The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-12

nresent shape is beca ise it contains the words Cor article." which would mean :: .hey were left in there that liquor law could be passed without giving any notice at all. Where you strike out these words "or article,' leaves the Legislature with the right to pass To- cal law without giving notice.
 Mir. Malone--I am willing to remedy it in any way that we can. l sumbt that since 1 have taken this position the very people that are fighting me have come to me and said if our dis pensary was operated like yours we would not fight you. There is the nigger in the wood pile. Let's know what we are about. l don't see any thing at all objectionable to the amend ment offered by Mir. Sanders. think 1t covers the ground, but 1t does leave room possibly for something else to le ,b. cd in. Therefore. I am opposed to accepting that amendment.
 Mir. Pitts--I hope the convention Will pardon me a few moments. I have not as vet consumed the valuable time of th.s convention. and I would not open my mouth now if I were not firmly convinced that the Convention on yes- | terday evening on the eve of adjourn ment. committed grave error in pass- ing this subdivision 26. Now let's see
 
 have been at work on local legislation. a committee on Local Legislation and a Committee on Legislative Department. end they have reported that they havea examined the Constitution of every State in the United States and search ed out everything that could be object ed to on the question of local legisla- tion, and the result Is that they have brought in here. the two committees together. 35 prohibitions. Not satisfied with that. they have asked this Con- that although 35 prohibitions are put upon the Legislature, yet they want to say that no special law shall be passed whereby relief can be obtained under general law or where the courts can give relief; and the court shall be the judge of the Legislature. l thought the Legislative Department was one of the coordinate branches of the govern I ment. thought it was equal in power l and I thought it had the right to con | trol it's own legislation. and yet this committee comes in and says that the judt ary shall be superior to the Legls- lature and that the Judiciary shall say which laws are local and which are not. I call upon the chairman of the | committee. either one of these com nittees. to name single instance of local legislation that is not prohibited by this subdivision.
 | Mir Watts--Lccal legisla ton in refer l ence to whisky.
 1 Mir. Pitts-The reason why the liquor l traffice has not been interfered with is that the Convention has that special ly excepted. I want you to name sim l gle insta ice of special or local legisla- ton that is not prohibited under these ] ?h laws. Name ''e other-yes, there is one t'mer. the game law. and that was l tried to be put in. but was voted down. | There are only two instances. yet this | Convention says that no local law, however meritorous it might be, shall be passed by the Legislature. We ought to have some safety valve. and we ought to have some way of relieving 1t. If they are wrong there is a rem edy. What brought into existence the | Cou:' of Chancery? How did 1t origln- 1 ates? Because the court of common law could not give remedies for the wrongs. This Chancery Court was established for the purpose of giving remedies wherein the court of common law could not give remedy. What else can this piea; court do? It says that if 1t is not already provided foe, If some emer- gency should arise 1t can be-
 MT. President. we have gone too far. admit that the Legislature for the last ten years have enacted too many local laws. which is remedied by these 3b prohibitions Now why Say that the | Legislature shall not pass any local law, don't make any difference how iner. .torious it may be, not at all un- lrsS th' court shall say that redress cannot be given? Now. this Is a con- servative body. have watched it, and have watched it closely. I have been | h itn and address the Convention. I recog- nize the conservatism of this body, and have refrained from consuming it's time: because I assume 1t is conserva- tive; and I believe this Convention yes- terday evening in the hurry of adjourn Inent and without deliberation or re- fiection. passed this particular subdi- vision.
 Mir. ONeal-Gentlemen of the Con-
 vention I desire to say that the Com-
 mittee on Local Legislation studiously
 avoided in their report any reference
 to the liquor question. While great
 many members of the Committee be-
 liAved that the regulation of the liquor
 trafic, could be secured by general
 laws by which the present system of
 local option or dispensary could be
 continued in counties and cities of this
 state, yet they deemed 1t wisest at this
 critical juncture in the affairs of the 1 State to omit all mention of that ques-
 ton and leave 1t to the legislature to
 pass any local or special law on that
 subject that they might see proper.
 We recognized the fact that the para
 mount purpose of this Convention was
 to reform our suffrage and hence we
 thought it unwiSe to inject into the
 Constitution any question which might
 cause division and anatgonism among
 our people. For that reason there wal
 no mention made of the liquor question in the report. Yet notwithstanding oul
 assurances certain delegates in thI
 Convention have refused to accept the
 good faith of our statements. They
 imagine that behind some of the pro
 visions of this report is some masked battery directed at the dispensary ol
 liQuor question. Some members are in (
 state of nervous tension bordering or nervous prostration for fear that W, will attack the liquor question and Tn.
 terfere with the right of certain locali.
 ties to establish dispensaries. We art
 between the two fires. On the one side
 are the dispensary advocates and or
 the other side those who favor allow.
 ing any city in this State to use the
 general funds of the State for theil public schools. That is the position
 We are in. If we attempt to placatS the dispensary men we are met by the gentleman from Mobile who says that we are intrenching upon their privi, : legeS, and franchises to appropriate the