The Watchman And Southron

The inability of the Supreme Court to take up and decide the question of the constitutionality of the Registration Law at the present term, and the postponement of the hearing until the November term—after the State election—allows the present state of affairs to remain in statu quo, and gives the General Assembly an opportunity to perform an imperative, but heretofore neglected duty. The next Legislature, if it has any regard for what is absolutely necessary to the perpetuation of a white man's government in South Carolina, will enact an election law embodying the Australian system. This system is just and bears equally upon all classes of citizens. It violates none of the rights of citizenship, and is an ever present and effective bulwark against the capture of the government by the ignorant and venal classes. The present law is unjust and arbitrarily deprives citizens of the right of suffrage for failure to comply with the letter of the law. The law on its face gives the clearest evidence that it was framed for the particular purpose of depriving of suffrage those who, from ignorance or other cause, failed to comply with the letter of the law. The law is undoubtedly doomed, for few doubt its unconstitutionality, and the Legislature must provide a constitutional and just remedy for the evils sure to arise from unrestricted suffrage.