A Primary Difficulty

"The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude"--thus reads the 15th Amendment to the Constitution as ratified in 1870.

People say: "Oh, yes, that is the Constitution, but the Southern States get around it by 'grandfather clauses' in their Constitutions prohibiing any one from voting if his grandfather did not vote." As a matter of fact, there is no such clause in the Constitution of any Southern State at the present time. Other and equally, if not more, effective means have been found to keep Negroes from voting.

Frank R. Kent, in his recent book, The Great Game of Politics* lists seven checks now applied to the Negro in politics:

1) The "white" primary;

2) Educational qualifications;

3) The poll tax;

4) The selfishness of white Republican leaders;

5) The strength of white public sentiment against Negro participation;

6) The habit of not voting;

7) The futility of voting.

The first of these, the white primary, was recently put on the statute books of Texas. A law was passed prohibiting Negroes from taking part in Democratic primaries in the State. Inasmuch as the Democratic Party is practically supreme in Texas, the Democratic primary, as far as importance goes, really takes the place of the election. The new Texas law is about to be tested in the courts to see whether it conflicts with the Amendment above quoted. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is undertaking the fight. It announced in a recent bulletin:

"The N. A. A. C. P. fight is 'being undertaken against a new law which was enforced at the recent primary of July 26.

"At that election, Dr. L. A. Nixon, a colored citizen of El Paso, and a regular Democrat of many years' standing, who had voted in previous Democratic primaries, presented himself at the polls and was denied the privilege of casting his ballot.

"Dr. Nixon has brought suit for $5,000 damages against election judges C. C. Herndon and Charles Porras. Dr. Nixon's attorneys being F. C. Knollenberg, a member of the local N. A. A. C. P., and Robert J. Channell."

* THE GREAT GAME OF POLITICS--Frank R. Kent--Doubleday ($2,00).