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3816
the constitutional amendment does not apply to the preceding 
year, not to the current year?   Is not that so? Mr. LINNEY.   But it 
affects this year also, the year 1899, because the poll tax required to 
be paid is the tax due on the 1st day of March prior to the election 
and in the hands of the sheriff for collection. Mr. KLUTTZ.   Is it not 
so? Mr. LINNEY.   Let that be as it may -- Mr. KLUTTZ.   Is not 
that so?   I ask an answer. Mr. LINNEY.   That was the preceding 
year.   The preceding year means the year for which the taxes were 
collectible prior to the election.   But substantially it applies to this 
year (1899 taxes). If such a provision as that now under consideration 
here were enforced in North Carolina, 700 white men of that county 
would be disfranchised because of their misfortune.   I am willing 
that crime may disfranchise, but not the failure to pay a tax of $1. 
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I shall vote against this amendment; 
and I hope that the Republican side of this House will not vote to 
adopt it, because - mark my prediction - in any State where such a 
provision may be adopted the result will be the disfranchising of 
thousands of the best kind of men.   If a man is poor and ignorant, the 
ballot in his hands is an educator.   Take that from him, and he will 
never shake off either the poverty or ignorance that degrades him.   
No country can afford to withhold from the poor and ignorant the 
only power that can elevate them. Mr. KNOX.   Mr. Chairman, I 
ask for a vote. The CHAIRMAN.   The question is on agreeing to the 
amendment offered by the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. WILLIAMS]. 
The question being taken, the Chairman announced that the noes 
appeared to have it.  Mr. WILLIAMS of Mississippi demanded a 
division. The committee divided; and there were - ayes 55, noes 82. 
Mr. WILLIAMS of Mississippi.   Mr. Chairman, I have another 
amendment. The CHAIRMAN.   The gentleman from Mississippi 
offers an amendment, which the Clerk will report. The Clerk read as 
follows:
In line 3, page 74, after the word "government," add "and the registration shall 
be held at least six months before the election."
Mr. WILLIAMS of Mississippi.  Mr. Chairman, the amendment is 
simply this: To add, after the word "government," in line 3, this 
language:      And the registration shall be held at least six months before the 
election.
I offer the amendment in that form in order to obviate certain 
objections that were made to it in its other form, and for the purpose 
of making it the poll tax of the current year instead of the poll tax 
of the previous year, yet at the same time to prevent all temptation 
to election manipulators and political corruptionists to buy votes by 
paying the poll tax. Mr. ROBINSON of Indiana.   What does the 
gentleman say with reference to clothing the legislature of Hawaii 
with the power to regulate that domestic affair? Mr. WILLIAMS of 
Mississippi.   We are now fixing the suffrage qualifications for 
Hawaii.   If you are going to leave it to Hawaii to fix them, why, 
then do that.   If there is anybody here who wants to run the risk of 
Kanaka rule in the islands of Hawaii, to run the risk of those 
Kanakas overthrowing and overturning the white people in those 
islands, then let him leave the entire matter of the suffrage to the 
people of Hawaii, making everybody out there voters, as you have 
done in other Territories. Now, I for one do not believe in that.   I 
for one opposed the admission of Hawaii, and did not want its 
destinies committed to my charge; but since it is here, I want white 
civilization in Hawaii, and I do not want Kanaka rule.   So much in 
answer to the gentleman's question. Mr. ROBINSON of Indiana.   I 
would suggest to the gentleman from Mississippi, however -- Mr. 
OLMSTED.   Do you want that sort of a law in this Territory that 
will permit voting on the principle on which it is done in 
Mississippi, which sends seven Congressmen here with a total 
Congressional vote in the entire State of less than 25,000? Mr. 
WILLIAMS of Mississippi.   Mr. Chairman, I have, perhaps, less 
respect for the ad hominem argument than almost any man, but 
since the gentleman has made it, I might reply that yon have 
already given Hawaii the Mississippi constitution, with this 
difference, and this difference only, that in Mississippi, after we 
had adopted these clauses, we broadened the suffrage by another 
one, and you have not. Now, this is not a question to be discussed in 
a partisan spirit. I am not here for the purpose of bringing 
Mississippi into the discussion.   You did not adopt these provisions 
because Mississippi had adopted them.   You adopted them by the 
unanimous voice of the committee, because, under the 
circumstances, they seemed wise provisions to be adopted.   Your 
committee have acted wisely and well in adopting the educational 
qualification, and yon are

going to adopt it, and also the poll-tax provision with or without my 
amendment. Mr. OLMSTED.   Your amendment will not permit a man 
to be registered or to vote if he happens to move from one side of the 
street to the other into a new election precinct within six months 
preceding the election. Mr. WILLIAMS of Mississippi.   I beg the 
gentleman's pardon. I can not hear him and talk at the same time.   
Leaving him and his suggestions aside, which I have not heard, I say 
that the committee have acted wisely in adopting the educational 
qualification, in the first place, and also in adopting a qualification 
which will prevent, to a large extent, the votes of the thriftless and 
careless, and those who are indifferent to the sacredness of the 
suffrage as one of the most precious possessions of an American 
citizen.   Any man who is willing to be bribed for a dollar not to vote 
is a man who does not attach sufficient weight to the franchise to be 
worthy to vote. Mr. WHITE.   What should be done with the man 
who offers the bribe? Mr. WILLIAMS of Mississippi.   You should 
give him no opportunity to offer it.   That is what I am attempting to 
provide against.   If you are going to adopt this provision of a poll 
tax, then, for heaven's sake, adopt it in such a way as that it may not 
become a mere piece of machinery for political corruption.   If you 
want to have a poll tax, why should you leave it in such a condition 
that politicians can come upon election day, or a little time prior to 
that, and by paying the sum of $1 poll tax for each voter bribe those 
voters to cast their ballots?   The amendment which I offer is a 
provision for the safeguarding or purification of the ballot.   Either 
leave the poll-tax provision out or else let the poll tax be paid a 
sufficient time prior to the election to be certain of the fact that it 
shall not be an engine of corruption. Now, the amendment is simply 
that "the registration shall take place six months before the election."   
It takes place by Hawaiian law quite a while before the election now, 
but I fear present legal provisions might be changed later. Mr. 
KNOX.   Let us have a vote. Mr. UNDERWOOD.   I move to strike 
out the last word. The CHAIRMAN.   That motion would not be in 
order. Mr. UNDERWOOD.   Mr. Chairman, I believe this as a new 
amendment. The CHAIRMAN.   It would be open to five minutes' 
debate against the amendment.   Does the gentleman desire to be 
recognized for that purpose? Mr. UNDERWOOD.   No; I wish to 
offer an amendment to the amendment. The CHAIRMAN.   The 
amendment is not amendable.   The amendment itself is an 
amendment to an amendment. Mr. ROBINSON of Indiana.   I desire to 
be recognized in opposition to the amendment. Mr. KNOX.   Will the 
gentleman permit a statement which does not affect this pending 
question?   As the time is getting so near when we are to take a vote 
that the probability is that we shall not finish the reading of the bill, 
1 desire to say that there are committee amendments to one or two 
sections which there is no dispute about, which are desired by both 
sides of the House. One is upon the last section, to the provision 
requiring the Chinese to register.   There has been an apprehension 
that under that law they would have the right to come into the 
United States, and it is not the purpose of the committee that they 
should,   I ask unanimous consent that that amendment to section 
103 may be offered now. and the other section passed over 
temporarily. Mr. RICHARDSON.   There are thirty-odd sections to 
the bill not yet read. Mr. KNOX.   We can agree, perhaps, upon the 
others, but why not let this be offered? Mr. RICHARDSON.   I think 
we should proceed in the regular way. Mr. WILLIAMS of 
Mississippi.   I call for a vote on the pending amendment. The 
CHAIRMAN.   The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. ROBINSON] is 
recognized against the amendment. Mr. ROBINSON of Indiana.   Mr. 
Chairman, much that the gentleman from Mississippi has said with 
reference to the amendment he proposes I consider inapplicable in 
Hawaii.   We have heard much of the missionaries there, much of 
the Dole family compact, and the difficulty is that if those in power 
there were clothed with more privileges, with more chances to take 
advantage of the rank and file of the people, it would prove 
disastrous to the people. All of those who are here representing 
Hawaii are united as to the wisdom of these provisions which are 
presented by the committee.   A condition prevails there that does 
not exist in this country, and I think if the situation was understood 
that the rank and file of the people there would be better subserved 
and their interests better protected by adopting the committee 
section.

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