The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-08
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF ALABAMA


 condition in some of our counties. It seems to me Mir. President, that this ] vote ought to be reconsidered and we 1 ought to go back to a system under which this State has prospered. and | about which I am informed, with one l exception (that of Morgan county, ! there vas no discussion before the pec- | pie.
 MT. Long (Walker)-I hope the Con- vention will reconsider the vote whereby the substitute of the gentle man from Lauderdale was adopted yesterday. We are going to be called upon to defend this measure. I am | going to ask how many delegates can defend a proposition that Is going to 1 open sixty-six offices in Alabama? That is the proposition that will confront us on the stump. Even in the medical profession there are doctors that make a speciality of medicine. there are law yers in the State of Alabama that make a speciality of prosecuting attor- | neys. It would leave many counties in this State without man competent to represent the State of Alabama in the | criminal prosecutions in this State. l There are counties in the State of Ala l bama that have not a lawyer that is l competent to even draw a bill of in- dictment The effect would be that l you would have no head to the crimi- | nal system of solicitors in the State of | Alabama.
 MT. White-May interrupt the gen. | tleman? Will you name a county | that has a lawyer of that class.
 MT. Long-I could name numbers Of | them.
 MT White-Name ono
 Mir. Long-The county of Winston | the county of Marion, and a great many other counties in this State. That means no reflection upon these coun | ties. There is scarcely a lawyer in tha | county of Fayette alone.
 This is no reflection upon the law yers, but there are agricultural coun- ties in this State that lawyer can not make a living in. because the litigation Is so small that they do not need law yers. and it Is a compliment to those l counties. We all know that there are counties in the State of Alabama where there are no lawyers capable of rep resenting the State. No gentleman can deny that. This is legislative mat, ter, and should be left to the Legislat- l ure. Wry our Constitution is but an old barge loaded down with 200 tons of rock and the enemies of it want to get us out into deep water and sink it. | and when it canes to the ratification we should consider carefully what We are doing. It Is not wise 10 get up here | upon an impulse of the moment to adopt a substitute that was not even considered by the committee, and If all the lawyers on this floor that have been defeated by the Legislature would vote against the proposition. it would be defeated almost unanimously. There are many sore toes here, and 1t is natural for man to despise system that he failed in. It is not necessary l to mention them, they are all over the | House. If you would let the people elect them why some of them would | be defeated before the people and would be willing to right then put it | back to the Legislature. They would say it was a fraud, a snare, and a de- | fusion. and they would say further | than that that the people were all up | to trickery and bribery in Conventions, you have heard that by defeated can- | didates ever since you have heard of | elections in this or any other State. | The trouble is that there are some l lawyers on this floor want to be solic- l tiors. that is the reason this measure | is so popular, in my honest Judgment There are counties in the State of Ala" l bama where you could not elect | Democrat to save your life. There are fourteen or fifteen counties in this | State where you could not elect a | Democrat, and yet you want to turn | it over. It is but bribe to lawyers | to turn in opposition against the | Democratic party, in order to be elected. that is the result of It. Every body knows that with few exceptions | there is not a lawyer in the state or | Alabama but what is in sympathy with the Democratic party. but you do thls, and there will be a heap of little law | yers whose services are not worth " a year would become candidates for solicitors in those counties and the counties would elect them. and the man of strong influence who can de- liver the goods. deliver from three to | five votes on that question will not be prosecuted or indicted by the Grand | Jury. and if he is indicted the case will be nolle pressed. and that will be the end of it. The Legislature was an evil but an evil that was placed up on us and it has elected solicitors every year since 1919 with single eH- certion when the Republicans were Tn power in the State of Alabama. NOW, | we are asked to abolish It. For what nurpose? In order that there may be
 
 this State to represent the State of | Alabama I tell you if you put the | solicitors In the county to represent 1t, | he will cater to the local interests in
 his own county and 1t Is natural that
 he should. This is a question that | should be reconsidered and leave 1t to
 the legislature to say whether you | ought to elect them in certain coun-
 ties or let the legislature elect them in
 certain counties and let the people elect
 them in others. It is legislative act
 pure and simple, and I appeal to the
 delegates on this floor. I have no per
 sonal interest whatever in any solicitor
 in the State of Alabama. I am not
 learned in the law, and therefore could not be candidate if I wanted to.
 but tell you the people of Alabama do not want any such thing. I want | a man to rise in his seat and say that during the last car vass he advocated
 county solicitors, I want to see what
 kind of man he is. You know you did not advocate it. It has been | matched up. 1t is one of the buzzard | eggs matched out here without even
 three weeks setting, matched out after
 the report of the committee had been
 considered. and I tell you it will do
 more harm to this Convention than
 anything you can place in it. There
 are men specially adapted to become prosecuting attorneys, and other attor-
 neys not fit for it although able and
 competent lawyers. We all know law