The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-25

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 difncult of uadsrstandins, the language of which is inadeouate and does not give fully the meaning, the debates will throw light on the proposition tc
 the searcher after wisdom.
 On that idea alone, the light that will
 be thrown on the Constitution to those
 who are studying 1t, the publication oi
 these debates are of great and inestim- | able value.
 Then taking up the minority report 1t assumes thai there are men who sit in this hall who do not stop to weigh the force of the remarks made by them.
 I cannot say whether that assumption | is founded upon facts which justify 1t.
 If 1t is. I regret it, but conceding that
 1t is true. considering the intelligence we know we have here. such will be the exception. not the rule. know !, that the majority of the speeches that will be made here will be such that our people may read with edification.
 l know that nearly all of them will be I speeches of which we shall not be l ashamed.
 So from whatever standpoint 1t is viewed. I say the proposition 70 report | the proceedings as has been said by a majority of the speakers is highly prop CT. Why should not the State of Ala bama stand in the fore front cf prog
 ress whenever the question ot progress 1 arises.
 It Is fact well known to all we'll informed persons that Conventions
 meet. assemblies meet whose proceed ings are to become historic. whose &C.,
 tions are to involve the highest char l acter and the highest dignity and best Judgment. And the procee 1ings of such bodies are looked after and preserved with care.
 favor the majority report and trust that it will be adopted.
 Mir. Long (Walker)-I rise 10 favor
 the minority report. I believe we but I do not believe we should have a record of what we say. I do not think 1t is right and just to any If the members on this floor to have these speeches recorded SO that the Colored Cooks Union can so searching through them in the years to come and get up labor strike and refuse to allow any of its members to take employment in any house, the head of which voted in favor of disfranchising the negro. Sup pose some delegate were to say that no one should be allowed to vote except
 white men and Caucasians. Now. l
 believe violations of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are but TO- litical crimes, and 1t would take very little for me to vote for an amendment in the suffrage clause that nobody but white men should vote. Of co Irse, the penalty of that would be 10 cut Gown our representation in Congress and I do not believe that would be Sood reading when the Supreme Court of the
 United States comes to pass on the
 0nt af int fanu nuI ftp nf rnnStitIIti
 ana a partisan Supreme Court at that. I can see no good reason why we should have reports of everything that Is said in this Convention. There
 Is no record that this was done in the last Constitutional Convention and l cannot see any reason why it should be done now. l am not afraid to speak my sentiments at any time but l do
 not think we should have a political record there in black and white that some of the delegates will have to be lodging for twenty years to come. think the minority report should be adopted. shall vote for 1t and hope majority of the delegates will do the same thing.
 MT. Merrill-There was some appre- hension on the part of the people be- fore the Convention was called that there was something hid, that there was something out of sight, that some mine would be sprung and that some person would be injured thereby.
 It was my purpose in the discussion of this matter before the people, to take the people into my confidence and I think that that should be done in the fullest and most complete way. The way to do that is to have every word said upon this floor spread out and let the people of Alabama see what has been said and done. Then, there can be no doubt hereafter. That con- trols my remarks more than any other reason. I believe that full and fair report of everything done and said sent to the people of Alabama will do Constitution that we shall make than any other one thing that we could do and the cost being small and the req sons great, I think the Convention would act unwisely to undertake to hide what they do under a bushel or anywhere else. Let the people know what we do. Let us take them into our confidence and when you trust the people. you will hereafter be trusted by them.
 MT. Weatherly-Mr President and Gentlemen of the Convention-There are several reasons why I, as a mem Der of this committee concurred in the majority report. In the first place, it occurred to me that when we met here in Convention we met mainly for the purpose of discussion. It occurred to me that in formulating our actions as a body and crystallizing them into the form of Constitution that that re- suit would be most largely attended after discussion. Now, discussion im- plies always, mutual help. It implies a necessity devolving upon those who discuss of aiding each other in every way by reason. And it occurred to me that if the members or this Convention could have placed before them daily everything that had been done and said on the previous day, esp 9oially in matters going over from one oay to another that it would be a great aid in oiling and lubricating that machin- cry which Is absolutely necessary to the conduct of this Convention-that machinery which could be termed dis cussion. That was the first thing that occurred to me.
 Another reason was that I thought 1t was desirable that we should have the utmost publicity in connection with our proceedings at least that pert of our proceedings not occurring in the committee. l saw no reason why we should not take the people into our cnfidence. l saw no reason why we should not show to manyNof those V ho had objections to the calling of this Convention. who were suspicious of what we were going to do. exactly what we were doing. say here is what