The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-18

xn8 GnnAHC1s G1l~~Ss4tS sA <e-~ ~~----~~ rial districts. taking counties from one district and adding to another there will be dissatisfaction that will mii- tate greatly against the adoption, or this Constitution, the great desidera- tum of which is the reform of the suf- frage question, and claim it is wrong on the part of this Convention to in- ject anything into the Constitution that is needless. to injust anything that can be deferred to the legislature so thai when the vote is taken on the adoption of the Constitution we will have noth- ing but the main question for which > we were sent here for, for the people to vote upon.
 MT. Long (walker)-Did you not state to the Committee on Representa- tion that you would vote for the in- crease if they gave Madison County another representative? MT. Grayson-And I will vote for 1t yet. I expect when the report of that Committee comes up to move to ada Madison and Mobile.
 MT. Pitts-Don't Mobile and Madison have Senator each and is not Walker put in a senatorial district with two other counties and so as to the matter of senators have not those two coun- ties three times as many senators as the county of Walker?
 MT. Grayson-Senators and repre- eentatives are two different things, and they are altogether upon different bases. If that is your theory here IS Talladega County with S6,00O while Jeff ferson has 130, 600 and they each have one Senator.
 MT. Barefield-How many inhabitants has Madison County?
 Mir. Grayson-43.700.
 MT. Barefield-How many represen- tatives?
 MT. Grayson-Two.
 MT. Barefield-How many Senators? MT. Grayson-One. l have just said the basis of senators and representa- tives is altogether different. If you go on that basis the County of Jeffer- son would be entitled to twenty repre- sentatives. Mobile would be entitled to two or three more Montgomery woutd be entitled to one more, but l maintain that the basis for senators is fixed on a different plan and it has been GUS tom heretofore that no county should have more than one~senator. It is fixed upon a separate and distinct basis and you have no right to add fractions.
 MT. Graham (Talladega)-I desire to correct the gentleman. He stated that Talladega had only 32.000 inhabitants. The number is S6.00O, just little short of Madison.
 Mir. Grayson--I may have gotten the
 
 ties of Talladega, Wilcox and Calhoun which they propose to give separate senators are away down in the thirties and Madison has nearly 44,OO0. l am not arguing about Madison County, but arguing chiefly upon the ground that 1t is the duty of the Convention to vote down all these amendments and fix 1t at 100 representatives and 3S sen- ators and refer the apportionment to the next legislature.
 Mr. Long (Walker)-I appreciate the position of the distinguished Chairman of the Committee on Representation. Although I am not member of that Committee. I was member during the last House of Representatives of the Committee on Apportionment. and we labored for several days trying to ad- just this matter of representation based upon 100 in the House and 8 in the Senate and we Eere unable to make an apportionment with anything like equity.
 If there is anything in the world l like. it is consistency. The gentleman from Madison, who has just addressed you voted for the increase and was ready to do it again, but won't do it simply because Madison County won't get one and the poor little County of Walker will.
 MT. Grayson-win the gentleman al- low me to interrupt him?
 The President-Does the gentleman yield?
 MT. Long (Walker)-No, sir; I shall have to pay back his discourtesy. Now Madison County has 43.0e0 and Walker County has between twenty-five and twenty-siX thousand. The county of Madison pays taxes on seven million dollars of property and my county pays on over 5000, 900. Madison County has lot mt V one, and they are scheming to keep us from getting one more and for them to have four. They should have 100000 inha abitants and pay taxes on $24O0O,0O0 to have four times our representation.
 It is true, we don't base representa- tion on wealth. but the great State of Alabama is nothing more than stock company and the shareholders in the company are the sixty-six counties and those shareholders should be entitled to the gifts of the State as much as possi- bie in proportion to the amount of taxes they pay towards the support of the corporation, the State of Alabama.
 Why. MT. President. it is all out of order at this time, according tp my notion. but when the report of the Committee on Representation comes before this house. if I cant convince any fairminded man. any man who has any honesty of purpose, that my county is entitled to another represen- tative l don't want 1t.
 The matter has been carefully eX- amined and with only 100 representa- tives and 33 senators it cannot possl- bly, be arranged without doing injus- tice to some of the counties.
 Now the County of Walker is white county. It has white population of Jour times the white population of the County of Bullock, seven times the white population of Greene, five times lhe white population of Hale. four and half times the white population of Lowndes and one and a quarter the white population of the great County Of Montgomery, four times the white pop ulation of either Perry. Russell or Sum- ter. also four times the white popula- tion of the great County of Wilcox. We are not asking that thls should be done but we are asking justice for all the counties in Alabama and that can not be given unless this increase of five representatives and two senators is given. Unless we allow this it can not be changed until another ConstI- tuition. You have tiXad the sessions of the legislature at four years and the expense of these additional seven mem bers will be trifling.
 Now I move the previous question On the amendment and the section as re- ported.