Omaha daily bee., 1911-08-27
Conditions to Statehood.

partisan opponents of President Taft
concede the soundness OF his argument
against the recall of judges embodied
in hts statehood veto, the only point
on which issue is taken being the con-
tention that IL the people Of Arizona
want to try a doubtful experiment
they should be permitted to do so.
especially since after admission to
statehood they might reincorporate
the Objectionable feature into their
constitution without interference. The
suggestion, however, that congress has
no right to impose conditions pre-
cedent to the transformation Of a ter
ritory into a state, and that, II the peo-
pie Of any territory are qualified for
statehood, they are entitled to come in
under any kind of a constitution they
see At to frame, does not tit in with
historic facts. Few states, II any, have
been admitted into the union without
meeting certain stipulated require
ments set forth in the enabling act,
and whether, having secured admis-
sion, a state is really free later to
repudiate and change the express
terms is a question not tested out.
We happen to have in the case Of
our own state of Nebraska a particu-
lsrly striking example. The original
enabling act of 1866 enumerates and
defines these conditions on which
statehood might be had and presum-
ably statehood would not have been
accorded without strict compliance:
l. That slavery be forever prohibited.
g. That complete religious tolerance be
assured
g. That the people disclaim title to all
public lands within the borders of the
state.
L. That lands belonging to nonresident
citizens Of the United States shall never
be taxed higher than lands belonging to
residents.
5. That no taxes be imposed on property
belonging to the United States.
While the constitution framed and
adopted pursuantly fulfilled all these
requirements, it restricted the outrage
to white" citizens of the United
States and to white" persons who had
declared their intention to become
citizens.
This restriction proved to be even
more offensive and Objectionable to
congress than the recall of judges.
Admission of Nebraska to the union
was promptly denied except upon ad-
ditional fundamental conditions pre-
scribed in a second act, passed in 1857
over President Johnsons veto, whose
vital section reads:
This act shall not take effect except on
the fundamental condition that within the
state of Nebraska there shall be no denial
Of the elective franchise or of any other
right to any person, by reason Of race or
color, excepting Indians not taxed. and
upon the further fundamental condition
that the Legislature of said state, by solemn
public act shall transmit to the president
Of the United States an authentic copy of
said act upon receipt whereof the president
by proclamation shall forthwith announce
the fact, whercupon said fundamental con-
dition shall be held as a part of the organic
| law of the state, and thereupon and with
out any further proceeding on the part OF
congress the admission of said state into
the union shall be considered as complete.
1t goes without saying that the
legislature when convened accepted
and ratified the fundamental condi-
tons. Nebraska became state
March /, 1867, and the supreme court
in one of its very earliest decisions
held that these conditions had become
part of the constitution and binding
as such, although never submitted to
the vote of the people. The adoption
Of the fifteenth amendment soon made
the question purely theoretical one
as to whether the state could have re-
inserted the word white" If 1t so de-
sired, but strangely enough the whole
purport of the veto message of Presi-
dent Johnson was TO the effect that
congress had no right to prescribe
conditions not required of other states
supposedly on equal footing.
This, then. may be put down as
established, that congress can enforce
and has enforced conditions precedent
to admission to the union; that con.
gress can enforce and has enforced
them. both before and after the adop-
tion of their constitution by the people
Of the territory seeking statehood;
that the much-talked-of right of the
people of territory to become a state
whenever their numbers and resources
warrant under any frame of govern
ment they choose to adopt has never
been recognized and has no foundation
in fact.