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—_ — - f ~ Ne Moreover, “since the constitutional commend is without restriction or ~ . a limitation, the right, unlike those guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Amendments, is secured aqainst the action of individuals aa well as of states." Ib. at 315 Mr. Justice Stone, for the Court, spelled out the rationale: “"“The right to participate in the choice of representatives for Congress . . . is protected just as the right to vote at the election, where the primary is by law made an in- tegral part of the election machinery. .. . Uniess the constitutional protection of the integrity of ‘elections’ extends to primary elections, Congress is left powerless . to effect the constitutional purpose, . .“" 313 U.S. at 318, 319. The innumerable cases in this Circuit involving civil rights &peak eloquently against the use of economic coercion, intimidation, and violence to inhibit Negroes from applying for registration. This inter- ference with nationally guaranteed rights, whether by public officials or private persons corrupts the purity ef the political process on which the existence and health of the National Government depend. No one has expressed this better than Judge Rives in United States v. Wood, 5 Cir. 1961, 295 F.2d 772; cert. denied 369 U.S. e50(1962)- In Wood the inter- organizer ference Was in the form of.groundless prosecution of a Negro/who had set up a registration school in Walthall County, Mississippi, where no Negroes had ever registered. He was not even qualified to vote in the county where the intimidatory acts occurred; he was a resident of another county. In reversing the district judge's refusai to stay the state prosecution, '-the Fifth Cireuit noted that the alleged coercion was of the kind the 1957 Act was intended to reach.. Judge Rives; for the Court, said: “fhe foundation of our form of government is the consent of che governed. Whenever any person interferes with the vigit of any other person to vote or to vate as he may chosse, he acts like a political termite to destroy a part _of that foundation. A single texmite or many termites may pass unnoticed, but each damages the foundation, and if that process is allowed to continue the whole structure may crumbie and fall even before the occupants become aware of their peril, Eradication of political termites, or at least checking theiz activities, is necessary to prevent irreparable damage to our Government." ‘