The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-07

work for it. Another thing, if the peo- ple in a county want the law enforced rhey are soing to elect a good man fhere, and they will uphold his hands, It Is objected Tn this case; they say in some counties they have not good soil citors, have not men who are quail ned. In nearly every county in the State you will find good lawyers who will enforce the law. and it makes no difference whether learned in the law at a particular time or not. they will seen qualify themselves to prosecute effectively all the violations of law.
 do think that the people of this State are tired of circuit solicitors; | there is no necessity for them. T
 Now. about the election-I think
 there are objections both ways. If
 klected by the people, and one of his
 friends or those active in having him zRected is brought bfore the Grand Ary he necessarily leans toward him, n if those who are opposed to his e.x. ak<ipu are brought before the Grand
 Jury he is necessarily prejudiced
 against them; but the Grand Jury is there, the Grand Jury will always de- velop if there is any prejudice on the part of the solicitor as they do if there is any prejudice on the part of a wit ness. Now, about the election by the Legislature. We know it is fact, Mr. President and delegates. the way solicitors are now elected is by trading 2 and combination. There is no use in disguising the fact. 1 can come to the Legislature with the support of the delegates from Jefferson county, and can trade for my office. although might not be able to get a single vote in my county. Why? Because the dele gates from Jefferson come here not only in the interests of their friends, but the yare supposed to- support those who will support their candidate. The delegates from Jefferson will ask if my candidate is qualified and being ans- wered yes, they will support him. so the solicitor is elected not according to the will of the people. but according to the will of the majority of those who combine together I am heartily in fla vor of the substitute. and I think it win give general satisfaction to the people.
 fortunate in the discussion'of any ques- tion from delegates to have their feel znTs too strongly involved in the out come of the question before the body. We ought to discuss this matter as was suggested by the gentleman from Barbour, in a dispassionate way and see if we can arrive reasonably at what would be for the best interests of the State of Alabama. The question before the House is the substitute of the gen. man from Lauderdale, and 1 will ad- dress myself to that substitute briefly. will begin by remarking that since l&s when this State was admitted into the Union, 1t has been under the con- truI of the Democratic party. except during the reconstruction period. Dur inS all that time from 1s1s to the pres ant hour, with the exception of the time when the Republicans and scala svags had control of the State, the soii- citors have been elected by the Gen. eral Assembly. We have had circuit court solicitors. and the only party that ever attempted to elect county solicit ors by the people and to put them in direct contact with the people whom they prosecute. were the Republicans and the scalawags. That was their methods and modes of electing solicit ors; and 1t proved woeful and a bowling failure, so I am informed, though was not old enough at that time to remember 1t. Shall we follow in the lead of Buckley and his gang of negroes, or shall we follow the time honored customs of the Democratic party if they are reasonable? Now, as has been said here. the policy or the manner of electing solicitors either by the people or by the Legislature, Is not a perfect system by any means. It seems to me that we must choose the lesser of the two evils. If they are elected by the General Assembly, 1t is said that thy go into combinations, cliaues and slates. which is entirely ob- jectionable and ought not to be. I do not know anything about that, be- cause I have never been into one of them. and I do not know anything about combinations. I suppose that is the fact. because American politics is American politics. and that is the only explanation of it. and yet, if you elect them by the people, the practice has been to hold all the conventions in Montgomery. or nearly all of them, i'm cIuding the conventions for the nomi- nations of the judges of the different circuits and the different circuit ofti- cers. That being the case when the Convention to nominate State officers is called for the nomination of chan cellors. of judges and of solicitors, it will be called to meet here in Mont gpmery at the same time, and if they are so smooth that they can get up their cliques in the General Assembly, and so manipulate the General Assem- ply as to bring reproach upon it, sub init to this Convention when they are here, they will swap everything from the Chief Justice of this State down to the lowest Orlcer m OrQer 10 accom- plish their purposes. There is about equally bad results following either mode. You say 1t is bad to trade in the legislature. I ask you if it Is not just as bad to trade in a convention as it is in the legislature. They are both but the representatives of the people. that is all one happens to be paid four dollars a day. and the other Is paid nothing at all. They are both agents of the people. You talk about the peo- ple selecting their officers. why the people of Alabama have not selected an officer in twenty-five years-it has been done by their agents. The people have sent their agents to the city of Montgomery year after year and they nave nominated the candidates for of flee by making combinations for twen- ty-five years. and suppose 1t has been going on ever since it has been a State and it will continue to go on as long as we are a republic As long as you have nominating conventions. the people will not nominate them. it will be by the agents This is not a pure democracy. we are too large and spread over too large a territory to meet at Mars's Hill as did the people of Ath- ems. and tranact the business. Of ne cessity we do it through our agents. and the question Is. which agent is the hest, and select him or them. On the other hand, when you elect them. you let the neople vote upon them directly