The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-15

this floor. but as I introduced an or dinance which went to this Commlttee and in substance is embodied Tn their report and into the Constitution. oo not wish to shirk the responsibility or being in the minority If such be the fact, but to stand for whatsoever oo: have been but for half the length or time of my friend, the distinguished delegate from Montgomery. (Mr. Jones) in a position to know about the salary of Governor, but during those two years did learn something about 1t, ana propose briefly to give thesa delegates something of my observation ana ex- perience in that matter. Go pack to the condition of this State, when there were less than half million or Wnlte inhabitants. There were 53O,OOO lnnap. itants in the beginning of the war or '61. and prior to that time there were less than half a million, though they made the salary of their Governor $4,ooo a year, and 1t stood at that figure untll the Convention of 1875. and then pe- cause of the poverty stricken condition of the State, which had been afflicted with carpet-baggery and good many counties rendered insolvent and the State itself which had never made de- fault in the payment of interest on bonds it owed or in any other respect
 
 ran cotton through the blockade to pay the interest on it's bonded debt held in Europe, was unable to pay, ana made default, and it's bonds were hawked about at about 30 cents on the dollar, and in the presence of that con- dition of things it was that the Con- vention of 1875 passed an ordinance to reduce the salary of the Governor ana all other State officers, including AnnA nd in the Governor was cut down to $3,0OO a year. Now what is our condition? Here we have more than 1,SOO,0O0 peo- pie. We have $265, ,000, 900 taxable prop erty, three times as much as We had when we paid the Governor $4OO0 a year, and yet gentlemen object to mak- ing his salary $5,000. Compare the condition of Alabama with other states. Take old Virginia, the Mother of States and statesmen, and they give thelr Governor a four years term and $5'OOO a year and furnish him mansion to live in, and today Alabama has more wealth than old Virginia, and are we to pursue this parsimonious practice? Why, gentlemen, I heard it said in the Convention in 1875, heard similar dec iarations to what I have heard today
 that you could get men, numbers of them, to take the office for less than che salary"J' Why, I can go out and lind thefff by the score, those who would take the office for $500. We had better, if that is the way to select a Governor. simply let out the office of Governor to the lowest responsible bidder. Uaughter.) We can get enough men. I guess. to take 1t at $250. We want a man as Governor who will command the respect of the whole peo- pie, who will attend to his duty as such high officer in a manner that will be becoming to him and which will make his people feel pride in seeing the office thus executed. My friend the delegate from Montgomery, properly alluded to the fact that the Governor is expected to contribute to charity, more largely, more universally, than any other ten men, though they be officials in the State of Alabama. If the Governor don't contribute some thing to every FOOT body that comes along and asks it. why what is said and thought? They go away utterly disappointed and say, My God, what sort of a Governor-he would not even give me a dollar" They are expected to thus contribute and 1t takes a large | amount. If he does 1t with any"kind l of liberality it cuts his salary to $2, 900 | year; and in this city how can a
 man support his family and live in any kind of style even upon $3000, and | Is not the Governor of our great State is expected to entertain friends and off, icials sometimes. Why Governors of other States do that. and it is proper 1 thing for him to do in reason. Well | then again, our Governor may be a poor man. The one whom We have
 but recently lost, most excellent gen.
 tleman, a man of splendid capacity | was, I am informed, in that category. l He was a poor man come here to live
 with a family to support on $3,000. Was he able to rent an expensive mansion | and maintain it? No sir, he found a l place in a boarding house and not a first-class one at that, because he was his paying the price. Why, sir, is
 that the way for Alabama to treat her Governor? Then again, visitors come | here and as this is the Cradle of the Confederacy and the Capitol at which the first Confederate Congress met, and
 where the Confederate President was
 inaugurated, they come here from
 New England, and everywhere else
 and come up to the Capitol and ask naturally of the guide where Is the
 Governors office, we would like to see
 him very much, to meet him. The
 guide takes them around into the Gov
 ernor's office to show them the office
 and when they get around in there
 they see him in a little 12x14 room like
 a half-grown bear. and there is the
 Governor of the great State of Ala
 bama. An, T tell you. gentlemen, il
 marks a stingfness in our people tha
 is unwarranted. Demagogism ha!
 prompted men on the stump to say
 time and again, An, we won't pal large salaries" and yet expect the bes
 class of men to give their services t.
 the State through mere patriotism It is true the honor is great becaus
 the office of Governor is the highes
 in the gift of the people in our Stat and 1t ought to be honored. It is no for this purpose that report is made to make it a money getting institution You take any man of first class abil
 ity, as nearly all lawyers are-the!
 are most usually the men elected Gov
 ernor,-and where is one who goes int the practice and laborS at his desk bu } makes that much and more by hi
 profession. Now why is 1t necessar . to incorporate it in the Constitution ) l don't believe that the delegates Il s this convention are disposed to vot ) that down because they dislike to giv '. the Governor that salary. That is DO . the reason, that is not it at all, 1t -l ! because they do not like the preceden I of fixing a salary in the Constitution ) That is it. Gentlemen. l know you ar 5 patriotic and intelligent and you d 9 not want your Governor cramped as h is now, but you want to show him nor ! liberality. You will, l believe, befor this convention adjourns direct tn t General Assembly as soon as prac