The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-12-04
Afraid of the People.
army.

The only terms under which a constitu-
tional convention can be convened show
that the opponents of a convention dstrust
the people. 'No convention shall hereafter
be held for the purpose of altering or
amending the constitution of this state,
unless the question of convention or no
convention shall be first submitted to
vote of all the electors of the state, and
approved by a majority of those voting at
said election These are the words OF the
present constitution, and convention can
rot be convened within the law unless the
call for 1t be first ratified by the people.
Under such a safeguard the desire of
respectable minority should be needed; but
certain men and certain interests now pro-
pose to disregard-to veto-to thwart the
will of at least nlne-tenths of the white
voters of the state.
Representative government ceases to be
representative if the representatives refuse
to heed the plain, known, unmistakable and
deliberate will of the people. The Age
Herald unhesitatingly declares, without
fear of successful contradiction, that the
white people of Alabama do desire a con-
stitutional convention. 1t further asserts,
without fear of contradiction that this de-
sire is we'll established and well known.
1t follows therefore that a constitutional
proposition must be submitted if repre-
sentative government is to remain vital
actual fart this state
This distrust of the people goes very deep.
If the peoples known will can be disre-
garded and discarded in so important
matter as their organic lava matter that
concerns every white man, woman and
child in the state, as the recent trouble in
North Carolina plainly indicates-then rep
resentatlve government becomes an unsafe
dependence-a mere fiction, available only
when the popular will suits the notions of
representatives.
But it has been said that only the suf-
frage article needs amendment, and that
convention is not needed for that purpose.
In the first place, this statement of the
situation is not within the pale of fact.
The constitution is distrustful of the peo-
ple 1t was framed under exceptional pres
sure and circumstances, growing out of a
great civil war, all of which have become
memories only. 1t restricts the growth and
progress of the state. 1t is thoroughly out
of date, as nearly all constitutions are in
prosperous communities after twenty years,
and the state needs new constitution,
drawn on modern, although conservative,
lines. The entire instrument needs re-
modelling. 'Why not says the Roanoke
Leader, array Alabama, the fairest daugh-
ter in the union, in a new and becoming
robe, so that she will command not o1ty
the admiration of her people at home, but
brains and capital from abroad?
This does not, however, go to the mar
row of the case. The people of the state
ask for the submission of a convention
proposition, not for the submission of an
amendment. That should settle it. The
representative who refuses to heed the de-
sire of his constituents is not, except tech
nically, a representative; and perhaps the
best remedy now open for the people con-
sists in the accumulation at some central
point of a monster petition setting forth in
black and white the will of the people con-
corning the constitution.