The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-18


 fault on the part of the Committee or perhaps without any fault of my cwn, it passed upon this matter in my ab- eence; otherwise, 1 would have made a minority report. My objection to the word white" as cont aimed in the Ar ticle reported by the Committee is this The Constitution of the United States, in defining the powers of Congress, de- clares that 1t shall have power to provide for organizing armies, and dis ciplining the militia, and for orSaniz- ing such of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, re- serving to the States respectively the appointment of officers and the aathor- ity of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
 Congress. in pursuance of that au- thority, has defined what the militia Is. I read from Section 1925 of the Revised Statutes:
 Every able-bodied male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is of the age of IS years, and un- der the age of 45 years, shall be en- rolled in the militia" At the time that act was passed, it included only white men, because white men only were citizens of the State; but under the force of recent amendments and de- cisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. the word white, even in a Constitution, would be stricken out. Thus, under the Act of Congress and the law of the land, every able bodied male citizen of the State, be- tween the ages of IS and 45, is a mem Der of the militia, and the State is powerless to change that. Congress, going further, has appropriated an nually for a, number of years, $200. 900 to provide arms and equipment for the militia. Recently that has been in creased, believe, to $400000, and that is divided out among the States. not according to the number of volunteers, or National Guards, as they are called. but in proportion to the number of able-bodied citizens, white and black, dn the State, as compared with the whole number in the United States. If we put this provision in which I seek to strike out-admitting that the State can do tive subtract about 40 per cent of the able-bodied male citizens of this State from enumeration in the militia. and hence this Convention strikes down at once about 40 per cent of the appropriation made by the Fed eral Government for the Alabama Ma tional Guard, as they are now called. That appropriation, if mistake not, is about $20,000 a year. and that provides for arms, ammunition, equipment and stores for the Alabama National Guard. If the Constitution provides that only able bodied white men between IS and 45 are members of the militia, the ef- feet of it will be to cut down the ap- propriation bout 40 per cent.
 MT. President, there need be no fear of any harm from leaving this matter as it has been in the Constitution from 1819 down to the present time. The day is past when we will have any more .'musters," as they used to be called, of the militia when they met with um- brellas, drilled once or twice year, had good time for few days, and then went home. We all know what the old militia musters" were. All that has passed. the militia keeping pace with the spirit of organization in every department in life, Is now, save in a legal sense, confined to the organ ized volunteers, and those volunteers are organized under a provision in the Constitution under the name of "Volun- teer Forces" It would be competent for the Legislature and competent for the Governor, under present Statutes to determine what classes of men shall be organized. I remember well, Mir. President, in the dark days, when the sun of the Confederacy was setting around us in darkness, while our own troops were in the trenches at Peters
  gress, under the inspiration of Robert E. Lee, passed an act authorizing the employment of negroes in the Confed- crate army The time may come in the future when we may desire to em- ploy the negro in the defense of this State. It might be that we might be invaded and desire them, and they might desire. to defend the land, where they are born, and of which they are eIt oil hnr ho in the Spanish war, when. for some reason, there seemed to be difficulty in getting the requisite quota from Ala bama, 1,000 negroes volunteered, which saved 1000 white men from going There Is no harm in the State of Ala bama reserving the power to use them, if 1t desires to do so. We have now only one company of negroes in the Alabama State troops. They were or ganized. I think, some twenty years ago. They have never been disbanded They have been remarkably obedient. I remember on one occasion, when a sin gle policeman arrested a company of forty-five men, and brought them up to the Governors office. because he thought they had violated a city oN1i- nance in firing a salute. Why should we desire to say to every negro-and some of them are going to be citizens,
 
 vote-we want to put a brand upon you, so you shall never be in the con- dition, even if the Legislature desired 1t. to bear arms in defense of Alabama. For these reasons, and because think it trenches somewhat upon the power of Congress under the Constitution, be- cause it will interfere with our appro- priation and strike a blow at the Ala bama National Guard, and because I think it unwise, I offer that amend ment. I hope it will prevail.
 MT. Sanders-Mr. President, the Commit tee on Militia held some fSur or five sessions. at which this matter alone was discussed. The distinguished gen. tleman from Montgomery, as he has stated, was never present on any of those occasions, and I do recall that the Committee adjourned without act ing, perhaps. as often as three times in order that there might be full attend ance of its members, and on one occa- sion. at least. I remember, that it was sail that the gentleman from Montgomery would without doubt. be present and be heard upon this ques- tion. He was not present at any ses- sion of the Committee. and after ire Quent and elaborate discussion, the majority of the Committee decided in favor of the insertion of the word white" before the word male" in the first line of the report, None of the Committee. MT. President favored a negro soldier in this State, a major of Ia to