The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-01

woman who Is the owner in good faith. in her own right, of real estate, situate In this State assessed for tax ation at the value of $3oo or more, Of the owner In good faith, in his own right. or the husband of a wom m Who Is the owner in good faith. in her own riEht. of personal property n this state assessed for taxation at $500 or more; provided, that the taxes due upon such real or personal property for the year next preceding the year In which he offers to register shall have been paid, unless the assessment shall have been legally contested and Is undetermined.
 Mir. Sanford lMontgomery)-I have an amendment.
 The amendment was read as follows;
 Amend report of Committee on Suf- frage and Elections by striking out the second subdivision of Section , or said report"
 The President-The question will he upon the amendment offered by the gentleman from Montgomery.
 Mfr. Sanford (Montgomery)-l oner that amendment, fellow delegates, De- cause I am aware that property IS power among all people and In every government, and that 1t Is especially a power in this republic whose domi- mating vice is avarice. The men who own property often time show the very highest degree of sagacity. or energy: of self-denial and of economy. and all those qualities by which large fortunes are acquired. But. from all can learn by tale or history in the obser- vations of q not now short life. mere possession of property does not give patriotism or wisdom or, virtue Of- tentimes 1t Is means of pronigacy and indulgence in all the forms Of vice and of folly. Therefore. the ownership of property should not be a aualtfica- ton to vote. remember an anecdote. MT. President. of the celebrated Emory Storrs of Chicago. very brilliant law yer, and a very profligate man. Upon one occasion at Saratoga. he was sur rounded by a number of gentlemen of large fortune, and. while he himself was impecunious. he was A genius whose briIliancy was admitted by ev- cry one, and they jeered him and sheer ed at him, and he finally replied to them: Gentlemen. I do not wish to be offensive, but, in my reading or the New Testament. the only man of for tune that was at all distinguished In that book was Dives. and he was Tn hell" So. while do not go to the fuil exten. of Emory Storrs's sarcasm :! do say that the mere possession or wealth is not qualification for govern ment; that the wisest men. the great est moral teachers, the greatest patri- ots. the finest soldiers. and sometimes the most sagacious statesmen have had no property at all: that they have been supported by public contributions and buried at public expense. That IS true in the history of all countries. ancient and modern. Why, my friends, l nave but to remind you that such a man as Samuel Adams could not have voted under tsat clause. When he was elect ed to the Colonial Congress of 174, his friends had to contribute to buy suit able apparel for his appearance Tn that assembly. He himself would have been buried at public expense, but TOT the fact that his son had died and left nlm a few thousand dollars, ana vet that man has been called the Cromwell of America" that man has been ranked as second only to Washington; that man has been con- sidered in the very first rank Of pa- triots-a man who stirred the colonies in l774 '75 and '76 in the war against England for independence and for Iib- erty. and yet that man could not have voted under this Section had he been living in Alabama today. Why should I remind you of the fate of James Monroe, 50 familiar to the history or this country, and yet 50 poor that he was buried at public expense. He opuld not have voted under this clause.
 Now, tell me, you gentleman who fa- vor that Section, what virtue there Is in forty acres that can give a man the wisdom to vote? Or what virtue Is there in $500 of his wife's garments or jewelry that can impart to him patri- otism? Why should it be so? If 1t de- bends upon his wifes $500, she may run away. and when she goes she takes the $500 and disfranchises her husband. QIaughter. The very absurdity of the proposition shows that such a provision as this ought not 10 be made quali- fication for voter. can count from here to the river many young men, sin gle, Qualiied so far as character is concerned, who have ordinary intclli- gence, as required. and yet who do not own $500 worth of taxable property or forty acres of land. There are gentle- the happy possessors of forty acres of land, let 1t be ever so unfertile or un- productive. Why should you make such a qualification as that? How many men would you qualify if you put in a mere property qualification? Many of the best men in Alabama. How many men would you disQualify by that first subdivision of the fifth Section,-men who cannot read nor write and yet are men of very fine sense, of high patriotism, of great public virtue, of much devotion to the welfare of Alabama What virtue Is there in the power to read @ paragraph of the Constitution of the United States? What sanctity is there in that instrument about which men in this Convention differ as to its interpreta- tion, as they do all over the United States? Why didn't the Committee say You should learn to read the Lords Prayer and practice its humility; you should learn to read the Sermon on the Mount, and take 1t to your life as a guide in all fts magnificent virtues 2" Why not? Some of the most brilliant men In history-brilliant for their ge- nius, immortal for their attainments and good they have done to the world. and yet, in their personal characters. were lost to every sense of morality and virtue. Who has not read the sarcasm of Pope about Lord Bacon being the greatest, brightest, meanest of man. kind?" Who does not remember By rons career-the genius of the nine teenth century, and known for his pro- fligacy as much as he is for his charm ing poems7 Who does not remember Voltaire, the apostle of reason. the most gifted man of the eighteenth cen tury, profligate In all things. believing in nOthing-he did not believe in God but actually repudlated everything that we have been taught is sacred in