The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-03

'
 of what is right and proper and just.
 not only to the country but to himself.
 as to refuse to adopt the great plan of
 suffrage in the State of Alabama
 which will eliminate from it's ranks the | ignorant and vicious. I say he is so ignorant and vicious the sooner we get | rid of him, both as a voter and as a
 citizen, the better for the State at
 large. Now, another proposition: Sup
 pose a family composed of a man and his wife and three children, which
 makes up about the average of the families of AIabama--the poor man who
 has no property upon which he pays 1 taxes--when he contributes one dollar
 and fifty cents poll tax. he gets back
 four dollars and fifty cents in actual
 money for the education of these chill l when. Men here who talk about the poor people of the State of Alabama
 put too low an estimate upon the vir-
 tue and the intelligence of the people of
 this State. The poor people of Ala
 bama can be approached reasonably
 upon any proposition. and when you
 20 to one of these men and talk to him
 reasonably; when you get down out of your sky-scraping oratory and nd-jahbing, dander jack business and talk to him calmly and reasonably as citizen, he listens to you; he hears You, therefore. MT. President, knowing these people, being reared among those people, knowing these poor people from my infancy up, and. knowing how pa- triotic and loyal they are, I say that when we get to that proposition, ven- ture to say they will respond gladly to 1t. and I move the previous question.
 MT. O'Neal--I hope the gentleman won't do that. Some of us want to dis cuss it. The Committee has not been heard at all.
 Mir. Rogers-4I am speaking for the Committee. I will say to the gentle mah I speak at the request of the Committee.
 Mir Sanford (Pike)-I desire to ask the gentleman from Sumter If he will not withdraw the motion for the pre- vious question. would like to make few remarks.
 MT. O'Neal-so would I. would like to speak about five minutes.
 MT. Sanford (Pike)--It Is a matter that involves a question of consider able importance, and the Committee ought not to want to cut off debate on a question like this.
 Mir. Rogers (Sumter)-I withdraw the question, then, Mir. President.
 MT. O'Neal--There has been a mis- apprehension from the beginning. We all recognize under the temporary plan,, we were able to carry out the pledges made to the people of Alabama. and remove the vicious and incompetent. The difficulty was in the permanent plan in 1903. We say that any man who can read and write or owns a certain amount of property can vote. What. then, would be the condition in this State?
 Let us take the census of the United States. We find. for instance. in the County of Dallas, there are twenty-two hundred and eighty-eight white people who are iiterate, and three thousand one hundred and eighty-four negroes that are literate; so in Marengo, and in all of the counties of the Black Belt, you find that the negroes who can reg ister and vote under your clause will out-number the white people. The gentleman says we are under pledge not to increase taxation. What is tax ation? A contribution to the support of the Government. Is this a forced contribution? No man is obliged to pay 1t unless he choose to do so There Is another proposition. The gentleman from Tuscaloosa talks about the pledge which we made to the people of Ala bama in reference to taxation.
 What, I ask the Convention, is the paramount pledge that we made to the people of Alabama?' It is to secure permanent white supremacy in this State. and are we going to violate that pledge? Unless we adopt the report as made by this Committee. we do not lay our suffrage upon the rock as We ought to do. Why? Everybody knows that illiteracy among the negro race is rap idly decreasing. Everybody knows hat unless We put some additional safeguard around this provision. which authorizes every negro who can read and write to vote, the Black Belt if the vote is counted as cast, will be un- der negro domination. Every delegate from the Black Belt in the Committee on Suffrage this morning made that statement. Whcse opinion are we to take? Are we to take the opinion of those of us from the white counties, | when every man who represents a county in the Black Belt this morning. | with the solemn responsibility resting upon him, stated before that Commit | tee that this provision was absolutely l essential to the preservation of white supremacy in that portion of Alabama? Is there any man in this Convention | who has so little patriotism that he looks only to the benefit of his imme- | diate county? I.say that this Conven- ton is broad and patriotic enough to COHSluSl lne iHtSISSt Ol thc OtdtC @l large and not the interest of any coun- ty in North Alabama or in some other | section. I tell you, gentlemen, if we frame a rr4yision here on suffrage, that allows any section of the State to be under the domination of the ignorant | and vicious your Suffrage Article is a | failure. Now, we propose to remedy | that and when We offer the remedy, | the gentleman says it is increasing | taxation. I will say as to the white | counties of North Alabama-we are not | white entirely, the negroes predominate in many counties in North Alabama; they predominate in Lawrence and al most in Morgan and in Limestone and l Madison, and in other counties in that section of the State: and l tell you the | people of North Alabama are not op- posed to this provision All through l that section of the State there is an demand for better you go before the people of Alabama and tell them this is voluntary contri- button for the schools of the State, l tell you no provision in your Constitu- ton will be more popular, so I repudiate the charge that there is no patriotism among the people of Alaba- ma Gentlemen ris4 here arl ar1ogate to themselves all the patriotism of the State. They admit it would do good is it not admitted that the adoption of this provision would decrease the danger of negro rule in this State: No man car honestly say otherwise. Why not do if Some of us say why we have |