The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-30

the election inspectors the judicial and discretionary power to say when a voter comes to cast a ballot, all though the voter may be already reg istered and entitled to vote, that he or she cannot Vote because they are not of good character, or do not under stand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a republican form of government. It Is well known fact that the people Of Alabama as a whole have never favored the enfranchise- ment of women, for the last legislature not only failed to ratify the suffrage federal amendment, but even went fur ther and adopted a resolution that it was opposed thereto. Now, I appeal to the men of Alabama (to say nothing of the women) who have always been true, loyal and chivalrous toward our sex, no matter how much they have differed from us with regard to, the suffrage question, are you going to place in the hands of an election in- spector the right and power to pass upon the good character and intelli- gence of your wives, daughters, motn- CTS and sweethearts before they can vote, even though they have been duly registered and qualified before the board of registrarsl
 Tt is claimed by those who advo- cate the adoption of this amendment that it is intended to apply to cer- tain class whom it is desired to dis franchise only, and will not be en- forced against the white women of the state. But this is far from the truth, for by comparing the proposed amend ment with the registration clause of the state constitution, it will be found 1at tx offN .1< in one particular only, and that is, to apply the qualifications for registra- ton to the elector when he or she a; plies at the polls to vote. The right to exclude from the electorate, sn the registration, thereof, those whom it Is desired to disfranchise is in no wise affected, and no one can vote who is not registered
 There is another very serious ob- jection to this amendment. Under our law all primaries for party nomina- tions are to be held under the law. If faction of any political party once gets control of the state machinery, with the arbitrary power conferred upon the inspectors of election by this amendment, such faction could per- petuate itself indefinitely.
 s "Mr Morris says he doubts the con. stitutionality of the amendment and as to that I agree with him also. Un- der Section 1S0 of the present state constitution there have been thousands of people registered under what is known as the grandfather clause This proposed amendment would empower the inspectors to refuse to allow them to vote. This cannot be done, because under Section 190 of the constitution the registration list cannot be purged by striking names therefrom and thus depriving them of the right to vote without jury trial on the demand of the elector.
 May I suggest to those who are seeking to put this amendment over that the supreme court of the United States has by divided vote decided this registration clause and the man. ner of it's enforcement to be a political question and not a judicial question. But this proposed amendment, if adopted, will apply to the right to vote, in addition to the right to be registered, and thus will permit this whole question to be raised again be- fore the federal court with a practical ly new personnel, with some new ideals brought about by the World war [ submit, is it not better to let we'll enongh alone?'