The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-16

desk asking for and seeking some plan wherepy the taxes could be divided so
 that the proportion would be more nearly just and equal to the white peo-
 pie than under the present system. some of the delegates seemed to pc frightened at this because they say NJ is a Hew idea. Some of them are so
 bound to the hide bound traditions or the past they cannot get away from them and take fright and are ready to stampede like a herd of cattle. because forsooth 1t is a new idea. l submit It would be a reflection upon the great State of Alabama if We hold Conven-
 tion, sit for three months seeking to meet questions and settle conditions and decide upon policies for this State
 to live, move and have its being for the next forty years if we cannot de-
 velop new ideas. and if we have to fall in the tracks of Mississippi. Louisiana, and North Carolina, l submit 1t Is reflection if We cannot get up new
 idea and do not believe that we should be so bound to the traditions or the past that We will not accept new idea if 1t is right and just. and Is good
 policy. and is not in direct violation Of the Federal Constitution. know that I have sworn to support the Federal Constitution. l have my oath register ed along with that of the other mem
 bers, but do not believe that when 1t is a doubtful question that has not been decided and when there is just as fair
 and sound argument made by just as
 able men in support of the minority re-
 port, when reasons are sufficient ta
 create a doubt, will not and cannot
 resolve that doubt against my own
 race. The cases which have been cited
 and read by the gentlemen who oppose
 this minority report are most of them
 cases by District Courts. They do not
 come from the highest tribunal of the
 United States which passes upon the
 constitutionality of questions, neither are the facts in those cases the facts
 that would confront court if this
 minority report were adopted in our
 Constitution and it's constitutionality
 ever raised. The facts in those cases
 are different, and the North Carolina
 case which the distinguished gentleman
 from Greene emphasizes was case
 that was decided not upon the Federal Constitution, but upon the Constitution
 of the State of North Carolina, would
 have nn application and no effect in
 this State, and submit that in the
 dissenting opinion in the North Caro-
 lima case it is strongly intimated that
 local assessments would prevail even
 under the North Carolina Constitution
 They do not seem to discriminate be-
 tween the idea of a general pubic tax,
 like this thirty cent tax we have craat-
 ed ia the Constitution for school pur-
 noses ami the idea of local assess
 rnent which is altogether different p:an and idea, and as has been sug- rested such new Idea that 1t has not been up before the courts to De passed upon. Now the gentleman from Wilcox talked about dividing people into classes. and why could we not take
 the Jews or Italians or some other race and divide them up> into separate classes. | submit to the gentleman from Wilcox that the Supreme Court | of the United States nor no other court | in this country has ever held that 1t | is right. just and lawful to provide separate schools for the Jews or for the Italians or some other white race | The negro race occupies unique posi- I tion in this country, and there has. ocen | legislation and decisions about the ne- | gro race which apply to them particu- | larlv and do not fit nor touch nor reach these other racns In any particular de- degree and I submit that whenever the
 gentlemen on the other side or when
 ever the courts say that you can have | separate schools for the white race and
 black race, if you follow that Idea to
 it's logical end you are bound to admit that you can have separate school dis | tricts for these races for the admin istration of their respective schoos, and
 when you have your separate schocol
 districts, one for the negro and one fur l the white people, I submit under the | r,an of local assessment, which Is elap- 1 orately worked out in the minority ie- | port, that you can have an assessment of the white race to go TOT | the benefit of the white schools, and I for the negro race to go for the beneht | of the colored schools. We have cu' down taxation from 75 to 65 cents. This m'noNty report pro vides that In no event shall the local assessment go above the 10 cents taken off, and in nc
 event in the district or county of the
 ante where this plan would be put 1 in operation would there be an oppor- tunity for the taxes to be raised above 1 75 cents, as they have been under the | old Constitution. Now the gentleman | from Wilcox and other members, have
 seen fit to urge against this, its con
 stitutionality, and when somebody
 asks them about the poll tax which we ! find in the Code divided up between
 the races they do not draw the line
 between the property tax and the poll
 fax. but they say that the poll tax
 which is divided Is unconstitutional. Il
 is in the Code of 1SS6, and 1t is the law that we have been living under for
 more than a decade, and l submit that
 never heard the constitutionality of | it questioned until I came upon the 1 floor of this Convention. The question
 has never been raised on that. and it | Is not going to be raised on the prop
 erty tax. Suppose there Is doubt in the
 mind of some technical lawyer about
 its constitutionality, if there Is and fl
 1t stands as long as the poll tax has
 stood upon the statutes of Alabama
 then I submit it is the duty of the del
 egates to put it in the Constitution and
 let the white people of Alabama get
 the benefit of l. for ten years at least
 If the question is not going to be raised
 then. let us put 1t in. If the question
 Is going to be raised and there is douot about its constitutlonality. and
 1t seems that lawyers differ about it then let us give the white people oi Alabama the benefit of the doubt. You
 have already done all that philanthro- phy, Christianity. or magnanim.ty oi 1 any other broad or patriotic sentiment
 could demand you should do when you
 put in the Constitution 65 cents to bS divided up between the people, wh te
 and black, in Alabama. and it is oul duty to strike off the incubus which
 keeps the white people from makinl
 a forward step. It is the duty of thu Convention to remove the mlllstont | which hangs around the necks of tn;