"The Grandfather Clause"
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Title
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"The Grandfather Clause"
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Description
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From the Birmingham Times, Rep.
The grandfather clause of the proposed constitution was gotten up by a set of black belt politicians to carry the damnable registrar clause through, knowing at the same time, that the grandfather clause would be held unconstitutional, and as a consequence the registrars would have the whole political power of the State in their nefarious hands.
From the Mobile Item.
If the convention embodies all the articles in the ordinances now before it, they as well adjourn the Legislature sine die.
From the Abbeville Times.
The suffrage scheme as presented by the majority report is complex, arbitrary and greatly inadequate to the needs of the State. We pronounce it a gigantic blunder, for which, if it is adopted by the convention in its present shape, its maker will be held to accountability.
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From the Geneva Reaper.
Section 1. Make every voter show his poll tax receipt before he registers.
Sec. 2. Disfranchise for life and put in the pen for one year every man who offers to sell his vote.
Sec. 3. Disfranchise for life and put in the pen for ten years every office-seeker who offers to purchase a vote for himself.
Sec. 4. Disfranchise for life and put in the pen for five years every office-seeker, of any party, who is caught either arming a negro or soliciting a negro's vote.
Sec. 5. Disfranchise for life and put in the pen for one year every man caught either selling or giving away whisky on election day.
Sec. 6. Number all ballots and allow no man to vote who is ashamed to let the world know who he votes for.
The above is respectfully submitted to the Constitutional Convention with the hope that its adoption will help them to release their hold on the white elephant, on whose tail they now seem to have a death grip. It will run away from the polls all the thieves and robbers and will guarantee an honest ballot, a fair count, and honest men in office.
From the Franklin Times.
Report has it that the convention has agreed that the basis of representation in the Legislature and future State conventions shall be based upon population, instead of votes. If the negro is disfranchised by this convention, matters will stand in this attitude. Franklin county, with a white vote of 3036 will have one member of the Legislature, while Lowndes county, with only 1138 white voters, will have two representatives. In other words, one white man's vote in Lowndes will be worth a little over five white men's votes in Franklin. Is this right or just in any sense of the word? The negro ought to and should be disfranchised vote. So in the State conventions that nominate the State officials, Lowndes county has one delegate to each 100 white voters, while Franklin has one to each 750.
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Date
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July 21, 1901
1901-07-21.jpg