The Connecticut labor press., 1920-03-27
OLD AMENDMENT
 RISES TO REFUTE HOLCOMB'S STAND
Lawyers Lift Camouflage Screen From Governors Suffrage
 Holdup.
LARK BACK TO '69
Negro Suffrage Law Legal Then, Why Not Woman's
 Now?

arisen as result of the statement issued from the governors office inferring that a change in the state constitution would be necessary in order to insure full suf- frage to women even if the federal amendment is ratified, the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association has se- cured opinions and statements from several prominent lawyers. These opin- ions corroborate the opinion recently given by Francis w. Cole in which MT. Cole maintained that the federal amend ment automatically removed the word male" from the qualifications for state officers and thus gave full suffrage to women without act of state leglsla- ttre.
 Harrison Hewitt, of New Haven,s says, in part, concerning the situation ::
 "Governor Holcomb's opinion that it would be in contravention of his duty to support the constitution of the state to favor ratification of the suffrage amendment or to do any act which might aid in bringing such ratification about except by. vote not only of the legislature but all of the people of the state, seems open to question.
 "The General Assembly of the state of Connecticut, by special act approved May 1o, 1869, ratified the 18th amend ment to the Constitution of the United States without submission to the elect ors of the sate of Connecticut. Eminent authority, namely the lawyers who drafted the 1875 revision of the general statutes of Connecticut, among whom were Simeon E. Baldwin, afterward chief justice, and governor, and Hon. George C. Woodruff, of Litchfeld, in note to No. of Article 9th of the con- stitution of the state of Connecticut, which limited suffrage to white male citizens, state that this provision was altered by the 18th amendment to the Constitution of the Unied Sates and the legislation of Congress hereunder. They append the same note to the 9th amendment to the constitution of the state of Connecticut, which contained similar provision. This was in ad vance of the adoption of the 23rd amendment to the constitution ot the state erasing the word white in the 9th amendment, which 23rd amendment was not adoDted until October, 1870. Either the 18th amendment could be made nugatory by any state, or else it of itself altered the Connecticut con- stitution and Connecticut has always maintained the position that the 18th amendment was and is valid and bind ing. If 1t was legally adopted and, as Governor Baldwin and his associates said, it altered our Constitution, can see no reason why similar altera- ton cannot properly be brought about by a ratification of this amendment in the same manner in which the 18th amendment was ratified.
 Clarence w. Seymour, a Hartford attorney says:
 "The proposed amendment reads as I follows The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be de- nied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. The governor is a lawyer with longer ex- perience than mine but he has appar- ently failed to appreciate that upon the passage of that amendment 1t would be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary not withstanding'. See Constitution of the United States.
 T have read with pleasure that ad- mirable statement of the situation made by Francis w. Cole in answer to the governors contention and it appears to me that his opinion is as sound as the statement emanating from the govern or'S office
 Personally it seems to me that the recalcitrant attitude of the present governor of the state of Connecticut i'll refusing to call special session of the legislature for the purpose of acting upon the federal suffrage amendment to the Constitution of the United States should be regarded with disfavor by all forward looking citizens.
 At any rate this movement has gone so far that it should not be halted by the attitude of our present leaders, many of whom are members of the old school. 1 am inclined to believe that this problem is one of considerable political consequence to the republican party at this time not only in the state but throughout the nation at large and that the party will suffer unless the proper action is taken with regard to this matter"
 Harrison B. Freeman, of Hartford, says in part:
 sThe statement issued on behalf of Governor Holcomb that the women would not have the right to vote in Connecticut after the ratification of the suffrage amendment to the United State Constitution, except for presiden- tial electors and U. s. senators and congressman, until the state constitution has also been amended by action of the electors of this state IS contrary to the decisions of the U. s. supreme court and aga1nSt all the QreceQentS eStaD- lished when the 18th amendment, giv- ing suffrage to the negro, was adopted.
 "This amendment needed no state action to make it effective and the negro | received the ballot in all states of the | Union, including Connecticut, as soon as the amendment was ratified, and many l years before the state constitutions were changed to conform to it.
 "The federal suffrage amendment | provides that The right of citizens of | the United States to vote shall not be | denied or abridged by the United States l or by any state on account of sex. If | ratified by 36 states it needs no amend l ment to a state constitution to make 1t l effective.
 "In Neal v Delaware, 1O3 U. s. 37O the supreme court of the United States l held that the adoption of the 18th | amendment giving suffrage to the | negro, rendered imperative a provision | in the then existing constitution of the state of Delaware whereby the right of | suffrage was limited to the white race. Under this and similar decisions, the l suffrage amendment-which is identi- cal with the 18th amendment except that the former substitutes sex for srace'-when once ratified, IS self-ex- ccutory in the United States without further action on the part of any state"