Republican farmer., 1920-03-26
DO NOT AGREE
 WITH HOL COMB
 ON AMENDMENT

Attorney Harrison Hewitt, a Demo cr'at, of New Haven, was asked by the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Associa- tion to give an opinion on the suf- frage question raised by Governor Holcomb. MT. Hewitt says, in part:
 Governor HoEcomb's opinion that it would be in contravention of his duty to support the constitution of Ln~ state to favor ratification Of tffe sur frage amendment or to do any act which might aid in bringing such rat ification 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 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 the i lawyers who drafted the 1875 RevisioE | of the General Statutes of Connecti- cut, among whom were Simeon E. Baldwin, afterward chief justice, and governor, and Hon. George c. Wood ruff, of Litchfield, in a note to No. l of Article of the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, which limited suffrage to white male citizens, state 1 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 Sth amendment to the Constitution of the State Of tCOnnecticut, which contained a similar provision. This was in advance of the adoption of the 23rd amendment to | the constitution of the state erasing 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 lConnecticut has always maintained
 the position that the 15th amendment
 was and is valid and binding. If it
 was legally adopted and, as Governor Baldwin and his associates said, it al tered our Constitution, I can see no , reason why similar alteration can
 ratification of this amendment in the same manner in which the 18th P amendment was ratified.''
 Harrison B. Freeman. a Republi.
 can of Hartford. says in part:
 f'The statement issued on behalf
 of Governor HoEconlb that the women 5 would not have the right to vote in , Connecticut after the ratification of the Suffrage amendment to the United
 States Constitution, except for Presi-
 dentiaI elecaors and United States sen : ators and congressman, until the state l constitution has also been amended
 by action of the electors of this state l is contrary to the decisions of the f United States Supreme Court and
 against all the precedeI&s establish ed when the 18th Amendment, giving
 suffrage to the negro, was adopted.
 This amendment needed no state n action to make it effective and the n negro received the ballot in all states
 of the Union, including Connecticut I as soon as the amendment was rati- , fled, and many years before the state constitutions were changed to con- S form to it
 .zThe Federal Suffrage Amendment
 provides that The right of citizens oi Lt the United States to vote shall not be
 denied Or abridged by the United :. States or by any state on account ot D sex If ratified by s6 states it need: no amendment to a state constitution to make it effective.
 l. "In Neal vs. Delaware, 105 U. s
 37O, the Supreme Court of the United y States held that the adoption of tht It 18th Amendment, giving suffrage t.
 the negro, rendered imperative
 provision in the then existing const S | tuition of the State of Delawart
 whereby the right of suffrage Wa. l. limited to the white race. Under thi:
 and similar decisions, the Sunrag'
 Amendment-which is identical witf e the 18th Amendment except that tn d former substitutes sex for race
 when once ratified. is self -executory n in the United States without further h action on the part of any state"