Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-01

| MI. 1elShtl Sdlu tueTt ullSub arise al
exigency in which it might be absolutely
necessary for the State to increase her
debt to save her claim in railroad, or pre-
vent it from falling into the hands of an
| inimical corporation. He claimed that a
bOndholder could have nothing to say in
the sale of railroad in which the State
had lien.
Mr.. House, of Montgomery, said if
there was ever partnership in the world
that ought to be dissolved, it was that of
the State with her railroads. They were
the dead bodies which were tied to Ten
nessee. He thought the State ought to be
thankful if anybody would come along
and bid the amount of the State debt and
take the road off her hands.
Mr.. Stephens explained that all the OBJ
| jections of gentlemen had been discussed
in the committee, and they had settled
upon the middle ground which had been
embodied in the report as safest
On motion of Mr.. Dibrell, the amend
ments offered to the committees propo-
sition were laid on the table by the fol-
lowing vote:
Yeas-Messrs. Baxter, BransOn, BrittOn,
Brooks, Burkett, Campbell, Carter, ChOwn-
ing, Coffin, Cummings, Cypert, Deaderick,
Davenport, Dibrell, Fentress, Finley,
Fulkerson, Gardner, Gaut, Gibbs, Gibson,
Heiskell, Henderson, Hill, of Gibson,
Iyie, Jones, of Giles, Key, Kirkpatrick,
Kyle, Mabry, McNabb, Martin, Neither
land, Nicholson, Parker, Porterof Hay
wood, Sample, Seay, Shepard, Stephens,
e
Warner, and Williamson-46.
Noes-Messrs. Arledge, Blizzard, Bran
don, Brown of Davidson, Brown of Hen
~, Carroll, Gibson and Madison, Burton,
Doherty, Dromgoole, Fielder, Garner,
Hill of Warren, House of Williamson,
House of Davidson and Montgomery,
Jones of Lincoln, Kennedy, McDougal,
Morris, Meeks, Porter of Henry, Thomp-
son of Davidson, Walters, Wright, Mr.
President Brownies.
The section, as reported by the Com
mittee, was now adopted.
Mr.. Netherland proposed the following
as a separate article:
Sec. =. That the counties of Granger,
Hawkins, Hancock, Sullivan, Coffee,
Grundy, Van Buren,, White, Cooke, An
derson and Roane be excepted out of
Article II, section 20, of this Constitution,
and that the assent of majority of the
qualified voters of said counties shall be
sufficient when the credit of such county
is given or loaned to any person, assOcia-
ton or corporation.
He said the people were anxious to
make improvements in his end of the
State, and he hoped that the Convention
would except those counties.
Mr.. Thompson, of Davidson, proposed
to amend by making the time of cxcep
ton ten years.
By consent of the introducer, the con-
sideration of the proposition was post
pOned.
Mr.. Morris, of Dickson, was granted
leave to record his vote on the suffrage
question. lie stated that he had voted
against the poll tax provision, but wished
to vote in the affirmative on the adoption
Of the report of the majority of the COM
mittce.
Mr.. Arledge recorded his vote on the
same question in the negative.
Mr. Gibbs entered motion to recon-
slider the vote adopting section-5 of the
Legislative Department. The section
reads as follows:
The number of Representatives shall,
at the several periods of making the Gnu
meration, be apportioned among the sew
eral counties or districts, according to the
number Of qualified voters in each; and
shall not exceed seventy-five, until the
population of the State shall be one mil
lion and half, and shall never thereafter
exceed ninety nine, provided: That any
county having two-thirds of the ratio
shall be entitled to one member.
Mr.. Davenport made some remarks on
the question, and desired that it be post
poned till there was fuller house.
Mr.. Heisken moved to lay the motion
to reconsider on the table, but withdrew
it to allow Mr.. Dibren to explain. He
said that on Saturday he had offered an
amendment that every county having
1900 voters should be entitled to a repre-
sentative. The tendency was that the
large towns by growth would, under the
present law, finally mOnopolize nearly all
the representation.
Mr.. Heiskell said that they had con-
sidered this thing fully in the committee
and had come to the conclusion that the
best thing they could do was to leave the
matter as it had been left by the COnven-
ton of 1884 They had thought it max
ing ample concession to give them the
benefit of the two-third ratio.
Mr.. Stephens said there had been an
anxiety on the part of some gentlemen to
have this section reconsidered SO that the
two-third ratio might be stricken out, but
he had prevailed upon them to leave it as
it now stood
Mr. Jones, of Lincoln, said the only fair
system of representation was to give to
every 1,5O0 voters Representative. There
was no justice in territorial representation.
Several of the members spoke, after
which the ayes and noes were taken on the
motion to lay the motion to reconsider on
the table. The result was-ayes, 81; noes,
81.
The Convention then adjourned.