The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-11-12

AoA l d. titc Slcc-
tons is male persons" but that thu
legislature contemplated tha
confusion OF this term with free
holders "It was trying to protect
'Treeholders' whose property would
bear the burden of the tax, but who
might be outvoted by the non-free-
holders, as we'll az the women free
holders who would have no ballot Or
voice in the election. if ordered"
The chief justice declares that the
word "freeholder" has no sex and that
real property in fee simple, IS q free
holder.
Judge Clark thinks tha courts
should construe legislative statutes
from the standpoint OF the present
time and not with any reference To
what were the views Of judges cen
turtles ago. He thinks that the fact
that she is not protected by the right
of suffrage when her property IS to 10
taxed by special tax, should silva her
protection by the antecedent and pre-
liminary petition which the legislt-
ture has a right to require before
such election be held.
Decisions About Women.
Judge Clark writes against the con
structiOn OF statutes IN the light 81
~antiQuated holdings of former judges.
especially as affects m He says.
The average legislator knows moth
ing Of the absolute barbarism of thu
law formerly as to women, married
women He quotes from a judge Who
held. that a man had the right 10 whip
his wife il he used a switch no larger
than his thumb"
The chief justice points oul tha N
ten great states Of this country aud
in al dozen foreign countries. women
exertise full right Of suffrage aud ia
thirty other states, they vote upon al
questions concerning the schools. OF
special assessments upon their prop
erty.. .Our Legislators should have
been deemed as intending to -
abreast Of the age, and just enough
to give women freeholders the prjEi-
lege Of being counted like Other free
holders on preliminary petitions It
QuiSite to the ordering Of an election
taxing their property, more especially
since our constitution does not allow
them to vote when the proposition II
the tax itself is submitted to the bal
lotbox. In this district. there arc
sixty-one women freeho1ders and f'S
male freeholders."
The chief justice praises the al
ministrations Of Elizabeth. Victoria.
Catherine Of Russia, and Deborah, sh~
latter lady Judge over all Israel
He cOmmends the growing b~roadneeS
of North Carolina in having women
doctors. lawyers. bank presidents,
ministers, and declares that it Is /
distinct barking back TO the past 70
count ONE as now viewed, as nom
fTeeholderS as cOntemp dated in petit
tons.
The chief justice declares that il,
aid mey be derived by appeal TO tho
feudal system. long since rejected ~
the commonsense II sense Of justac"
Of our race. 1T is not the province
OF the court to seek out strained
~analOgieS," he says, or to delve IN
the debris Of a rejected and barbar-
Gus legal system to defeat and st
aside steps, which the legislature may
take in accord with the spirit Of an
advancing civilization. 1t is not for
US to bivouac always by the aban-
doned campfres Of more progressive
communities. The courts should cen
strue legislation from the standpoint
Of this age and Of the men who en-
act it,"
Woman Suffrage.
In the light Of the brief Of judge
Crawford Biggs. who made the argu-
ment before Judge Ferguson AMI
fought the thing to a finish, the clos
ingp paragraphs Of Judge Clark's opin-
ion are particularly Interesting.
Judge Biggs had made the recon
mendatiOn that woman suffrage must
be Won in the legislature, not in the
courts" Judge Clark's remarks wers
pointed.
Acknowledgement Beckett VIZ,
pleased that his opinion should have
held. The Wake Forest people
sought it before they proceeded and
he gave the advice that was upheld
BY the majority of the court. Had
the election been lost through his
legal blunder. it might have opened
the system to statewide attack.
:, In North Carolina there are 0
ABOUT 1900 special tax districts
Nearly a half million OF dollars is
embraced in this great movement to
award the education Of the masses
The opinion Of the court would have
i retarded 1t none. SO far as the con
sent Of the women is concerneh Moth