Fraternity-Testvériség, 1965 (43. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1965-12-01 / 12. szám

FRATERNITY

3

IT’S GOOD TO KNOW

THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION — LIMITATION OF SUFFRAGE BY LAW

On November 1, 1890 — 75 years ago — Mississippi, first admitted to the Union as the 20th State in 1817, adopted its present state constitution. It contains a number of provisions designed to prevent Negroes from voting and its provisions were copied by other southern states. One clause provides that no one can vote in Mississippi unless he is able to read and interpret the United States Constitution. Under Mississippi’s state constitution, also, voters are required to live in the state for two years and to have paid all taxes before voting. These constitutional stumbling blocks which, added to unofficial pressures, had reduced voting in Mississippi to barely 20 per cent of the potential voting population, are one of the targets of the civil rights legislation

recently enacted by Congress. — (A. C. N. S.)

JAMES KNOX POLK — FIRST "DARK HORSE" PRESIDENT

On November 2, 1795 — 170 years ago — James Knox Polk, the

eleventh President of the United States, was born in North Carolina.

After practicing law in Tennessee, he was elected to the state legislature in 1823, and two years later to the U. S. House of Representatives. As a Democratic candidate for the Presidency, he defeated the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, in the election of 1844. Polk was called the

“dark horse” candidate, as he was unexpectedly nominated after the balloting at the convention resulted in a deadlock betweeen the leading contenders. If the party leaders who nominated him expected they

would run his administration, they were sadly disappointed. Polk quietly followed an independent policy and achieved four major objectives: the acquisition of California, the settlement of the Oregon dispute with England, reduction of the tariff and the establishment of an independent treasury. — (A. C. N. S.)

THE FIRST AUTOMOBILE PATENT IN THE UNITED STATES

On November 5, 1895 — 70 years ago — the first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Geo. B. Seiden, a Rochester (N. Y.) lawyer. He had applied for the patent in 1879, but by clever

legal technicalities the actual issuing of this patent was delayed 16 years, so that the original patent rights would not expire until 1912.

George Seiden sold his rights in 1899, realizing in all only about

S200.000 on his idea of applying an internal combustion engine to the propulsion of a vehicle. Several leading companies took licenses under this patent, while others, led by Ford, refused to do so, carrying on a litigation which continued from 1903 to 1911. When the Seiden patent