The sun., 1916-11-27
THE FOURTEENTH AMEND
MENT.
II II Were Not Ignored Mr.. Hughes
Would Have Been Successful.

To rHE EpfroR or THE sUN-str: Those
who ask for direct election of Presidents
seem to overlook the fact that the
change cannot consistently be made
without the creation Of a uniform stand
ard Of suffrage requirements. In the
States Of the South. where Democracy
with a big d. has supplanted democ-
racy with a small "a the proportion Of
the number of voters to total population
Is 1 TO Is. In South Carolina II Is 4 to 20
and In Mississippi 1 to so. In Indiana
II Ia 1 to 4. In the States where women
vote the proportion of voters to popula-
ton Is even larger. The Southern poll
ticians who are too proud to let the
freed man and the poor white vote are,
however, not too %scrupulous to insist
upon votes In Congress and electors
based upon this suppressed vote.
There is nothing In the present cleo
Ption laws or practices of the old slave
states to prevent a Democratic plural
ity OF millions being piled up. Mr.. Will
sons so-called popular plurality was all
accumulated In these States. where free
elections do not exist. with 100000 addi-
tional for good measure. A measur to
cIiOItt ~ IIee Ill III "A IdI touIt III
the South would be called a force bill'
by the New York World and other Dem
ocratic defenders Of wholesale disfran-
chisement.
The violation Of genuine democracy
In the States where Mr.. Wilson'S asso-
ciates In Democratic leadership are rum
ming things is not confined to men Of the
same color as some OF the poems In behalf
OF whose right TO run the Mexican and
Philippine Governments President Wilson
Is supposed to be agonizing night and
day. II includes the poor whites by the
hundreds of thousands. In Mr.. Wilson'S
own natal State of Virginia. upon whose
fields he can look from the White House
while writing his soulful periods about
the Virginia Bill of Rights. a ruling oil
sarchy Of 100000 men has. excluded
10000 poor whites and 100000 blacks
from the ballot box. partly by an al
legged 'literacy" test accompanied by an
inadequate common school system. part
ly by a cumulative poll tax system. and
partly by downright trickery and fraud.
specific instances Of which may be cata-
logued by the column. due to denial of
minority rights on election boards and to
similar practices. In view Of the Admin
istration's attitude toward democracy in
that part OF the country where its own
henchmen are in complete control, its
profession OF interest in the rule OF the
people Is rank humbug.
The popular and electoral plurality Of
Mr.. Wilson, the Democratic majority in
the Senate and most OF the Democratic
vote in the House Is based upon embez-
sled power secured through open viola-
ton OF the Constitution, which provides
for reduction Of representation where
the vote Is reduced. as has been done In
the States where the New Freedom looks
%ouriously like the old slavery. II the
provisions. OF the Constitution President
Wilson Is sworn to uphold were enforced
he would not have been reelected. The
Fourteenth Amendment says in part:
when the rich, TO vote a, any election
for the choice OF electors for President
and vice-Presidcnt Of the United states.
Representatives In Congress. the cNecu'
i've ana ,ud'eiai omcets OF a state or inc
'-"o''s y" W. n'e'"'ut- '",'e'''
.uch s,s,e h.,nv ,wsr,y.or. ~ssrs o, arc
and citizen. OF the United states. or In
any way abridged. except for the par,icipa-
ton in rebellion. or other crime. the basis
OF representation therein shall be reduced
In the proportion which the number OF
sueh MAJ. eI'lI."s snsn pear.o the "ho'c
=, -" = e.. "'