The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-10-21
WHITE MEN FEAR THE
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
Its Operations Will 0isquaiifY rs Per
Cent. Of Garrett County's Voters.
To the Voters of Garrett County:

To the Voters of Garrett County:
Notwithstanding the soothing assur-
ances given by the supports of the Straus
Amendment, to the effect that no white
voters would suffer from the adoption
of the measure, the honest white voter
is beginning to look with distrust upon
the proposition, and to realize that there
is hidden and deadly poison in it.
The statement that were the amend
ment to become law, it would not dis
franchise a single white voter, even
though it comes from high and reput-
able legal source, may reasonably be
doubted when it can be unquestionably
proven that there are several classes of
white voters in the State of Maryland
who could not be registered under the
restricting provisions of the Amend
ment.
In order to discover who would be af-
fected by the Amendment, should it be
ratified by the vote of the people at the
approaching November election, 1t is
necessary first to carefully consider the
provisions of the Amendment and then
to apply them to the several classes of
voters in the State
The Amendment first condition for
qualification as voter is that no man
can be registered as a qualified voter
until he has been resident of the state
for two years and of the county in which
he wishes to vote for one year. The
second condition admits to registration
all male citizens q years of age, who
voted, or had the right to vote before
January 1st, 1869, and the descendants
of such citizens This condition is said,
by the coachers of the Amendment, to
be broad enough to admit every white
voter in the state, but then if the Eng
ligh language expresses anything, that
provision is narrow enough to exclude
every white man in the state who can
produce no evidence that his father, or
his grandfather actually was qualified
4.2tsr prior to January LIST, 1863. Hard
-, We than per cent of the voters in
Garrett county voted before 1869, and
not more than 20 per cent. of the regis
tered voters are men who could produce
evidence that their ancestors voted be-
fore that date The remaining IS per
cent would therefore be excluded from
suffrage by this provision, a few of
whom might still retain their sovereign
right by complying with the property
qualification, but many could not and
those who would be obliged to submit
to the memory and educational test
would turn away in disgust from a rigid
task, the successful accomplishment Of
which any, but the most thoroughly
educated, would dispair Of. Men may
console themselves with the idea that
they could commit to memory and write
out the answers to the long list of ques-
tons as required by the specifications
of the Amendment, but they should re-
member that it would not be sufficient
to merely write out their application
but according to the explicit language
of the Amendment, it must be done cor
rectly. If the English language ex-
presses anything, correctly means moth
ing short of absolute correctness, there
fore, the misspelling of word, the
omission of letter or in fact the ignor-
ance of or disregard of any of the laws
of correct writing or correct phraseolo-
gy in writing out the application would
rendered the application void of effect
Who then could hope to write without
guide of any sort such an intricate list
from memory and do it correctly One
would think that the above strenuous
test of skill technical knowledge and
strength of memory would be sufficient
burden for any honest man, but consider
also that it would be required that you
write the names of the national, state
and county officials in full, not merely
William Taft, but William Howard Taft
in full.
AS an example of how an applicant
could unknowingly commit an error suf-
ficient to disqualify him, we will sup
pose that citizen of Baltimore county
writes out an application for registra-
ton and writes Barry Mahool, Mayor Of
Baltimore. That is the name by which
Mr.. Mahool is known to the public and
AeBtbs few but those of his family and
4 \ohtimate friends know that his full
l. mama is j. Barry Mahool, and yet the
application could be rejected because
the applicant had not written the name
in full as required bv the law.
Thus it is clear that the voter who
was debarred from registrating, by the
first provision of the Amendment, and
hopes to squeeze in under the education
al test would inSit stupenduous and
unsurmountable obstacle in his way.
1t is therefore self evident that the
enactment and enforcement of the in
famous Amendment would disfranchise