The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1910-06-30

gratitied that there has been a period
of rest from political agitation and
hopes that it will continue.
Registration Law.
With a desire to- protect the rights
of the people of Georgia Governor
Brown calls the attention of the gen
eral assembly to serious defects and
unnecessary barriers in the present
registration law The recommends
tons made in the governors first
message regarding the provision
which closes the books six months be-
fore elections are repeated and 9TH
ers that have been demonstrated to
be valid, together with data on the
subject are added.
The governor points out that the
operation OF the provision which clos
es the registration books six months
before election, when taken in con
nection with the registration and sub
sequent elections in various munich
palities in the state proves that 1t dl-
rectly and fagrantly discriminates
against the residents Of the country
districts and in favor of the residents
of the cities and towns
To illustrate this fact list OF mu-
inequalities in which elections were
held to determine the issuance of
bonds FOR local purposes is given. 1t
is shown that the registration books
In these cities and towns were closed
only eight to eleven days before dates
of elections.
The avowed purpose in fixing the
excessive time limit of six months
between the closing of the registra-
ton books and the date of the cleo
ton was to. purify the ballot by shut
ting out the "Venal voter" the hobo"
the ''ward-heeler," and the like. These
nefarious classes were represented as
being mainly residents of the large
cities.
Yet, in the same counties wherein
the cities and towns, which close
their books eight to eleven days be<
fore elections, are located and in 9TH
er counties, the residents of the colG1I-
try districts, in elections in which
they take part, must register / six
months before the date of castingg the
ballot or they are debarred FROM the
power Of VOTE that power which, was
once held to be the right Of freemen
inalienable save by the commission
of crime.
Therefore, while it has beenf the
current belief that the ''venaU yot.
ers" and other obnoxious CLASSES,
whom this law would debar froim the
ballot. are the dwellers In THE city
slums, or are temporary importatio
thereto, the law itself, by it's lopera-
ton, says that these s'venal Voters
and the like are confined almost en-
tirely to the country districts;l for,
one great city can vote an enormous
issue of bonds and another can trans
form country people into city pAsople
the most radical of changes in our
system of goVernment-on a few
days notice, while the countrlyman
must register six months beforei cleo.
ton day so as to give the registrars
sufficient time in which to examine
carefully each lndlvlduaIs status, to
purge the lists ana throw out all
VINO are 'venai voters or ward
heelers'' or :'hoboes.'
Governor Brown submits that this
inevitable logic Of the law is ain IN.
called for and unjustiiable aspdrsion
on by far the greater portion off the
electorate Of Georgia; and it places
them under discrimination as heed
less as it is unmerited.
1t is a constitutional requirement
that all taxes must be paid six
months before the election in Order
that the voter may be qualified tot ex.
ercise the franchise. Governor
Brown regards this a sufficiently
drastic requirement and in itself an
adequate safeguard against ''paddingy,
without the additional prerequisite
that the voter must go in person I'd
the tax collectors Office, at least sin.
months before the election, and sigH
the voters list, without recourse in
case sickness, business necessity.S
absence from the state or even excuse
able negligence prevents him from sd
doing The payment of taxes siI
months in advance of the election
should be Indicative of the voter'd
Integrity, and indicate that he is mol
"venal voter" no .'hobo,'" no "immil
grant," but a good citizen.
Finally, as proving that the present
registration law has inflicted a blow
to the white electorate of Georgia
which is truly appalling in it's magni-I
tude, the governor calls attention tol
the fact that by the federal census
of 1900, after deducting the non natl
l1ralized foreigners, there were in this
state 274,797 white males twenty-ona
years Of age and upwards.
If during the past decade the popl
ulation has increased proportionatd.
ly as rapidly as it did during the prd.
vious one, viz: 20 per cent, then taIa
present number of white males On
voting age in Georgia is 329,576.
The reports of the registration liz
the state under the present law, al,
published in the daily press, Indicate,
that there are now registered about
i212,000 white voters.
Hence, by the operation of this laWy
in effect, even after making liberal
allowance for those made perm tent
ily ineligible by the constitution, i ap.
pears that upwards of 100000 white
citizens are debarred from the right
to vote in the elections of this year.
! The governor states that it is SUI
iperfuous to argue that there afs not
10000 "venal voters "hoboes, I"
"ward-heelers," and other objection
ables among the white citizenry Of
Georgia, as those who contend for ex-
listing restrictions would by inference
intimate. In several counties where
4. IL.