The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-04

Chair.
 The President pro tem-Does the gem tleman from Jefferson yield?
 Mir. White-Yes. sir.
 Mir. Jenkins-I have an amendment.
 The amendment was read as follows:
 Amend the Article on Suffrage by adding the following thereto as an ad- ditional section to be known as Section 20: Tn addition to the permanent quail ifications for suffrage, provided for in Section 3, every voter shall be of good character for truth and veracity as now interpreted by the courts; but such good character shall be presumed until challenged, and no person shall be challenged on less than three affi- davits of three reliable and responsible citizens stating that they know the general character for truth and verac ity of the person challenged, and that from that knowledge they would not believe such person on oath. Upon the challenge of any person under this sec ton, it shall be the duty of the Regis trars to sit as jury and decide as to the good character of the person so challenged. and any person denied the right to register under this section. shall have the right to appeal to the Circuit or City Courts or court of like Jurisdiction in the county, and the per
 son so appealing may wave a jury If he SO elects in each case. and the de- cision of the court shall be final as to the right of such person to register un- der the D. oyisions of this section MT. Jenkins-J just want to submit few remarks. have studied this re-
 port brought in by the Committee. and I think it is good so far as it has gone. but it is my candid belief that you have not gone far enough. You have | made it too easy to get upon the voting list, and unless yon assure the section that I come from that white supremacy | is going to be maintained fairly and | honestly, under this Constitution, you will never persuade the leading men | in that section to give up the security and peace that they now have. to | bring in a crowd of voters that may overturn white rule in that section. Now. Mir. President. where does it stand? After 1903 any man that can ! read and write can vote under this Constitution. If you take the census, you will see that in my county there are 1900 negroes that can read and write and 1500 whites. Now. it is true some of them will be disfranchised by the poll tax-those under 45 years old. | But, Mir President. We are just pre- suming that. They may pay the poll tax if they find out they are going to vote and get the offices of the county by doing it. There will be some de- signing man shrewd enough to get up this money and pay the poll tax Tor them. out If you put on this additional l qualification that they must have good character for truth and veracity, YOU can challenge every last living one | of them when it comes down to the pinch, because I do not know probably | 100 white men in the county that would come up and testify on oath that they would believe a negro on oath. Now, | MT. President, there are not more than | 100 white men that you would challenge | on oath and you could not get three responsible white men to come up and say they would not believe them on 1 oath, and for that reason you could not knock out any of them, don't be- lieve, but you could knock out every negro in the county, except few. If this is a fact. it is their own fault; 1t is the depravity that they have brought upon themselves, and it is right that we should take advantage of it. Near ly every State in the Union has some such qualification. Connecticut, the
 Nutmeg State, the leading State of
 New England. has a good character clause in its Cons titution. Is 1t wrong for us to have it? You will say: "Oh, it will put too much power in the hands I
 in and knock out all free silver men or gold men, or all Populists or Republi- cans. I say they cannot do any such l thing, because there is an appeal from
 the decision of that board, and before the board can act there must be three affidavits signed by three responsible people stating that they challenge the
 person it is proposed to keep from voting. and then atfer that board passes fc n r.
 cult Court or to the City Court, and then you will have as fair trial upon the voters truth and veracity as you will upon his right of property or any | other right. And there you have pro-
 vision that If a man donest want
 jury, he can waive it, and go before the Judge of the Circuit Court, and the Circuit Courts are presided over oy able pure minded men, and they are not going to disfranchise any Whte | AIabamian who deserves to vote; but if a negro comes up there. they will let
 the law go down on him, and, if he can't stand the test, he will go out.
 I say you have got to put on some other qualification. l voted for the eN- | treme limit of the poll tax yesterday,
 because I did not think you had the thing fixed strong enough. l call the attention of the Convention seriously I to this tnlng. AS IL StdiluS hVNs tHNi 1 is a restlessness among the people l have talked with-an uncertainty as to l the workings of your Article, and l believe if a vote were to come off to- morrow. it would be voted down Now,
 this is a fact that we must look in the face. We will have hard work to get
 this Constitution ratified. and if we can add here today any provision or sec | tion that will strengthen 1t with the 1 people and assure the people Of my section that white supremacy will be maintained under the Constitution le- gally and honestly, sir, I believe that I your Constitution will go in with an l overwhelming vote. But with the
 Black Belt in doubt, and wavering and Uncertain and undecided what to do. and the white counties up in arms against you. why. sir, I do not know where we are going We should adopt something here today that will at least satisfy the Black Belt portion of the l State, and that will satisfy the old | soldier vote and the honest people and
 the people of virtue and intelligence and good character in the State; and. when you do that, your Constitution will be ratified.
 Mir Dent-It seems to me that it Is not necessary to put so much machinery in the Constitution. The plan has been studied, and, if worth anything. ought to stand like it is, and I, therefore,
 move to table the amendment offered by the gentleman from Wilcox.