The age-herald., 1901-08-08
CONVENTION REFUSED TORECQnSDER
 ACTION REGARDING THE SOLICITORS

reported in fafyr oA naFiis the circult
 circuit If 3his was a good plan why was
 If not good plan to let each county alact ita own solicitor? I would prefer to have the solicitors chosen in some other way, but would rather have them slscted by the people than by the legis- iatu,e. The people at least will then 1ngw who are candidates while when they are elected by the legislature the pyople do not always know who are can Sdates. He himself was a, black belt Democrat, but he was not afraid to say that If the majority of the white people In a county were Republicans or Popu- lists he believed that they should rule
 and should select their solicitor.
 Judge Coleman of Greene said that ths
 was a power you could not trust to the
 people by their votes. He thought the
 old plan was best. It had been tried a long time and proven satisfactory. He
 explained why some circuit solicitors did
 not make the amount of their salaries out of fines. It was the misdemeanor cases where the bulk of the fines came from and in many counties there Is county solicitor who prosecutes the mis- demeanor cases, and gets the fees.
 Mir Boone of Mobile spoke In favor Of leaving the county solicitors to be chosen by the people and opposed their election by members of the legislature.
 MT. Jones of Wilcox favored reconsid- eration saying he agreed with the ml- nority report of the committee wnich left the election Of sofcltors to the leg islature. He thought they should be as far removed from the influence of the neonIe as possible He thought the leg islature could be trusted to elect good men.
 Does Not Reconsider.
 Mr Craig of Dallas paid tribute to the solicitors of the Fourth circuit, and said he was in favor of their election by Inc neonle He did not want any political bossism in Alabama.
 He had lived In Dallas County, he said, sixty years; there had been over nun dred murders in that time and not white man had been hanged. The present so- lcitor did his duty as well as any or hls predecessors It is the juries that turn
 them loose.
 MT Carmichael of Colbert said he had been circuit solicitor, but was not now. Speaking from experience, he thought no change should be made in the present constitution except from urgent necessity. There had been no criticism Of the circuit solicitors and the people had not demand ed any change. "If we adopt this pro- posed plan of having county solicitors for sixty-six counties 1t will cost the State at least 75,ooO a year, while the present cost to the State of the circuit solicitors Is s29 9000 It was not wise to turn these county solicitors loose on the people. lie moved the previous question, which was ordered.
 motion. closed the debate. He said if the
 section was reconsidered we would get back to the majority and minority re-
 ports of the committee, either of which could be amended If the convention saw
 fit. He referred to the criticisms made on the manner of trading votes and electing
 solicitors In the Legislature, and said there was no system which was not SUD feet to abuse. The ten .commanoHiehts
 were the subject of abuse.
 MT. Graham of Talladega moved to ta-
 ble the motion to reconsider. Tne ayes and nays were demanded on this and the
 motion to table was adopted by vote or
 59 to 63.
 Governor Oates then offered a new sec tion as an amendment, which proVloeo tha+ + shall he the duty of the Legisla- ture to provide by law for competent | court stenographers and prescribe their duties. This section, on motion of MT. | Sanford, was tabled.
 The article was then on motion of Mir l smith. chairman of the committee, or dered to a third reading ana 10 pc en- I crossed.
 Tag Tax Ordinance. The convention then took up the Mor- risette resolution directing the next Leg islature to reduce the tag tax on fertil- l izers to 10 cents per ton, and also direct l ing them to provide for the maintenance 1 of the various agricultural schools out or 1 the general fund of the State. | If had been moved yesterday to table this ordinance, and an aye and nay vote
 had been demanded. It was tabled by
 vote o 72 to AZ.
 | MT. Williams of Marengo then intro
 duced an ordinance to provide that no so- licitor should be eligible to reelection
 this not to apply to the present incum- | bents.
 | MT Carmichael of Colbert, by consent | had his ordinance considered which pro- vided for arranging and filing the docu- i ments of the convention and having the l journal printed and fixing compensation for the secretary at $500. This ordinance was adopted on an aye and nay vote of | 103 ayes and no noes
 MT Jackson of Lee introduced a peti- tion from citizens of Lee County protest ing against the railroad pass evil and asking that the convention adopt sec ton prohibiting 1t.
 MT De Graffenreid of Hale introduced an ordinance to strike out section 28 of the article on judiciary, which provided for the election of county solicitors and offered a substitute. It was referred to the committee on Judiciary.
 The convention then adopted resolu- tion of MT. Grayson providing that no money should be appropriated by the con- vention except on an aye and nay vote The committee on schedules reported a resolution authorizing the printing and binding of 1000 copies of the journal of | the convention and appropriating 5000 | for the payment of the same This was
 passed by vote of 96 ayes and no noes Municipal Corporations. | The convention then took up the report | of the committee on municipal corpora | tions Mir Weakley of Lauderdale, chair | man of the committee, said the question | of municipal government had become of | great importance in the State; so much so | that separate article on this subject | was to be embodied in the constitution. Everything embodied in the report q the | committee was well-established law and
 they had not suggested any innovations. | None of the committee had any desire to | impress their individual views upon the | convention; the report was the property | of the convention, an they could alter or | amend 1t as they pleased without doing
 any violence to the feelings of the com
 mttee.
 1 Section of the report was then read US | follows:
 | Section l. All municipal corporations l shall have the right to sue and shall he
 subject to be sued in all courts in like