The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-08

or statesmanlike to disfranchise more
than half our native white American
citizens, pure Anglo -Saxons of more than
Two centuries residence on this conti-
nent, the direct descendants of the very
men who with Washington and Marion
won the right Of self government for this
nation. The men who formed the rank
and file of the southern army In a
struggle, of which no American need feel
NS-~eVer he may have regretted
the necessity for it.
#,.-.s, wnen a would-be immigrant
learns of the state of things in Alabama
he says to himself, "There must be
something wrong there. 1t is a bad place
to take my family and bring them up
among such a people. Those disfran-
chised men must be degenerates or GRIM
inals, or so ignorant that their own gov
ernment can't trust them with the bal
lot" or else he Will say to himself
What kind of q government can it be
that raises generation after generation
of people in ignorance and inefficiency? {?
The world is widel / will go with my
family to some place where they can be
somebody with good people for neighbors
and good schools to educate them, where
when they grow to manhood they can be
full citizens instead of half peons.''
LIS OiltJ WASTE Oh TIME TO excuse
such state of things by the usual sophis-
try about poll taxes. The would-be immi-
grant would say, Excuses be hanged. 1
look at the facts"
Those disfranchised people are anything
but degenerates or criminals or ignorant.
Every state in the union welcomes them
and are proud to have them for citizens.
You meet them everywhere from here to
the Pacific coast, and wherever they go
fIanFr hatr I'll fu 1art
better stock of men in the world-thor-
oughbred nglo-SaXons-and "blood tells
when they get the chance.
The constitutional convention overshot
the mark in purging the electorate and
throwing so many obstacles in the way
of voting. Not content with making pre-
payment of poll takes a requisite of vot-
ing, they made it cumulative also, and
doubled the time of residence in the state
the county and the precinct And worst
of all. they placed the board of registra-
ton entirely and absolutely in the hands
of the party in power not giving the
party in opposition "A ghost of chance
to guard it's interests. Where it is de-
eided who shall govern in Alabama, put
fairly to the test of the supreme court
not one of those provisions will stand
The United States constitution guarantees
every state a republican form of govern
ment Ours is a self-perpetuatine
oligarchy as any rejecting mind can see
As for the poll tax and long residence pro-
visions, granting that the state has a
right to regulate elections, 1T has it only
insofar as to insure q fair expression
of the peoples wishes. This state has nc
right to place any unnecessary obstacle
in the way of a native white citizen eX-
ercising the right of self government
However it may be with a negro or nat
uralized foreigner, who gets his right
to vote from this state as a privilege, on
such the state has II logical right TO place
such restrictions as it may deem neces-
sary for the safety of Alabama. But the
right of self government is an Inherited
right with the native white population OF
Alabama Their forefathers won it from
England and they have never surren-
dered it, Alabama did not give 1t to
them. They had it before there was q
state of Alabama or a United States
either.
The number of the disfranchised is
steadily increasing in this state, and II
will breed trouble. Suppose those men
should say "lf you will not allow us
to vote, we will pay you no taxes. NC
taxation without representation was the
rallying cry of our revolutionary fathers
and we will follow their example. What
could this state do about it? Respect
fully, JOSHUA t'tAN Min.
Pyriton. Clay county,a October 81, 1913.