ling to retain the right of suffrage and, of course, were
attacking in the courts those restrictions primarily directed toward
the elimination of the Negroes from the electorate. The Supreme Court
of the United States generally shrank from these cases by disclaiming
jurisdiction. In _Ex Parte Siebold_,[59] _Ex Parte Yarborough_,[60]
and _In re Coy_,[61] however, the general jurisdiction of Federal
courts over matters involved in the election of national officers was
affirmed. The court held that it had jurisdiction in the election case
in _Wiley_ v. _Sinkler_,[62] when there was brought an action to
recover damages of an election board for wilfully rejecting a
citizen's vote for a member of the House of Representatives. In
_Swafford_ v. _Templeton_[63] a suit was brought for damages for the
alleged wrongful refusal by the defendants at an election of officers
to permit the plaintiff to vote at a national election for a member of
the House of Representatives. It was held that the court had
jurisdiction.

From the Supreme Court of the United States, however, the Negroes
received little encouragement, in as much as the right of suffrage,
with its requirements of property ownership and the literacy test,
could be withheld from the Negro without specifically discriminating
against any one on account of race or color. In _Southy_ v.
_Virginia_, 181 U. S., Revised Statutes, of the United States, Cont.
St. 1901, pages 37-42, providing that every person who prevents,
hinders, controls or intimidates another from exercising the right of
suffrage, to whom that right is guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment
of the Constitution of the United States, by means of bribery, etc.,
shall be punished, was held invalid as it was considered to be beyond
the constitutional power of Congress to act in such a case except in
that of race discrimination. If the discrimination is in a State or
municipal election, however, Congress may intervene, if the
discrimination is shown, but not until then.

In the case of _Giles_ v. _Harris_[64] there was brought to the
Supreme Court a bill in equity, complaining that Negroes qualified to
vote for members of Congress had been refused on account of their
color by virtue of the Alabama constitution, whereas white men were
registered to vote at such an election. Relief was asked for on the
basis of the Revised Statutes, Sec. 1979, praying that the Supreme
Court should order that the petitioner be registered