The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-09
oARoLINA's NEW CONSTITUTION.
Butler Makes some Caustic Criti-
eism. on the Delegates and Their
Work

eism. on the Delegates nnd Their
Work
Columbia. S. c., Nov Seen NJ. C.
Butler passed through the city yesterday
on his way home from the north. He
was here long enough for your CORES
pendent TO gets his views on the work of
the constitutional convention. Asked
what he thought Of the proceedings of the
convention. he replied, that he knew
nothing of them, except what he had
seen in the papers. He was much i'm
pressed with Uncle George Tnmans
township government scheme, ana said
he thought that was the most sensible
thing that had been proposed in the con-
Vention Said he: The township. or
town, government is the purest and best
form OF democracy, and, IN my Judgment,
would accomplish all that Mr Tlman
claims for it,
Asked what he thought of the suffrage
plan, he replied:
Il can't very wen conceive a more OBJ
Jectionable one. If adopted 30 viii open
wide the door TO fraud and cheating. and
VIII dtsfranchise white men whose only
onense Is their poverty anu ilitcracy. 1t
would be a cruel and heartless wrong to
that class Of our fell0W-Citizeus. which
nothing can justify. II honestly admin
istered il must disfranchise this class Of
Mhite men. II they are permitted 20 vote
IL can only be done by pracucing fraud.
and l thought that was what we are
trying to get away from. Unfortunately,
or fortunately, according 70 the stand
point from which II IS viewed, the early
promoters of this scheme have proclaim
ed from the house tops that their pur-
pose was TO allow the white man to vote
and to disfranchise the negro. Does any
body but an idiot suppose that the next
republican congress Will not be in pos
session of every utteTance OF these dis
Greet and sagacious statesmen. and con-
strue the committees scheme i'm the light
OF cOntempOraneOus construction placed
upon IL by its authors2 Congress is not
constrained by judicial construction. but
is the sole judge of the qualifications of
its own members. What would a repub-
iican congress be supposed to do that had
been advised I'm advance that a large part
OF It's constituency had been DISTINGUISHED
IN the election of It's members IL seems
to me that the blind advocates of this
scheme ought to heed and guard against
what might happen in the future, but they
do not appear to. If they are ambitious
Tor few more force bills and recon
struction, they are pursuing the course to
get them.
'One thing, 1 think, the latter-day
statesmen may congratulate themselves
upon, Is that they have done more TO
bring the negro prominently to the front.
and again make him a national issue
than anything since 1856. Whatever may
be our opinion of negro suffrage, and l
nave no hesitation in saying that, in my
opinion, greater crime was never per
petrated against civilization he has that
right under the constitution of the Uni-
ted States, and it behOOves these distin-
guished statesmen to keep that constant
ly in view"
Have you thought OF a plan of suffrage
for this slater
YES, but 1t would be a waste of time
to outline IL. OF the schemes so far sug-
gested, / think Mr.. Patton.s the best
That may be open to criticism, as any
proposition would be, but on the whole I
believe that comes nearer meeting the
difficulties than any ] have seen. If that
government scheme could be adopted, /
am quite sure we would have safe deliv-
erance.
ing the discussions IN the convention.
Many of the speakers seem to proceed on
the theory that the people are ehldren.
incapable of lf-gQVenn msnt, OF 'knoWlns
what is best for them. That they must
have the paternal care, and guardian
ship of the government. Ihls was not
ably so in the discussion on the home
stead and county government revisions,
and in the division of the counties But
this is only another indication OF the
trend of events in this country, the cen
tralization of power in the hands OF the
few, and robbing the people Of their rights
of sovereignty. The proposition to give
the governor power to remove at ms
pleasure an officer elected by the people,
the dispensary, metropolitan police, state
constabulary, etc, ETC.. are al meas ures
along that line. Some day the people VIII
wake IN and find themselves bound ndnd
and foois and their personal liberties IN
the hands of some tyrannical charla-
tan"
What do you think of Senator Irby' S
scheme 10 submit the question Of the
constitutionality of one provision of the
suffrage ordinance to the supreme court
he was asked Senator Butler replied;
well, that strikes me as some " nat
peculiar and novel. Does 1t not look like
confessing that the convention is ineap-
able of deciding what is and what is not
constitutional? / do not see how the SUI
preme court-the state supreme court
can help them. If the supreme court had
been allowed to decide the case made by
DR.. Samps Pope, perhaps the convention
and the people generally would have been
spared this humiliation. The convention
cannot escape responsibility in this way.
II remember during the canvass last
summer, some of the stump orators would
talk about calling a constitutional con-
ventfon very much as If it was of no more
sonceQuence than a Saturday club meet
ing at some cross roads. Oh they would
saw. 1T would not cost much. The " Ork
can be done in two or three weeks, etc.
Some of these same wiseacres are for
throwing out a hawser to the supreme
court. asking to be hauled TO landing,
after more than six weeks in the trou-
bled waters of making a constitution.
zone thing / would like TO make a
little wager on The promoters of the
constitutional convention viii be too
cowardly to submit their work to vote
of the people. WIN you take it."