Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/333

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

so the satisfaction of any one of the four is sufficient. Manhood suffrage, as provided by the "Foraker Act"[63] of 1900, is still in force in Porto Rico. But this seems destined soon to give way to a restricted suffrage. Secretary of War Dickinson has recently issued a report on the conditions in Porto Rico in which he suggests an amendment of the suffrage laws to the effect that, after the general election of 1910, the qualified voters for any election shall consist only of citizens of the United States, who, with such other qualifications as are required by the laws of Porto Rico, "are able to read and write; or on the day of registration shall own taxable real estate in their own right and name; or who are on said day bona fide members of a firm or corporation which shall own taxable real estate in the name of such firm or corporation; or on the day of registration shall possess and produce to the Board of Registration tax receipts showing the payment of any kind of taxes for the last six months of the year in which the election is held." President Taft, in transmitting the report to Congress, indorsed Secretary Dickinson's suggestions, saying[63]: "It is much better in the interests of the people of the island that the suffrage should be limited by an educational and property qualification." The above suffrage qualifications for the insular possessions of the United States is evidence that the attitude of Congress toward universal suffrage has been considerably modified within recent years.


CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SUFFRAGE AMENDMENTS

The first "Suffrage Amendment" of the Southern States, that of Mississippi, was adopted twenty years ago,