venient to
convict him.

(2) The penalty for not paying taxes almost a year before election day
is a disqualification from voting. But this of course is not the sole
penalty. Whether he is a qualified elector or not, every man must in the
case of real property pay his taxes, or suffer the loss of his property,
and certainly no man, not even the poorest of the Negroes and poor
whites, can escape the obligation of the poll tax by a mere forfeiture
of his right to vote.[11] Thus the penalty for not paying taxes is
twofold in so far as the Negro is concerned. The poor white man may or
may not experience any difficulty about producing "to the officer
holding the election satisfactory evidence that he has paid his taxes."

(3) The Negro who may desire to vote must answer under oath not certain
specific interrogatories concerning his antecedents and former places of
residence, but to "truly answer all questions propounded" to him, with
the understanding that the slightest mistake will be construed as a
corrupt and willful false statement exposing him to prosecution for
perjury, thus rendering him everlastingly disqualified to vote.

When, under the foregoing provision the white male inhabitants of the
state became qualified electors, the following provision, being section
244 of article 12 of the constitution of Mississippi, went into
operation:

"On and after the first day of January, 1892, every elector in
addition to the foregoing qualifications, shall be able to read any
section of the constitution of this state; or shall be able to
understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable
interpretation thereof."

This section contains the so-called educational test, and the elector's
qualifications under it are determined by a registration officer whose
discretion is as limitless as his prejudices. The registration officers
of South Carolina acting under a similar provision of the constitution
of that state required the Negroes who offered themselves for
registration to understand and explain section 4 of article 5 of the
constitution of South Carolina, which is as follows:

"The supreme courts shall have power to issue writs or orders of
injunctions, mandamus, quo warranto, prohibition, certiorari,
habeas corpus, and other original and remedial writs, etc."

Fearing apparently that these provisions of the constitution might not
prove a sufficient barrier to the Negro's in