The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-20
CONGRESS MAY l. HAVE TO CONFER
 DEFINITE RIGHT

Hartford, April Ex-Governor Hol. comb is in receipt of copy of an opinion by Attorney General J. Wes- ton Allen of Massachusetts to the ef feet that women in that state cannot vote even after the suffrage amend ment is ratified by the thirty-sixth state, until the state constitution is amended or an act is passed by Con-
 gress definitely conferring the right of suffrage on women. It was point ed out yesterday by prominent law yers that the situation in Connecticut in that respect is an exact parallel ot that in Massachusetts, and that if the opinion of Attorney General Weston i is found to be sound, Connecticut wo- years unless Congress acts in the meantime.
 The opinion was made in a letter to
 Albert NJ. Lantry. Massachusetts sec retary of state, in connection with question that has been raised as to whether women will be entitled to vote in the Bay State primaries next Tuesday if the federal suffrage amend ment should be ratified by the thirty 1 sixth state before that time. Many provisions of the federal constitution require legislation by 1 Congress to make them efective,'' says the attorney general in his mega l tive reply. 'tProhibitory clauses,
 however, of both federal and state constitutions are generally said to be
 self executing.
 .'In a sense, the proposed amend ment, which is prohibitory in form,
 is self executing. It should be rati- 1 fled by the legislatures of three fourths of the states. Any state constitution or statute which affirma- ! lively denies suffrage to women be- cause of their sex would be unconsti- l tutional, and g. federal court would
 so hold it in a case properly before it.
 It is, however, my opinion that con i situion or statute which confers the vote upon men but fails to confer it I upon women does not deny the vote to women within the meaning of the proposed amendment.
 EThe right to vote is not inherent l in any person. Indeed, a person may
 be citizen of the United States and still not have a right to vote. In l general, the states may confer the | right as they see fit Only since the Fifteenth Amendment they may not i deny the right to a man merely be-
 cause he is black, and if the pro- posed amendment is ratified, they may not deny it to women merely because they are women
 ''The proposed amendment does not l confer upon female citizens the right to vote, but only the right not to be | discriminated against because of their sex
 ''It is my opinion that women will not be entitled to vote in the primar1
 ies of April 27, even if the proposed amendment should be ratified by the
 thirty-sixth state before that date. In addition to the ratification of the amendment, it is necessary that suf- frage be conferred upon them by either state action on Congressional legislation"
 A proposed amendment to the Con- nectcut constitution, after having passed the House of Representatives, must be continued to the next Gen. eral Assembly for a two-thirds vote of each branch before it may be sub mitted to the electorate on a refer
 endum- For this reason, if the opin- ion of the Massachusetts attorney
 general should hold good for Connec- ticut, an amendment specifically con ferring suffrage upon women of this
 state could not be gotten through the Legislature until 1923, as regular ses- ] sions of the Legislature are held but once in two years and the next is not scheduled to convene until Jan uaTY-