The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-25

ability of the gentlemen who have op- posed the majority report of the Com mittee on Suffrage, demands a consid- eration of the objections that they put forward and an attempt on the part
 of those who are responsible for plae-
 ing before the Convention the proposi-
 ton involved in the majority report to
 sustain that proposition by argument. l have had the honor to share in the
 deliberations. and the work of the Suf-
 frage Committee. l have concurred in
 the conclusions reached by the major
 ity and 1 propose within the time al-
 lowed me to meet some of the objec-
 tions that have been urged against
 the proposition that has been presented to you. It is we'll in the first place to
 understand what the majority proposes. It is well to understand what they un- dertook to do, and to understand the
 methods and ideas that they undertake to put into practical operation. The fact that we are here, the fact that this Committee on Suffrage had inn posed upon it the duty of reframing our fundamental law so far as the suffrage is concerned, Is the result of a great movement of public opinion in Alabama That public opinion has De- come clear and defined on certain DTODOSlliOnS. ODc Ol tiooC PAOPOcisASA.S
 is that the right to vote should he
 taken away from certain citizens who
 under existing law now possess that
 right, Another proposition is that the
 right to vote should not be taken away
 from a large body of citizens who un-
 der the existing law possess that right,
 and have used it in the interest Of so-
 cial order, security and progress. our
 mission here Is to strike at the evil In
 our electoral system and to let what IS
 good in it remain as it is. To carry
 out these objects we are expected 10
 put into operation the power to act upon thls subject which the State or
 Alabama has, and to refrain from the folly of undertaking to use a power that has been taken away from us. Now the Committee on Suffrage and Elections has long and carefully delib- erated upon this subject and has come to the conclusion embodied lD the re- port that is placed before this Con- vention for it's action. They have un- dertaken to enumerate the citizens Of Alabama who should be allowed to re- | tain the right of suffrage and they l think they have enumerated all or our present voting population who are fit and competent to retain the right or suffrage when they name the soldiers who have fought in their wars, the de- scendants of such soldiers, and all oth- CTS who are of good character and who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a republican form of government. But minority Of the committee composed of four distin- euished members have singled out one clause in that enumeration and have | made it the object of their attack. That nlo t, that the dpScpnd- ants of men who were soldiers in the wars of this country down to and in- cluding the great war between the States. and the main ground of attack | by the minority upon that clause Is | that in effect it denies or abridgeS the right of citizens of this State to vote on account of race. color or previous condition of servitude. We'll now gen. tlemen, when you stop to consider that the clause which is attacked Is a mere enumeration of certain citizens
 who shall have the right to vote, some
 of whom are white and some of whom are black. and that it does not deny or abridge any one from the right to vote on account of race. color or previous
 condition of servitude, directly or by
 words of exclusion. The objection Is
 further remarkable, I submit. in that
 1t loses sight of the very plain propo- sition that the clause which is attack ed is one clause only in an enumeration which includes other clauses. When you undertake to classify and to emu merate to this Convention the people in Alabama who shall retain that right of suffrage, 1t is impossible for any man | to say who is excluded until the entire | enumeration has been gone over and examined. No man who is neither a
 soldier, nor the descendant of soldier. | is in position to say that his right to vote as denied or abridged upon any ground unless in the enumeration taken as a whole no place can be found for
 him. Now, is that the case here? Can anyone say in reference to the enum-
 eration made by this committee that his right to vote is denied or abridged | because his case does not come within the clause that is now the object of attack, unless he also goes further and puts himself outside of the third cate gory which includes all who are of l good character and who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship. | The gentlemen attacking this plan. as | a whole, must put themselves in the position of asserting that the State of Alabama has been deprived of power to limit the right of suffrage upon grounds of character and fitness. Can anyone say under the plan that is pro- posed by this committee that his right to vote is denied or abridged unless he puts himself beyond the pale of citizens
 of good character and who understand the duties and obligations of citizen
 ship. You cannot single out in an emu meration one subdivision and say that that is tho whole scope of the plan pre- scented. You must look at the plan as
 whole and determine whether or not that plan as a whole Is open to the legal objections that are now asserted against it. Now, gentlemen. at this point in my argument. l will assume that it is competent for the State of Alabama to fix and prescribe oualitica- tions of character or of intelligence for its voters. Unless at least that much has been assumed We would not be
 here to deal with this question. In ap-
 preaching this task. it is proper or Us
 to take a survey of our population as it now exists in Alabama and to devise
 some means of separating that part of
 the population which should retain the right of suffrage from that part of the
 population who have demonstrated their unfitnesS to retain that privilege. in This work of separation, several plans
 may suggest themselves to different | minds. one plan would be to make | some rigid rule of qualification. such aS | to his ability to read and write or the | possession of d stated amount of prop | erty. and require every citizen seeking | the right to vote to come up to one of
 these tests. A test of that kind as ap-