not justified since tns case was decided on a technicality and not on it's merits It was the secono time that Giles had been before tne Supreme Court, the first decision having also been against him and having also been based on q technicality. Giles claimed that he had been discriminated against by the election authorities.
 Owing, apparently. to mistakes in the method of procedure, Giies mas .nSs daa the Supreme Court in such manner that the court can pass upon its merits. His failures, however, by no means indlcate that someone will not succeed. Tney
 
 how future proceedings should be con- ducted
 The day will come. it is to be hoped, when the United States Supreme Court will be compelled to decide whether these Southern States constitutions. which were openly framed to disfranchise the negro are valid and. therefore, whether in the matter of the franchise. discrimi- nation against the negro is legal. That the court has thus far not been able to pass upon the question, Is not the courts fault. Only that can be decided upon which is presented in the proper form.
 This. as we said, is the view taken by some of the extremists in the North, who either do not understand the significance of the decision or who willfully misstate it. To claim that the opinion of the Court was not based on the merits of the case is not correct position. The Con- stitution of Alabama fixes certain re- quirements for suffrage. Giles did not come up to. these requirements and the registrars refused to put his name on the list Then he brought suit to com pei them to do so. claiming that he was discriminated against because of his color. Justice Day, in rendering the decision of the Court used this language:
 Now 1t is perfectly settled that unless Federal right has been set up and denied fin the State Court, we have no right to review its decision and after very care full examination of the matter and due appreciation of the gravity of the charge made as to the political action or the State, we see no ground for distinguish ing 1t from the universal rule as applied in this court affecting writs of error or this kind.
 vision of the Federal constitution has been violated. If that court had declar- ed that a State shall not make an edu- cational or other suffrage qualification which applies to all citizens alike, then the decision would have been a direct slap in the face of Massachusetts and Connecticut, which States have educa- tional qualifications, and probably other States would have been included. In short, the whole force and significance of the decision Is that each State must have absolute control of it's suffrage, provided 1t does not violate the con stitution of the United States.
 We are not surprised at the implied threat of The Dispatch that some day there will be a. Supreme couFt of men vsho will sFatify the few remaining negrophobists of the North. It would not be the first time that honorable body has been packed. if we are not mistaken but our contemporary will hardly ever see a court which will override the States in this important matter, and for no better reason than that all negroes are not allowed to vote without regard to character or qualifications, as was the case in Alabama when the Republicans were supreme. The time for that has passed, along with some other hideou' experiences of the South.
 We are curious to know, by the way where and how The Dispatch would gel the material for its kind of court. O
 the nine members of the Supreme Cour only two are Southern men. the othel seven being Northern. and all of then joined in the opinion rendered by Justice Harlan, of Kentucky. so all seven of thC Northern judges must be reconstructed
 before a decision can be expected which would please a certain class of citizens
 There will be no such court and no such decision will be rendered.