New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-22
The End of the "Grandfathe
Clause"

That crDmsv instrument for the illegal
Acknowledgement of voters, the grand
sfatber clause" Of various Southern state
constitutions. succeeded for many years IN
lodging the critical attention OF the
limited States Supreme Court. No case
was presented there which fairly chal-
lenged the principle Of the odious dis
examinations by which various states
sought to impose on one class of citizens a
suffrage test which it was not courageous
enough to impose on all other classes.
Fr,holdened by the success of the earlier
experiments at making a test based on
race and color do what could only
properlv he done by a test of universal
applcation like literacy or the possession
Of property, the people of Oklahoma
adopted a permanent ancestral dis
elimination on which a clear and sweep
ing issue of constitutionality could be
yaised. and was at once raised. They in
vited. even compelled, the unanimous ad-
verse judgment just handed down by the
Supreme Court.
Oklahoma pretended to impose literacy
test on voters, but made that test fraudu-
lent on its face by eXempting from u
persons who on January 1, 1866, or at any
time prior thereto, were entitled TO vote
under any form of government or were
residing in some foreign country, as well
e. all their hneal descendants. The re-
striction as to those entitled TO vote on
January /, 1866. was obviously aimed at
the freedmen in this country who up TO
that time had not acquired the suffrage
and whose citizenship was just about to
he established by the ratification Of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal
Constitution.
When Maryland-a state which, like
Oklahoma. has only a small percentage OF
negro voters-first experimental with the
grandfather clause" the scope Of the re-
striction was either Intentionally or acct
dcntallv widened so as to include alien
immigrants who did not have the vote IN
their own countries prior to January,
1866. and all their descendants. In this
form the discrimination was not based
solely on race, color or previous condition
of servitude. 1t established a disfran-
chised white body of citizens as well as
disfranchised negro body. But the alien
whites made so vigorous an cutlery against
ostracism that the constitutional amend
ment was overwhelmingly defeated at the
polls
Oklahoma foolshly emphasized and
aggravated the issue with the Federal
Constitution, and the Supreme Court has
now Justly held that the Oklahoma lit
eracy test is not an honest test, but mere
ly a subterfuge for the purpose of annuli-
ing the guarantees of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Everybody knows that that has been the
real purpose of all grandfather clause"
legislation. The complaint in the South
ern states has been that the average
colored voter, because illiterate, shiftless
and easily corrupted, has failed to demon
strate the wisdom of giving him the vote.
A state cannot be censured for restricting
suffrage if the public welfare urgently
demands such restriction.
But the fault with the restriction I'M
dertaken in most Of the Southern states
has been that it tried to make fitness de-
pend on race and color and not on char
acter and intelligence. A literacy test is
constitutional, as the Supreme Court says
But it ought to be real test, applied with
uniformity TO all undesirables, whether
white or black.
II the Southern states feel that they
need to restrict their suffrage materially
they can easily accomplish that end with
out defying the Fourteenth Amendment
The Oklahoma literacy test would be
vastly much more efFicacious than it has
been if no exemptions at all were per-
mitted. For the good of the community
iiliterate aliens and illiterate native
whites ought to be asked TO make the same
sacrifice that is demanded of the negro
voters. Then no complaint of inequality
could arise and the sense of racial dis
elimination and injustice would be greatly
lessened.
Nothing is more absurd in a democratic
community than right 10 vote depending
upon the accident of ancestry. AS VoltairC
said, a good citizen needs no ancestors
In an American constitution grand
father clause" will never be anything but
q piece of demagogic hypocrisy.
Queer Government.