The age-herald., 1897-11-07
7ne EDroDOSedH-o
 Constitutional Convention

thres-fourths of 1 per cent; no county shall levy larger rate than one of one per .centum, with power, however, to levy
 special taxes for bridges and public buildings; and municipal corporations shall rot levy nor collect larger rate than one-half of one per cant. of the value of property as assessed for state taxation the preceding year. Mobile. being in 1875 city of some prominence
 secuted more liberal powers. No com
 plaint has been heard as to the insuf- ficiency of the general rate allowed to the state and county, but 1t has devel- oped that our larger towns and cities cannot maintain themselves deeently
 with the rate allowed. We all know that assessments for, state and county taxes
 are not made at a full figure and this low rate of valuation must be followed
 by the municipalities. As a result of in sufiic'len revenues money has been bor-
 rowed by the sale of bonds to make nec- essary improvements and to erect schools and city buildings. Bonds can no longer
 be sold, since no assurance of ability to pay interest can be given. Indeed, many
 of our towns and cities have found themselves unable to meet their interest.
 Even great Birmingham has found it necessary to send a commission to in- terview it's bondhoniders, and to ask for
 an extension as to one-half of its accTu-
 ing interest. Tn this way the public
 credit of our municipalities has received @ severs blow, winch has likew.se affected
 the credit of our people generally in the
 money markets. The constitution also
 provides that mo power to levy taxes
 shall be delegated to individuals or prf-
 valte corporations" This has been held
 by the supreme court to deny to the leg dsiature to power to vest in school dis tricts the right of local taxation for school purposes, which would seem to be
 essential to the maintenance of a thorough common school system.
 Suffrage and Elections
 Every one knows that we have condi- tions in the south, and in Ala bama,
 winch call for wisdom and special con- sideration when qualifications for suf-
 frage are to be fiNsd By the cons titu- ton of 1875 no educational or proper;y qualification shall be made by law, and every male citizen of the United States
 and every male citizen of foraign birth,
 who has declared his intention to be-
 come citizen, of the age of 21 years or upwards unless he be an idiot or insane person, or has been convicted of treason or felony. That these restrictions should be narrowed hardly admits of question. Other states have solved the problem under conditions very similar to those existing lpare, and we can take counsel from their experience.
 Difficulty of Amendments
 It is admitted by all that our present constitution is imperfect in many par ticulars, and that it should be improved, built has been urged that this should be done, not by cal ling 8 convention to frame an entirely new instrument, but
 by am=nding the one we already have.
 Our experience in this line has not been
 very encouraging or satisfactory. The
 constitution can be amended only in the
 manner it points out that is to say, the
 general assembly by 8 vote of two-
 thirds of each houss may propose
 anlsrl sments and these must be ratified by vote of ma joTity of the electors
 voting at the next general election held for rsprese ntatives It is not enough
 that such amendments receive the ap-
 proval of majority of the persors who
 vote upon them, but it must affitma- lively appear that ma ajcrity of the
 electors voting at the election express approval by casting a vote in thsllr fa-
 vor. Under these circumstances fail
 ure to vote is in effect an adverse vote, and several amendments submitted to the people have failed because sufficient interest in them could not be aroused to induce a majority of the voters to exrrses themselves affiLmatively in favor of the amendments, although in point of fact, it was not believed that a mia jcrIty of the people were opposed to them. We have evsry reason to believe, there fore, that if we are to have amy sub stantlan improvement, any material change, it will be necessary to call con- vention to frame a. new constitution
 symmetrical and Harmonious through
 out, in keeping with the needs of the | times; and I submit that this would be far preferable to a patchwork affair,
 such as would r:sult from seeking
 merely to. amend the present constftu- ton. .ste