The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-26
ACTS ARE HELD
 TO BE VOID Carber Issues Another
 Opinion. REPLIES TO THE GOVERNOR Measures Making Special Poll Tax Exemptions Treated. Feature is That Attorney General De- cIares All Laws Passed Prior to Adoption of Consultation of
 1901 Are Null and Now
 Inoperntive.
REPLIES TO THE GOVERNOR

Local acts passed prior to the adop- | ton of the 1901 Constitution. and
 making special exemptions from poll | tax payments, are void and of no eff
 feet. according to a Thanksgiving Day opinion submitted by Attorney Gem
 eral Garber to Governor Conner. Men who have been relying upon their membership in various organi-
 zations to qualify them as voters without payment of poll tax, under | local acts antedating 1901, are ineligi- ble to vote in the election of Novem- Der 29. because the acts are not of eff | feet.
 attracted to a local act of 1885. which
 exempted volunteer firemen in Bar
 bour county. Troy, Union Springs. Sell
 ma. Birmingham, Opelika, Talladega, Gadsden. Huntsville, Greenville. OK l ford, Anniston, Jacksonville, Broken
 Arrow, and Demopolis from payment
 of poll tax. Desirious of ascertain ing whether the exemption still ap- plies. Governor Conner asked an opin- ion of the attorney general.
 Garber holds that the salient pur- pose of the 1901 constitutional con- vention was to adopt Q universal suf- frage plan. Any exemptions except emb odied in the universal system will have the effect of impairing the func-
 tion of the constitution, he says. and
 therefore the acts must be void.
 The opinion is general. and not only refers to the volunteer fireman act
 mentioned, but to any other special exemptions which are embodied in To- cal acts passed before the adoption of the Constitution.
 The opinion in full is:
 The Opfnion.
 "On the 24th instant you referred to me a communication addressed to you by Ernest Lamar, ct al. of Selma. ] Ala, under date of November 20. 1909. in which the question Is raised of the right of members of certain local fire
 companies at Selma, to vote in the
 coming election they not having paid their poll tax In reliance upon an | exemption of such members from the payment of such tax contained in the | local legislative acts, passed before 1901. incorporating the companies.
 Under Section ITS of the Consti- tuition of 1901 no person can vote at any election by the people unless he
 has paid all poll taxes due from him
 for the year t1s01 and for each subse- quent year.
 Section 1s4 of the Constitution provides that the poll tax mentioned
 in this article shall be one dollar and fifty cents upon each male inhabitant VI tHea otdle over tne age or twenty
 one years and under the age of forty
 five years who would not now be ex- empt by law It is contended that | the members of the fire companies to which I have referred are exempt from the payment of the poll tax re- l quired by virtue of the clause who
 would not now be exempt by law con tained in Section 194. I have consid- cred the question very carefully and
 have reached the conclusion that 1t
 was the intention of the Constitution only to exempt those persons from
 the payment of poll tax who were ex- ! empt in 1901 under general laws of
 the State; and that the exemption cannot be extended to those persons
 who may have been exempt from the
 payment of poll tax under local laws In force in 1901.
 My attention has been called to
 many local acts adopted by the Leg
 islature prior to 1901. in which an
 exemption from the payment of poll tax Is contained in favor of Tiremen and others; but, in my opinion. the poll tax exemption features of all of these acts are void.
 Under the Constitution of 1875 the
 poll tax was applied to the support of
 the public schools in the counties in which they were levied and collected.
 and the right to vote was in no way
 dependent on the payment of the tax.
 The primary purpose of the constitu-
 tional convention of 1901 was to pro-
 vide uniform suffrage plan. and the payment of poll tax was a part of
 this system which is worked out in