Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-25
POLITICS IN ALABAMA
Effect of the New Consti-
tuition.
PARTY VOTE CUT DOWN
OVER 10000 PERSONS IN THE
STATE DIsFRANCHIsED.
General Sympathy of the People With
Republican Policies-Reason Of
Democratic Supremacy.
PARTY VOTE CUT DOWN
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
the Chicago Record Herald.


Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
the Chicago Record Herald.
MONTGOMERY. Ala, March %, 1905.
Alabama has a patent new constitution
which went into effect November %, 1901.
1t defines the qualifications for voters,
which are so severe to shut out the
great majority of the negro citizens and a
large number of whites from the polls. In
order to vote man must show a regis
tration certificate as evidence that he has
fulfilled the requirements of the law and
a receipt showing that he has paid the
poll tax of $150 each year. In size and
appearance the certificate resembles a
greenback note. 1t is printed from plate
covered with geometrical designs upon in
destructible paper, and is of convenient
size so that it may be carried in a pocket
book
Up to the 1st of January, 1908, all citizens
had the privilege of registration who could
show that they had honorably served in
any war or were the lawful descendants of
honorably discharged soldiers, and all per-
sons who are of good character and who
understand the duties and obligations Of
citizenship under republican form of gov
eminent" The latter clause was intended
to shut out the negroes, and it succeeded
in doing Only about 10000 persons
5000 were cOlOred Every person who ap-
piled for certificate was questioned as to
his understanding of the duties and obliga-
tons of citizenship under republican form
of government, and the judges had the au-
thority to decide whether the answers indi-
Gated a sufficient degree of intelligence to
justify them in granting the applicant the
right of suffrage. 1t was good deal like
a civil service examination, but so far as
/ can learn the rules were applied to Hitter
ate whites as well as to illiterate negroes.
Registration certificates are very highly
priced. Thousands of citizens have framed
and hung them upon the walls of their
houses Others put them away in strong
boxes, as if they were stocks and bonds,
for if they are lost duplicates are difficult
to obtain The colored people prize them
most. 1t is considered a distinction to hold
a certificate. A man who has the right to
vote in Alabama. of whatever color, is
looked up to as a superior being. because
the law shuts out all riff-raf and tramps,
white as well as black. The defenders of
the new constitution consider this very
important. They think it will stimulate
the aspirations of many negroes to secure
an education and acquire property.
Increasing the Requirements.
After the list of January, 1903, the re-
qurements for registration were made more
strict than before, and now include educa-
tional, employment and property qualifica-
tons. In order to obtain a voting certifi-
cate since that date man must be able to
read and write any article of the Constitu-
ton of the United States in the English
language; he must have been regularly en-
gagged il some lawful employment, business,
occupation, trade or calling for the greater
part of the twelve months preceding the
date he applies for the privilege of regis
tration unless he is physically unable to
work; or he must be the owner, in his own
right, or the husband of a wife who is an
owner in her own right, of forty acres of
farm land or real or personal property as
sessed for taxation at $500 or more; and he
must show evidence that the taxes upon
such property have been paid. He must
also show that he has paid his poll tax of
Sl.o0 for every year since the LIST of Janu-
airy. 1852, or since he became of age.
There is also long list of disqualified
tons. No man can vote who has been con-
victed of crime or misdemeanor, or who
lives in adultery, or who ever sold or offered
to sell his vote, or ever bought or offered
to buy the vote of another, or was ever
convicted of election frauds, either at the
polls or the primaries. And any person who
pays or offers to pay the poll tax of ap-
other person or advances him money for
that purpose is not only debarred forever
from voting, but must serve from one to
five years in the penitentiary. The regis
trarS or election are required to publish the
lists annually and to revise them for the
purpose of striking out the names of per-
sons who shall die or remove from the
county or become disqualified for any rea-
son.