The age-herald., 1899-10-08

September 30, 1898 .................. 75.2i3 9 September 30, 1899 .................. ln,Ol9.o9
 During nearly every year except the last
 two the last quarter of the public school
 money was not paid and remained
 charge against the cash, aggregating about S75,000.
 Confidence Establisi ed
 The laws are enforced Mob law has al- most ceased: in but one single instance has | the jail been robbed of prisoners, and not | a dollar has been lost from the default of | a public official during my term, except l in the Lot case. More furnaces and fac | tories and mills are in operation and course | of erection In the state than ever before, | money is coming in to develop our mineral | and timber resources in larger volume than | at any previous time in our history, and 1 confidence has been established, not only 1 in our splendid resources, but in the justice ! of our laws, their impartial enforcement
 and the security of life and property. Convicts are humanely treated, their i health zealously guarded and an industrial
 school for wayward children is about to be | established.
 | Resentment Incurred
 Every leak that has been stopped has
 caused a sudden thirst to some chronic l sucker.
 | Every abuse has had a parasite to howl 1 when it died and every man who has been
 restrained from pulling nubbins through ! the cracks of the public crib haS damned | the admins tration.
 There can be little surprise that poiti- 1 clans and place hunters who were in the | business for revenue only, were bitterly op- i posed to methods that denied them access | to the treasury or immunity for their de- ! faults and neglgences. If campaign funds could not be recruited from the peoples money or unfaithful or incompetent of- i ficials saved from exposure and restitution, or friends provided with fat places, hvlng | by politics is no more desirable than by | other employment.
 | Newspapers unable to dictate appoint- i ments and policies and legislation are just | ly offended at the idea of governor con- | ducting the administration merely In the
 Interest of the people. such theory could | not be tolerated by those who had long
 been the unlawful beneficares of wastful expenditures.
 | If the peoples money could not be used | to secure favors and inforeements the | governor must be denounced and villihed to | such an extent that no successor Wouio | dare pursue like methods.
 Tn, Constitutional Convention | This infuriated the leaders of the con
 vention movement; they called on the press 1 and our senators and congressman and oth- CT adherents to gather at the capitol 10 denounce me for daring to assemble the peoples representatives to reconsider an 1 act they had passed and to overawe and lntlmldate the HleD1DeTS Ol uiic SShCioi o'S l sembly It was boldly asserted by sup 1 posedly wise and venerable men that the | legislature had no power to repeal an act it had passed; it was declared that this | particular act, like the law Of the Medes 1 and Persians, altered not The members | were urged to adjourn immediately upon | assembling; to pay no attention to any l message from the governor or the wishes | of their constituents Those who favored | repeal were denounced as unfaithful to their party; madness seemed to reign, ana the very men whose age and experience should have taught them wisdom and mod eration were most extreme and bitter; but
 the people-always when aroused more powerful than all the politicians-had their
 way, and the act died; 1t fell upon many reviving blossoms, and they withered. To show the desperation of the leaders, the fight was not given up when the repeal passed the two houses. They then ap- pealed to the presiding officers of the two houses to refuse to sign the bill, and thus
 attempted to defeat by fraud the wishes
 of majority of the representatives in
 each house. The fact that such course
 would have invited perjury seemed not 10
 have been seriously considered.
 After the act was repealed l urged the general assembly to submit proper amend-
 nlents-some on the line the opposition
 leaders had professed the greatest desire to secure-but the conventionists, almost
 without exception, voted against every amendment, and the necessary two-thirds vote could not be secured Those who had professed the most burning desire to dis franchise the negro voted against every proposition looking in that direction.
 Whilst the officeseekers and spoismen were disgruntled at my conduct of the off, flee. an acute issue arose over the question of holding a constitutional convention. In my message to the general assembly in 1898 I suggested that the wiser course to secure
 nv rafn dnd xxro,c hx ,a,,1r ,npt
 the line of one recently secured for Bir- mingham. This would have enabled every elector to pass directly on the question sub- mitted, but the general assembly saw frt tc pass an act submitting to the electors the free and untrammeed right to declare whether they desired a convention to be held or not. Whilst not believing this to be the best plan, I signed the bill, because I was not willing to set up my judgment, like Grover Cleveland, against the major ity of my party in each house. nor did wish to deprive the people of their rights to declare whether they desired a conven- tion to be held or not
 This was followed by the calling of a state convention of the democratic party. The democrats of the state gave little heed to the eall not one-fifth taking part in the primaries, and when the convention met, instead of representing the great body of the loyal democracy, 1t was largely com- posed of men who had bolted the party in 1S96 or had refused their approval of it's platform
 This convention delibera tely-and in vio- lation of the spirit of the statute-took away, so far as it could, the right of any democrat to vote against the constitutional convention and condemned them to vote for 1t whether they favored 1t or not on pain of being denounced as bolters and traitors Knowing that the general as- sembly never contemplated any such course as this, took counsel of its men- bers and upon the advice of a majority of the democrats in each house I assem- bled the legislature in special session.
 It was proclaimed that the issue next year should be fought on this line; can vass of the state was to be made by our senior senator, and all who dared to oppose the convention then or had favored repeal were to be consigned to tomb that would know no resurrection. Do we find now our venerable senators, who hurried from Washington to instruct us in our duties, vexing the air with clamerous demands for constitutional convention? Do we find a single leader now, or newspaper, demand fpo iccu fa ha bot