The age-herald., 1900-06-16
Legal Proceedings Will Probably
 be Instituted.
SOME STRONG ARGUMENTS MADE
Minority Report Was Presented and Argured at Length, But Governors .Appointees Had Decided Ma
 jority and Were Seated

Tuscaloosa, June 15.-(special.)-By a vote of six to three the recently appointed trustees of the University of Alabama, Colonel Henry B. Foster, T. c. Mcclellan and R. c. Jeter, were today declared en- titled to seats on the board. They were immediately seated and will participate in the present deliberations of the body.
 After the arguments made in the Little Foster contest last night by A. $. Van degriff for contestant and Captain A. B. McEachin for contestee, the special com mittee from the board of trustees or the University of Alabama took the matter under advisement and made majority re- port this morning in favor of Colonel Eos ter.
 At the meeting of the board this morn- ing all the districts were represented ex- cept the Third, of which MT. Jeter is the new appointee Of the trustees there were Governor Johnston, James D. Webb, M. l.. Stansel, E. L. Russell Tennent Lomax, Daniel Pratt Hubert Davis. J. H. Caldwell, besides Dr. Little, MT. Foster and T. c. Mcclellan, the new appointee from the Eighth
 The Majority Report
 The maJOrlty report, WHICH was Supmit- ted by Mr. Rgosell and Superintendent ApercrcTbis, was as follows
 We, the undersigned members of committee appointed by the president of the board under a resolution which author iZed us as a committee to investigate, first, whether or not there was vacancy in the case of Dr. Little and if there was whether or not the Governor of the State of Alabama under the constitution and laws of the state had the power to fill such vacancy during the recess of the General Assembly of Alabama, beg leave to report follows:
 Before proceeding to make report in answer and responsive to the above and foregoing questions your committee exam ined the constitution and statutes and the precedentS in this state bearing the above and foregoing question. Your com mittee finds that the constitution of Ala bama, among other things, provides as fol- lows: Said trustees shall be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and shall hold office for a term of six years and until their successors shall be appointed and qualified. After the first appointment each board shall be divided into three classes as nearly equal may be. The seats of the first class shall be vacated at the expira- tion of two years and those of the second class in four years and those of the third class at the end of six years from the date
 
 chosen biennially.
 Here we have clear and unequivocal declaration in the constitution 5f Alabama that those holding appointments of the third class which is six years, shall be va cated' at the expiration of six years from the date of appointment.
 "The language employed in the constitu- tion is as mandatory it was possible to make it. It is imperative: Shall be va cated at the expiration of six years, and 1t is as certain 1t is possible for the English language to make it.
 This is the organic law of the state It is the express will of the sovereign people of the state of Alabama, and no power in side or outside of the great sovereign state of Alabama can modify or qualify the ab- solute and conclusive meaning of this dec laration found in the constitution of the state.
 Tt is unnecessary, in view of this per emptory and imperative language to dis cuss the decisions of other states on stat utes where no constitutional provisions of such states intervene.
 ''The Legislature of Alabama has enact ed statute carrying into effect the above and in the light of the foregoing constitu- tional provisions the statute is so clear definite and specific that those contending that the Governor did not have the power to appoint person to fill such vacancy insisted that the statute was void and un- constitutional and in excess granted the constitutional authority granted
 We further find that the General As semby of Alabama incorporated the Uni versity of Alabama, and its organization went into effect on the first day of March, 1S76 and the first, second and third classes of trustees referred to in the constitution were then appointed and went into office.
 I've also find that their offices began on the first of March, 1876, and that the officers of the first class were. under the constitution, vacated two years thereafter and those of the second class in four years thereafter and those of the third class in six years thereafter, and that it has been the custom of the chief executive of the state since that time to fill these appoint ments in vacation after the first day of March every six years.
 We will take the case of Dr. Little. The Senate journal of 1S94-95, page 17S reads as follows:
 "T respectfully submit four your advice and consent the following nominations for trustees of the University of Alabama of the third class for terms ending March 1, 1900: R. B. Rhett of the Eighth Congress- ional District John Little of the Sixth Congressional District. These nominations are made to i'll appointments made during recess. THOMAS G. JONES'
 'So the record shows conclusively that Dr. Little himself had been appointed to fill an unexpired term of trustee, and at the end of that term he was reappointed as his own successor by Governor Jones, who solemnly stated in his message to the