The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-11
MAY NOT REDUCE
S6NATE UNLIKELY TO ACT Al
 PRESENT ON PLATT BILL.
Elan for House Inquiry-Crumpack Resolution Provides That a Com. mittee Investigate Negro
 Su6rage.

Raymond's Washington Special to Chi | l cago Tribune. | In spite of the fact that Senator Platt | of New York introduced a bill today providing for a reduction in the rep |
 resentation in Congress of the south | ern States. nothing at all of this kind | | actually will be done by the present |
 Congress. As to the future there is | another story to tell. Plan to Make Inquiry. Meanwhile it is likely, and even probable, that the House of Represen. | tatives will pass the Crumpacker res- olution. which is not of itself to re- duce the representation of the South- ern States at this time. but merely pro- vfdes that a special committee of the House shall be empowered to conduct l an investigation and report as to the | extent to which citizens of the United | States are denied the right to the bal lot by the law of any State. Platt Bin Creates Sensation. Senator Platt's bill created a sensa-
 tfon with the Southern people. because of his prominence as a New York lead-
 CT and because they feared the Repub- | licans intended to jam through the bill at the present session of Congress. In point of fact, the bill is not Senator Platt's at all. It was prepared by the Constitutional League. of which War ner Miller of New York Is the leading spirit. and was introduced at the re- quest of that organization, and practi- cally without consultation with the Republican leaders in Congress. Not for This session. Neither Senator Platt nor any one 1 else believes the bill can be or should | be taken up at this session of Con-
 gress. The time Is so short between
 now and March that 1t will be the easiest thing in the world for the Dem ocrats to kill the bill as 1t stands in l the Senate. | Besides that, Senator Platts bill is
 framed on purely an arbitrary basis. | That Is to say, no evidence has ever been submitted to Congress tending to show the extent to which the negroes
 have been disfranchised in the South
 ern States.
 Cuts or Nineteen Members. | Tn spite of this fact the Platt biu
 proposes to cut off one representative | from each of the States of Arkansas. Florida, Tennessee and Texas: two
 each from Alabama, Louisiana, Missis- sippi, North Carolina, South Carolina
 and Virginia; and three from the State
 of Georgia. This makes a total of
 nineteen representatives which 1t Is proposed to cut off from the Southern |
 the Electoral College to an equal
 amount. so that after March 4. 1907. the | House would consist of 367 members
 instead of 3S6 as at present
 Arbitrary Exercise of Power. If the Platt bill were to come up on | :ts merits. assuming that Congress Is | ready to enforce the terms of the sec-
 ond section of the fourteenth amend
 ment. 1t would be successfully attack ed by most of the lawyers in Congress ! on the ground that it was an arbitrary exercise of power and that 1t assumes without a shred of evidence to limit representation of the Southern States. For instance. the Platt bill cuts off a representative in Arkansas and one in Texas. It so happens however, that
 neither one of these States has any
 laws restricting suffrage for any req
 son whatsoever. Feelings Favors Investigatiom. While 1t is true, therefore. that no one expects to reduce the representa-
 tion of the Southern States at the pres ent session of Congress. or even in the
 immediate future, there is distinctly different feehag as to the desirability
 of passing the Crumpacker resolution
 providing for an investigation. It so happens the resolution can be passed without the slightest difficulty if the leaders of Congress desire to have this done. In the last Congress the Republican caucus by a large majority indorsed this proposed inquiry. The resolution as proposed by Representative Crum- | packer of Indiana merely constituted <! a special committee to be composed of l thirteen members of the House, whose | duty it should be to investigate the | election laws of all States in the Union | and to make a report to Congress as to | the extent to which each State went l
 in limiting the right of suffrage, either | by property, educational, or other Qual- ! itfcations.
 Duty of inquiry COmmittee.
 It would be the duty of the Commit | tee under this resolution to consult | with statisticians of the census bureau and make use of their reports as to the |
 adult voting population in each State, |
 and also to attempt to show not only l the number of those who did not vote. i but rather the number of those who | could not cast a ballot. MT. Crum-
 packers proposition was. and, in fact. 1 still is to limit the inquiry strictly to | the limitations on suffrage by the mere | operation of State law. That is to say.
 his resolution does not contemplate any | inquiry into questions of intimidation |
 or of unlawful interpretation of the
 State laws by partisan election officers. l W discrimination depended upon the indi- | vidual and not upon the Legislature.
 Can Report in short Time.
 If the inquiry be pursued on this |
 basis 1t Is said 1t can be begun and en- | ded in a short time. so Congress will | have before 1t an efficient compilation |
 of the election laws of the different | States, and census figures indicating |
 the extent to which the mere operation | Of laws of the South, without regard | to the arbitrary action of election of- | ncials, have resulted in disfranchising | either negroes or any one else.
 It is believed President Roosevelt | personally favors the passage of the | resolution providing for a committee of | inquiry. He so expressed himself to a | good many people a year ago. Although | 1t is probable he may have changed his | views as to the wisdom of taking any 1 action at the present time, 1t can be l asserted positively he has not changed his opinion as to the, question of the abstract right or wrong of enforcing | the second paragraph of the fourteenth | amendment to the constitution