The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-27

they know that the people want ~ Well speaking for the greateet whl2o electorate in the State of xlabamov [ have tried to find out what fhs1r vfsv& were on the subject. My co1nty has ln the neighborhood of 23.o0o voters, tho strange to say. the largest negro county In the State of Alabama, as shown by the reports of the last census: but ' tell you, gentlemen, l never 1aw ou11 an overwhelming sentiment ssAfnss . proposition in my life, as there c 1D the county of Jefferson, against thts grandfather clause. Now they says though, that this is not hereditary distinction. One gentleman quoted which have forgotten, bust the Engifeh of 1t is that there can be no heir to the
 living; that is, that the descendants Of those living now won't get in. but he would get a heritage from his dead father. or grandfather. or great-grand- father. or some other ancestor that fought in any of these wars. Now, that is hereditary. and as has been said on this fioor. that is inconsisteut with the provision of the Bil of Rights. The gentlemen lay . great deal of stress upon that, but I say 1t is dangerous. for a people under repub- liean form of Government, to establish l within 1t q class of voters to which other voters may not attain and can>
 not attain. Whether there are many white people within the State of Ala bama that cannot attain to the post- ton here that you seek to establfsh. it creates distinction in the State, and will have the effect of creating classes. We know what comradeship will bring about. We see 1t every day in life. If | man serves in the Legislature with another. he feels it to be his boundsn duty to vote for him, should he ever run for. office again. Men in this Con- stitutional Convention, all things being equal. will vote for each other hers- after for any position they may aspire to. simply upon the ground that thers Is comradeship established. They served together in the Constitutional Convention. and. therefore, they viii support him. This feeling grows str0n- ger in the army. As we already sec the Spanish American war veterans that have been established for ri1oro than two and one-half years. We have the Mexican war veterans organised in l some places: Confederate veterans and
 the Grand Army of the Republic. The l Grand Army in its incipiency was os-
 ganized for noble purpose: they met | together and discussed the scenes of
 the war. and the dangers they had gone
 through. but politicians discovering the strength of their numbers began
 to use them. They discovered tho | power of the soldier vote, which Is controlling factor in every State north
 of the Ohio and west of the Mississippi. | The pension list calls for Sf40. oo,Oso.
 more than 1t takes to support the army
 and navy of the United States. and
 more than 1t takes to support the great | Imperial Army of Germany of moro
 than 100000 of men. Here is where
 the danger comes about these class | distinctions. You have a provision In he'e under Section q that at primary elections these qualifications must be possessed by the voters. We'll. what is more natural than that this class | should get together to nominate officers from their particular class. We pay our old Confederate veterans a pen- siop-I am glad of 1t; wish we were
 able to pay them more: but I would
 regret to see the day when their sons or their descendants should ask for Q pension from the State of Alabama for
 services that their fathers had per-
 formed in the defense of their country,
 and yet. If you establish class. there
 is great danger in the cohesive power
 of its members: There is danger. gen-
 tlemen. that they may try to secure
 laws for the purpose of getting pen
 sion legislation passed in their favor. Because there have been numerous ne- | gro soldiers in the Federal army that | lived within the State of Alabama, doee that commend this rlan: does that give
 it any strength before the people? Will
 that give 1t any strength when 1t is
 argued upon the stump? Something | was said about arguing this thing in caucus, so the people would not get
 hold of it. I was in favor of the argu-
 ment seeing the light of day. because know that there are men on the oth- CT side who will he in opposition to the Constitution who are smart enough and able enough to get up arguments themselves, and who will spring ar@u-
 ments against the work of this Con.
 stitutional Convention that have been | presented here, and some that have never been thought of so we might aa
 well speak our sentiments and let the | people know that we were not afraid to discuss 1t in open Convention. There
 are able rner in the Republican party,
 one of my friends in Montgomery found
 that out.
 Now. as to this good character clause. want to ask gentlemen who have practiced law. and many of you are
 lawyers, what is easier to establish anywhere than good character? If (
 man has got good character everys
 body in his community knows 1t, ana
 1t need not be by positive evidence,
 either, but the most of 1t is proved
 negatively; that Is. if he ever did any
 thing that was wrong, never heard
 of it. There Is nothing so susceptible
 of proof as good character. Then.
 what machinery do you provide in this
 instrument for proof of the fact that
 an ancestor has served in one of the
 wars of the country? What do you i propose along that line? Are you go- | ing to ask so and so about 1t, or are you going to allow man to walk up and take the oath that his father
 fought at Gettysburg, or fell at Chica-
 mauga, or his great-grandfather was
 with Washington at Valley Forge?
 Are you merely going to allow him to
 say so. and pat him in the list of hered- itary lifetime voters, or list of peers. In the Parliament of England they
 have hereditary peers and another
 class called life peers, but in America | we have no hereditary distinctions, and cannot have any, unless this instru-
 ment passes and becomes ratified. R
 1t does, then in the State of Alabamas
 a sovereign State of the American | Union, we will have a class of life-
 time voters, men who can vote the bal-
 ance of their life. segregated out oS
 the mass of their fellow citizens.
 Mir. Opp-The gentleman's time VIII
 soon epxire. I move 1t be extendeo
 half an hour
 A vote being taken, the motion ts