The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-20

elected after the submission of the amendments would eorvern in Tennessee in January 1921. could not see the pro priety and wisdom of bringing to bear pnou tne members at the special session r,-o -s'rre to induce then to ignore the 7arental law of tho'r own s'ate.
 CONSTITUTION IS SACRED
 q may be somewhat antiquated in my views but 1 am one who holds that a state constitution is q sacred and inn portant thing to the people of any com monwealtn and should command respect and obedience and when these thirty seven gentlemen to whom you refer man. fested such respect and loyalty to the fundamental law of their own state as to compel them temporarily to withdraw until the people of Tennessee could be heard and the spirit of their constitution respected, l for one honored them and felt no hesitation whatever in partici- pating with our citizens in entertaining them and showing them all respect and courtesy.
 'Eentertaining these views, should have felt myself a craven had timidtty prompted nc ty hoid ai0oS from these men who l believe were acting to pre- serve inviolate the fundamental law of tteir state; and with all due respect am constrained to say that l have no
 
 Certainly the people Of state are the source Of all authority and I see no justi- fication for ignoring the rights guaran- teed to them by their own constitution IF this connection it is interesting to know that after those members of the legislature whom you describe as law less returned to Nashville and after the people had had an opportunity to as- semhle in the various counties to give expression to otheir views, the alleged ratification was reconsidered by large Ira joFity and the action of the Tennessee senate in ratifying the Anthony amend ment was n-concurred in by the house, as the records which go to the supreme court at Washin~ton will show.
 TENNESSEE LAW
 T note your referenfe to the statute Of Tennessee makingHit felony for member of the legislature to with draw from the state to breok a quorum. Perhaps you are not aware that an act I.assed by the Tennessee legislature on the same day, and under the same cir crmstances that the act referred to was adopted. because of the absence Of a quorum, has been declared by the Tennessee supreme court as unconsti- tutional, and there is. therefore in Tennessee no valid act making the withdrawal of the members to Decatur
 
 this is that there has not been the slightest intimation in Tennessee that any of the withdrawing members are subject to arrest. and there has been no effort to make any arrest.
 'T assume from the tone af your
 letter that the purpose Is to warn
 me that | am n marked mnn by the
 women voters of Alabama, and to
 draw from me an expression ms to
 how I stand upon the woman suf- fraEe question.
 I equally have no hesitation in
 saying that I hnve been a lifelong
 opponent of woman suffrage. and
 while I can live under my system
 of government that any other
 American citizen can live under,
 md am not in Il state of excite
 mcnt over this matter, I am yet uD-
 able to see that the wholesome ef-
 feet propheSfed as to the result of
 woman suffrage will be realized.
 As cidzen who wants the best
 things in government for his own
 wife and children. we'll as for
 all other people. I can only hope
 that my misEivings shall not be
 realized, but in frankness. I am
 unable 10 see the dawn of the Mill
 lenium a-~result of the ratifica-
 tiOn of the Anthony amendment.
 fear result antagOnisnl
 in place of sex deference. 1t Is of
 far more value to woman, and te
 civilization that sex deference
 upon which Is based the finest
 things in cur civilization. shall ex-
 ist rather than that woWen should
 possess the ballot.
 ''It is not the mere act of voting to which I object. If voting were all there is to it. depositing ballot in ballot box would be little more than ~.,;t 1,tt l., tl~ -tNff l,tt7 suffrage is part of and inevitably leads to something else. Nor in my mind is the question of woman's abll- ity involved. I frankly state that in my judgment the average woman and the average girl has brighter and more alert mind than the average man and the average boy. do not think. however that woman>is tempermen- tally and emOtionally qualified for po- litical activity. For her to take part in politics. and all it Involves. is denial of nature. I have yet to bear an expression from any source. wheth- CT northernA western or southern. of those who were at the San Francisco convention. who were not disappointed and discouraged regarding the activi- ties of the women at .hat conventiou
 QUESTION OF EXPEDIENCY
 50 far as the expediency argument as relating to our party. which was put forward so prominently, for hasty ratification is concerned, the result in Maine would indicate that those who were of the opinion that all women would vote the democratic ticket were far afield in their conclusions. We in the south certainly cannot ignore that there is thrust upon us again the prob lems of forty years standing succeed ing the CiviF war in reference to the negro vote. -.S
 "Further, to my being a
 marked man, happily the question of holding public office concerns
 me little any one you can
 probably imagine. l was prompted
 to become n candidate for the of-
 flee of national committee
 which I now hold. and which car
 ries emOIumcntS with it, think
 ing that it was . place in which
 might render some party service.
 My views on this question were
 known when l was elected. I have