Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1905-05-11

spirit and motive deserved. To adop
the suggestion of the Attorney Genera
and permit elections officers or citizens
to challenge voters at the polls who are
duly recorded on the lists certified by
the county treasurer would be equiva'
lent to establishing an inquisition, with
authority to disfranchise man who is
lawfully qualified voter. This would
be fragrant violation of the very con-
stitutional provisions that our contem-
porary claims were made to secure hon
est elections. The treasurer's list is
made conclusive by the constitution as
to the right of the voters on that list to
vote, and that list cannot be changed or
impeached, except by judicial pro-
ceeding or by the records of court of
competent jurisdiction.
We do not undertake to say whether
or not either Democrats or Republicans
are loaning or giving money to voters
to be used by them in paying their poll
taxes. But we do know that if they
are so doing, they are fortified by the
opinion of much ADLER lawyer than
the Attorney General, and one who is
best qualified to pass upon the inten-
ton of the suffrage clauses of the con-
stitution. The Hon. ]. c. Wysor, in a
letter addressed to the Editor of The
Times-Dispatch, dated December 21st,
1904, said:
1.-THE constitution does not forbid a
man lending or giving another the
money with which to pay his poll taxes.
A loan or gift makes money the abso-
lutte property of the recipient, and if he
uses it in paying his taxes, he person
ally pays them. "
Will the Roanoke Times undertake to
say that Mr.. Wysor's opinion is not
sound in law and morals? To assert
that the Constitution of Virginia does
forbid the loaning or giving of money
by one citizen to another citizen to be
used in preserving the latter's citizen
ship, is to proclaim that Constitution an
iniquity; and if such was the intention
of its trainers their malevolent purpose
is undeniable.
Our Roanoke contemporary strives to
convince its readers that it is viewing
and treating this question from high
moral standpoint. 1t says: "The
Times entertains very earnest convic-
tons concerning this matter. 1t
premises it's lecture on law and political
ethics upon "a blank form of money
obligation" which it received "from
friend in one of the southwest counties,
a gentleman we'll and favorably known
throughout the State. From the
statement of the Times the blank form
in question could not have. gotten into
the possession of it's "friend" in legi-
innate manner, that is if the blank was
of Republican origin. The Times states
its friend asserts that it came directly
from the Republican headquarters of the
county in which he resides. If
that be true, how did it get in the hands
of the "fpiend" of the Times? Surely
no Republican took it from headquar-
tiers and gave it to a Democrat to send
to the Times. If the blank is a geneuine
Republican production, it must have
been purloined from Republican head
quarters; and our Roanoke contempor-
airy has been thoughtless enough to use
stolen goods as an honest text for the
publication of a lengthy dissertation
upon law and political morality. But
for its extreme partisan zeal our con-
temporary would not have been led into
this error. 1t is too eager to shape
political thought and action in the
Ninth Congressional District to be
thoroughly sound in its views on law
and political morality.