The age-herald., 1901-06-23
COMMITTEE AGREES
 UPON SUFFRAGE PLAN
BY FRANK HARVEY MILLER.

Montgomery, June 22.-(Special) = The committee on suffrage is expected to make its report next week They have been holding secret sessions for several weeks and everyone Is anxious to know what plan will be adopted. The commit tee for long time was unable to agree, but they have about decided on plan | of which the following is a synopsis: The plan embodies a temporary and a permanent feature. The former is to car " out the pledge of the party that no white man shall be deprived of his vote. and is limited in its duration to a short time. The qualifications of those who 1 vote under it are to be determined by a board of registrars. There will not be board in each beat but probably one in each county. The grandfather clause pure and simple has not been adopted, but something more on the order of the soldier clause. This lets in every one as a voter who was a soldier of the State or United States in any war prior to the Spanish-American war.
  conversation between a politician who was stumping the state and a reporter The former was regretting that he had to make the same speech so often and said he got sick and tired of making it. My God" exclaimed the reporter, think how tired the people get of hearing it." He then went on to cite a decision of the Supreme Court Illustrating the difference between ministerial and judicial powers We are to learn from the wisdom of our fathers, he said. The Congress of the United States never made any provision for contested elections until the Hayes Tilden contest came up. The present provision was not at all like the returning board of Louisiana to which MT. Pillans compared 1t. He explained the actions of this board which he said had gone be- yond it's legitimate powers. That they had been convicted of forgery Objections were made. he said, to certain words or lines in the section. This was not the way to construe constitutional section. It must all be read together so that all parts could be given effect. The section as written did not give one man (the speak er) authority to announce a result, and throttle the power of 132 members of the assembly. It was better to limit the powers of the speaker than the power of the joint assembly. Governor Jones was asked a question about the electoral com mission which determined the HayesTil- den election. He replied that he did not think it was legal, but that 1t was states snanship, as the South was in no position to go to war at the time. and if 1t had it would have been humiliated and ground into the dust. We do not want to make the joint assembly clerk, continued the Governor, but judge to determine for Alabama the result of elections. You are bound to trust the General Assembly or else ruin your courts by giving them judicial powers to determine great politi- cal issues.
 MT. Sollie of Dale.
 MT. Sollie of Dale favored re-enacting the present section on this subject. He said it had been tried for twenty-five years, and that the evil which the new section proposed to remedy had never ex- isted in Alabama Our present clause had witnessed the rise and fall of many po- litical parties, and yet there had been no occasion in which the present section had not been sufficient. He said we al- ready had methods of determining con testing elections and he saw no necessity of giving the power to a political body to determine them who had no defined rules of evidence or procedure. He de- scribed Governor Jones' plan as creating hybrid half judicial and half minis teral bouy to determine contested cleo tions.
 Thousand Dollars a, Day.
 MT. Duke of Chambers said there was no use continuing the debate at the cost of a thousand dollars a day. and he therefore moved the previous question This was sustained and MT Rogers of Sumter as mover of the substitute yield ed his right to conclude to Judge Robin son of Chambers
 Mir. White of Jefferson here took the chair and Judge Robinson began his ad- dress He defined what a judicial body was. It had the right. he said, to hear and determine. The joint assembly now had only power to be present and hear the speaker count and determine returns of elections. It was dangerous to give the joint assembly further power As jul dicial body they would have to hear all evidence and it might take a week to hear evidence as to return. Governor Jones then asked Judge Robinson if the speak CT. under the present section, if he was mean enough to do so, could not arr bitrarilv throw out a return and declare some man elected. who was not rightfully elected Judge Robinson said that he could but it was to prevent this that the General Assembly was required to be present.
 Adopts Rogers Substitute.
 The convention then voted on MT. Rog CTS substitute. which was adopted by vote of GA to A.
 This read as follows:
 The returns for every election for Gov ernor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor Treasurer, Attorney General, Superintendent of Education and Commissioner of Agriculture and In- dustries, shall be sealed up and trans mitted by the returning officers to the seat of government, and directed to the Sneaker of the House of Representatives, who shall during the first week of the session. to which such returns shall be made. open and publish them in the presence of both houses of the General Assembly in joint conventions but the Speakers duty and the duty of the joint convention shall be purely ministerial
 The result of the election shall be as- certained and declared by the Speaker from the face of the returns without de- lay.
 The person having the highest number of votes for any one of said offices shall be declared duly elected. but if two or more persons shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for the same of flee, the General Assembly. by joint vote. without delay, shall choose one of said persons for said office
 Contested elections for Governor Lieu tenant Governor, Secretary of State, Au- ditor, Treasurer Attorney General Su- perintendent of Education and Commits sioner of Agriculture and Industries shall be determined by both houses of the Gen. eral Assembly in such manner as may be presented by law.
 Committee Turned Up.
 MT O'NeaI of I,auderdaIe again offered