Arizona republican., 1910-02-08

will find that the goyernor's objection:
 to this bill are unanswerable from any
 standpoint of justice.
 For example, in Apache and Pima
 counties. and in many other sections
 of the territory there are citizens oi I Mexican descent-good. law-abidine citizens and taxpayers. who. while
 fairly well educated in tie Spanish
 language. are imperfect in their En- ] glish It would be impossible for
 them to read the constitution of the
 United States in English" in such
 manner as to satisfy partisan elec-
 ton board determined upon their dis franchisement. And it so happens that hundreds of these good old citizens
 and taxpayers of Apache and Pima
 counties are republicans.
 In fact the whole question of quali-
 fication rests in the minds of the cleo tion board. It would be easily prac- ticable under this law to exclude the best educated man in the territory should the board decide that his man.
 ner of reading the constitution war
 ranted the suspicion that he was eith- CT prompted or was reading from
 memory The board is supreme. and
 from it's judgment there is no appeal.
 But before the voter submits his
 qualifications to the election board he
 must in an educational- test satisfy
 the registration officer. The register
 ing officer, if he is so partisan as to
 be willing to shut out voter of the
 satisfaction that the applicant has not
 the necessary educational qualifica- tions. Speaking of this tyrant's power.
 first lodged with the registering off
 cer and then with the election board. the governor well said:.
 This decision by the registering officer is one of opinion and not of facts. I cannot conceive how one man can tell as an indisputable fact wheth- CT another reads so as to show that he is >nof reciting from memory. The mere speaking of the printed words cannot as matter of fact show whether he is reading or is reciting from memory. The most unbiased and dispassionate judge would not venture in most cases, at least. an opinion He would not dare to say more than that it appears to him either that the other is reading or that he is reciting. It is a mere matter of opinion. incapable of contradiction or demonstration. On the other hand there are many compara- lively well educated people who can not read without hesitancy. repetition and faults. especially under the em- barrassment and excitement of test. and that the hesitancy. repetition and fault are not due to defective mem ory, is purely a matter of opinion.
 This bill provides that a voter may be challenged on the ground that he is not reading the constitution in such a manner as to show that he is neith- CT being prompted nor reciting from memory The inspector on the cleo ton board must apply the test. and the majority of the board decide it. Election boards are always partisan. In the heat of the strife of an cleo ton partisanship runs high and the judgments of men are swayed by par ty spirit. The members of the cleo tion boards have an intense interest in the result of the election, and they are made the judges upon whose de- | cision may depend the result of the i election for or against them. And that judgment is simply an opinion as to | whether a man is reading or recit- 1 ng-an opinion worth little in the | most dispassionate moments and who'll | y worthless or worse in the hot zeal | 1f fiercely contested political cleo | tion-an opinion that can be impeach- | ed by no rule and from which there ] Is no appeal.
 Under this bill men may be dis 'ranchised by the error of Judgment | If most honest election boards or men | may be enfranchised who cannot read | ! word of English or any other lan- 5uage. But how much more danger 'us is it that men may be disfran- chlsed by partisan boards opinion ! md how wide open the door to the ad- | mission of iIliterate voters, Under | his bill a dominant party could per )etuate itself beyond remedy i
 "We have laws to prevent as far as | hat can be done the admission of | raudulent. votes. This bill makes 1t | easy for the admission of fraudulent | md the exclusion of honest votes as partisan interest may dictate or sug- ,est.
 If we are to have an educational | qualification let us have it so for nulated that the test can be fairly Ipplied Under this bill the appIica- ion of the test under the most dis passionate environments. by the most lonest and painstaking men impelled " no present interest to depart from he plain path of justice and right is wholly unreliable and therefore inher- ntly vicious and wrong To disfran- hise men because it is the opioion f d registering officer that the voteri n speaking the words of part or f the whole of the constitution is imply reciting from memory and not eading, is too frail a protection to ne of the most inestimabIe rights