The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-24
THE AFTERNooN SESSION.

When MT. Long COncluueO, tHe Oou'
 vention adjourned until $50 o'ciook.
 THE AFTERNOON SESSION. The roll call at the afternoon session showed the presence of 105 delegates. MT. Smith of Mobile was recognized and spoke against the Beddow amend rnent He contended that foreigners came to Alabama and the United States not for freedom but for business. He cited instances in his own city or good men who had lived there many years and never became citizens. 1T ] men Of intelligence lived in the-mem- ories of their native land what could | be expected of the foreign la5o"ef. He l could not be expected to appreciate CUT
 system. He declared that in his opin- | ion it would be danserous to extend | the electorate to foreigners until they l had become citizens. It would give an | opportunity to make the electorate a l mere matter of merchandise.
 MT, Smith declared that he was so green in politics that he came to Mont gomery without any intention of abid- | ing by the Democratic platform. Since he had been here he had been Tn touch l with so many gentlemen who believed | in the platform that he had set aside | his personal views.
 The Mobile delegate concluded his | remarks by sending up an amendment providing that all foreigners who shall have declared their intentions to be- come citizens of the United States shall cease to have the right to vote F they shall fail to become citizens of the United States after they have heen en- | titled to become such citizens. Mir. Sanford of Pike spoke against | the whole proposition and declared that the Democratic platform aid not ex- l tend to such foreigners. There was no excuse for extending the franchise to people who had no interest here and | who had not learned to speak the al- phabet of a republican form of govern | ment. There might not be many Of these people here now, but the tide of | immigration was turning in this direc- 1 tion. He declared that he would ten | thousand times rather that every ne- | gro should vote than that such char | acter of citizens as now dominate Chi 1 cago should control in Alabama. There 1 fore he hoped the section as originally l reported by this splendid committee would be adopted.
 | General Sanford of Montgomery,
 spoke against the amendments. lie
 was friend to foreigners. he declared,
 but there was no reason why the priv
 ilege of the franchise should be ex-
 tended to the foreigners. It was an | injustice to other citizens.
 President Knox then addressed the Convention. MT. Graham of Talladega,
 in the Chair The announcement of Mir. Knox that he agreed with MesSrs | Sanford and Sanford that the Commit | tee report should not be amended, was received with applause. He argued | that many foreigners failed to qualify | as citizens after they had declared their l intention. He showed that the Com | mittee report was not determination against foreigners and urged the Con- Vention to adopt the original report or | the Committee.
 MT. deGraffffenreid of Hale. spoke against the amendments. He thought the provision reported by the Commit | tee was wise. It was in all the modern l State Constitutions and he hoped the | amendments would not be adopted. MT. Kirk of Colbert addressed the | Convention in support of the Beddow amendment as amended by MT. Smith. He thought it was the duty of the Convention to see that no white man
 is disfranchised. He declared his un- alterable faith in the grandfather clause" and said 1t was what the
 masses of the people wanted notwith- standing there has been some opposi- | ton to it.
 Mir. Ferguson of Jefferson, spoke in
 support of the amendments. He said | the Declaration of Rights invited i'm migration and this was one reason for | the adoption of the amendments. As | solicitor in the criminal court of Jeff | ferson County he paid a high tribute | to the foreign born citizens of Jefferson | County who were seldom defendants in | these courts.
 Mr Dent of Barbour. said he took the Democratic platform to mean that no white man should be disfranchised | if it could be avoided. He made the point that the platform was elastic as the Constitution was to be submitted to the people. If the Convention found
 it to be impracticable to stand by the pledges of the platform and submitted the Constitution to the people no one
 was to be hurt by it. He did not be-
 lieve in permitting foreign born citizens
 who were not naturalized to assist in electing officers and making laws. He
 was opposed to the amenSments.
 MT. Davis of Etowah, paid a high tribute to the Suffrage Article out said
 he supported the amendments because he did not want to see single white man disfranchiSed.
 Mir. Buger of Tallapoosa, spoke
 
 that a negro was more capable uf vot-
 ing than d foreigner who had been
 here five years.
 Judge Coleman of Greene, Chairman
 of the Committee on Suffrage. empha-
 sized the importance of the question. Ha said it had taken the Committee two days to dispose of this matter. The Committee had not taken into account the pledges of the Democratic Party. The Committee had only taken into
 account what 1t deemed best for the State. He was willing to submit the proposition to the Convention and
 moved tho previous question.
 Judge Coleman yielded part of his time to MT. BeddOw, who closed the debate in support of his amendment. MT. Beddow made an appeal to the | delegates to stand by the pledges made by the Democratic Party not to dis franchise any white man.
 Judge Coleman argued that the ques- tion was one that is optional with the elector. He could qualify himself by l becoming a citizen os the United States. Mir. opp of Covington, called for the ayes and nays on the Smith amend
 ment. The call was sustained and by | a vote of 90 to 2s the Smith amend
 ment was adopted. By a further vote