CONGRESS. (THE APPORTIONMENT.) 



105 



Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, 

 and Utah we again find a multitude of diverse 

 provisions for an abridgment of the electorate, 

 seemingly dependent upon local conditions. Cali- 

 fornia and Nevada exclude all natives of China; 

 Idaho, ' Chinese or persons of Mongolian descent 

 not born in the United States.' Oregon, ' No 

 negro, Chinaman, or mulatto shall have the right 

 of suffrage,' the disqualification so far as it refers 

 to negroes and mulattoes being obsolete. Wash- 

 ington, Idaho, and North Dakota specifically ex- 

 clude from suffrage Indians who have not re- 

 nounced the tribal relation. The Constitution of 

 Idaho disqualifies any person ' who is a bigamist 

 or polygamist, or is living in what is known as 

 a patriarchal, plural, or celestial marriage,' or who 

 ' in any manner teaches, advises, counsels, or con- 

 tributes to the support of any order, organization, 

 association, corporation, or society ' which gives 

 countenance to them. Wyoming has a constitu- 

 tional limitation of the suffrage to those who can 

 read the Constitution. California requires that 

 voters be able to read the Constitution and write 

 their names. 



"In 1896 Washington adopted, an amendment 

 disqualifying future applicants for the suffrage 

 who should not be able to speak and read the Eng- 

 lish language, but the amendment is not in force, 

 as the Legislature has passed no law prescribing a 

 method by which this ability may be determined. 



" The Colorado Constitution authorizes the Gen- 

 eral Assembly to prescribe an educational qualifi- 

 cation, stipulating, however, that no qualified 

 voter shall be thereby deprived of the right to 

 vote. North Dakota last year adopted a constitu- 

 tional amendment providing not only that ' the 

 Legislature shall by law establish an educational 

 test as a qualification,' but also that it ' may pre- 

 scribe penalties for failing, neglecting, or refusing 

 to vote at any general election.' 



" In none of these States is the payment of a 

 poll-tax made a prerequisite to voting, although 

 Nevada's Constitution authorizes such a require- 

 ment. The precedent established in the New Eng- 

 land States of requiring educational qualifications 

 of the elector during the past decade developed 

 rapidly in the Southern mind, seeking eagerly for 

 some method to shake off the so-called negro prob- 

 lem. It developed in various forms, as will be 

 shown later, but no\vhere to the extent of whole- 

 sale disfranchisement as in 4 of the States Mis- 

 sissippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, and North 

 Carolina. Even in the South these 4 States oc- 

 cupy a position of their own in this matter which 

 requires discussion. 



"Mississippi led the way. She had refused to 

 accept a suggestion from President Johnson that 

 the ballot be given to negroes who possessed a little 

 property and who could read and write, and was 

 forced to accept a Constitution which not only ad- 

 mitted to the suffrage all male citizens of the 

 United States possessing certain age and residence 

 qualifications, but which also prohibited the im- 

 posing of any property or educational qualifica- 

 tions before 1885. Accordingly, a few years after 

 this proscription had expired we find her naturally 

 turning to a new Constitution in which the desired 

 changes could be made. It is consequently no sur- 

 prise that the Constitution adopted in 1890 con- 

 tains the qualification for an educational test, in 

 the requirement that on and after Jan. 1, 1892, 

 every elector, in addition to the other qualifica- 

 tions, should be ' able to read any section of the 

 Constitution of this State, or ... to understand 

 the same when read to him, or give a reasonable 

 interpretation thereof.' (Article XII, section 244, 

 Constitution of Mississippi.) The payment of a 



poll-tax is also required. This provision vvar-t up- 

 held in the State courts and in the MI|>:<-IUC Court 

 of the United States, in which it \v;i |, \<\ that 

 ; 'The provisions ... in section 21 i o!' the Con- 

 stitution of Mississippi, making t,he aLiiii.v to read 

 any section of the Constitution, or Vo un-!cistan;l 

 it when read, as a necessary qualification n, ; i | ( .<_. -\] 

 voter ... do not amount to a denial ot i In 

 protection of the law secured by the fourti 

 amendment to the Constitution, and it hsi.s not, 

 been shown that their administration was evil, 

 but only that evil was possible under them.' 



" Encouraged by the decision of the Mississippi 

 courts (for the United States Supreme Court de- 

 cision was not rendered until April 25, 1898), South 

 Carolina called a constitutional convention for a 

 similar purpose. Its convention of 1895 adopted 

 substantially the same provisions for immediate 

 effect, but only as a temporary measure. Up to 

 Jan. 1, 1898, all males of voting age 



1 ' Who can read any section of this Constitution 

 submitted to them by the registration officer, or 

 understand and explain it when read to them by 

 the registration officer, shall be entitled to regis- 

 ter and become (permanent) electors.' 



" After that period these qualifications were 

 replaced for all new applicants for registration by 

 the following: 



" ' The applicant must be able to read and write 

 any section of the Constitution submitted to him 

 by the registration officer, or show that he owns 

 and has paid taxes collectable during the previous 

 year on property within the State assessed at $300 

 or more.' 



" Inspired by the success of Mississippi and 

 South Carolina in abridging the negro vote by 

 these measures, in 1898 Louisiana called a constitu- 

 tional convention to deal with the matter. As 

 South Carolina had exceeded Mississippi by pro- 

 viding a property qualification, so Louisiana out- 

 did both by making a new contribution to this 

 class of legislation. The educational test was 

 made -more rigorous by requiring the writing out 

 of an application for registration, involving an 

 elaborate formula of 75 words, while the property 

 option was made the same as fixed by South Caro- 

 lina. Then came the new provision, which allowed 

 three months and a half for any man to secure his 

 registration as a voter for life who, w r hile pos- 

 sessing neither the property nor the educational 

 qualifications, could prove that 



" ' On Jan. 1, 1867, or any date prior thereto, 

 he was entitled to vote under the Constitution or 

 statutes of any State of the United States wherein 

 he then resided, or that he was the son or grandson 

 of some such person not less than twenty-one years 

 of age at the date of the adoption of this Consti- 

 tution.' 



" North Carolina followed in August, 1900, by 

 adopting an amendment to the Constitution which 

 requires that the candidate for registration shall 

 be able to read and write any section of the Con- 

 stitution in the English language, unless he regis- 

 ters as one who was a legal voter on or before Jan. 

 1, 1867, or as ' a lineal descendant of any such 

 person.' The payment of a poll-tax for the pre- 

 vious year is required, but no property qualifica- 

 tion. ' Lineal descendants ' are allowed until Dec. 

 1, 1908, for their registration. 



" Two other Southern States Alabama and Vir- 

 giniaare preparing to call conventions for the 

 purpose of effecting similar abridgments of the 

 electorate. Georgia defeated the proposition, but 

 in the new Legislature a bill for the same purpose 

 has been introduced. 



" In 1890 in Mississippi the colored males of 

 voting age were 150,436 and the white males of 



