The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-26
AFTERNOON SESSION.

The Convention met pursuant to ad- 5ournment. there being 131 delegates present upon the call of the roll.
 The President-The gentleman from Jefferson, MT. Weatherly. has the floor. MT, Dent-I would like to ask the gentleman from Jefferson a question.
 The President-Will the gentleman yield.
 MT. Weatherly-Certain
 Mr. Dent-I will ask the gentleman if he is not in favor of the white men holding the offices in the State of Ala bama?
 MT. Weatherly-I am not in favor of putting such 6 provision in. the Con- stitution. I would not vote for a negro for office I will tell you that.
 Mir. Dent-Was the declaration which you read from Senator Morgan any, thing more than a declaration that the white men of Alabama should hold the offices?
 MT. Weatherly-That is his personal preference, that is my preference, and the personal preference of all of us. That does not alter the principfe-the Section proposes to give them office on account of their being descendants gives them the privilege of holding office by descent, by inheritance. don't object to it, Senat0' Morgan does now
 The whole idea of this being the con- ferring of right to vote by inher- itance-well. like to speak respectful ly. but it seems to me "tommy-rot. T" The State of Alabama, by way of H. illustration. assemblies the grandfather, father and son together in one group, and in recognition of the grandfath- 'er's services. and the losses, privations and sacrifices of his son and grandson on account of the war in which he was engaged, the State confers upon you by one and the same act the right to vote, or rather continues them in the exercise of the right-refrains from taking it away from you. The opposi- tion say that is obtaining the right of suffrage by inheritance. I do not think 1t Is necessary to take up any further time on that part of the case. Now, IS to the constitutionality of this pro- vision, the Fifteenth Amendment con- fers no right of suffrage, that. is con- ceded by the lawyers on both sides Of teis controversy. It has left the sovereign right of the State where it was before the adoption of the amend ment, with one condition only, and that Is simply gude-post a warning to the stete, that whatever 1t may do in the act Of conferring the suffrage upon the citizens of the State. must not so con
 
 p2r; O. you; citizens on account of race, color or previous condition. That Is the only objection. It is a warning NOW the discrimination must be on ac- count Of race. The homely illustra ton used by the gentleman from Jeffer- son, MT. White. of the SOW and pigs aeserves some sort of an answer. He speaks of building a pen around the SOW and the pigs, but leaving a crack t1A yAfn
 that is a discrimination against the BOW, but 1t is not a discrimination he- cause she is hog. It is a discrimina- ton for other prudential reas as best known to the owner, who is the sover- eign. What is the test of discrimina- ton? It is not that a certain propor- tion of numbers are excluded or in- cluded; that Is not the test, else the State of Alabama, Mir. President. would be denrived of the, power to put any qualification, to hesitate at least be- Fora establishing any publication for voters for fear that more negroes might be disfranchised than whites. She might hesitate before saving to her rltlzens, before you vote you must be engaged in some gainful occupation Now, that is the lowest test, some la bor by which daily bread is earned The State might desire to make the tes, lVSt oh tLit pfIulal curse that man should eat his bread in the sweat of hii brow. We all know that there are norH whites who earn their living by the labor than negroes, and yet if the argument Of the gentleman is followed to it's logical conclusion you could not adopt that si'rpl" test. Neither couId you adopt the property test nor the ed u2ational test. nor thc character test hut we all know that we can adop, each and all cf them. Then why can't you adopt the soldier test, based an service in the war? You can adopt any test which is net purely and simply and merely capricioua. arbitrarily sr- lected out of fancy and for the purpose of discrimination. Is there anythin- capricious or arbitrary in the roldleI testt Suppose the State of Alaban1 had a some time been saved iron, do. struction hy number of her citizens by arms. Suppose those citizens had given up their property for the salya. ton of their State. Suppose othe, great services had been rend. cred to the St1te involving sac. rifice to them and to their deScendante could rot the State of Alabama say t, them: Tn recognition of your ser.