The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-23
DO NOT. AGREE WITH HOL COMB
 ON AMENDMENT I

Attorney Harrison Hewitt, a Demo crat, of New Haven, was asked by the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Associa- ton to give an opinion on the suf- frage question raised by Governor Holcornb. MT Hewitt says, in part:
 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 sui frage amendment or to do any act which might aid in bringing such rat ificadon about, except by vote not only of the legislature, but all of the people of the state, seems open to
 question.
 'NThe General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, by special act ap- proved May 19, 1869, ratified the 18th amendment to the Constitution of the United States without submission to the electors of the state of Connecti-
 cut. Eminent authority, namely thu
 lawyers who drafted the 1875 Revision
 of the General Statutes of Connecti- out, among whom were Simeon D. Baldwin, afterward chief justice, and governor, and Hon. George C. Wood ruff, of Litchfield, in a, note to No. 2 of Article of the Constitution 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 United States 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 a similar provision. This was in advance of the adoption of the 23rd amendment to the constitution of the state eraaing the word white in the Sth amend ment, which 23rd amendment was not
 adopted until October, 1876. Either
 the 18th amendment could be made
 nugatory by any state, or else it of it. self altered the state constitution and Connecticut has always maintained the position that the 18th amendment was and is valid and binding. If it
 was legally adopted and, as Governor Baldwin and his associates said, it all tered our Constitution, I can see no
 reason why similar alteration can
 not properly be brought about by a
 ratification of this amendment in the same manner in which the 18th amendment was ratified"
 Harrison B. Freeman. a Republi- | can of Hartford, says in part:
 '"The statement issued on behalf | of Governor Holcomb that the women | would not have the right to vote in 1 Connecticut after the ratification of 1 the Suffrage amendment to the United 1 States Constitution, except for Presi-
 dentiaI elecaors and United States sen | ators and congressman, until the state | constitution has also been amended l by action of the electors of this state ] is contrary to the decisions of the l United States Supreme Court and 1 against all the preced ents establish ed when the 18th Amendment, giving suffrage to the negro, was adopted. l This amendment needed no state
 action to make it effective and the
 negro received the ballot in all states of the Union, including Connecticut 1 as soon as the amendment was rati- i fled, and many years before the state
 constitutions were changed to con i form to it.
 I '"The Federal Suffrage Amendment | provides that The right of citizens of
 the United States to vote shall not be 1 denied or abridged by the United
 States or by any state on account ot
 sex If ratified by 36 states it needs | no amendment to a state constitution 1 to make it effective.
 l ''In Neal vs. Delaware, 10S U. S 37O, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the adoption of the i 18th Amendment, giving suffrage to 1 the negro, rendered imperative g | provision in the then existing consti-
 tution of the State of Delaware
 whereby the right of suffrage wa
 limited to the white race. Under this
 and similar decisions, the Suffrage Amendment-which is identical witt
 the 18th Amendment except that thu
 former substitutes sex for 'race'- l when once ratified, is self-executor'
 in the United States without further
 action on the part of any state"