The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-25

T
 The gentleman from Walker seeml to think that twenty years from nov some speech that is made in the Con-
 vention will be seized upon whereby | to criticise the work of the Convention
 believe that what we want is the truth. We need never fear the truth | We shall base our actions on the Hines | of truth and when We do it, instead oi | becoming weaker and weaker from day | to day, a century from now when the
 world has grown wiser, when the real | reasons that have actuated our sover- eign people in meeting together and
 solving this crisis have sunk deeper 1 and deeper into the hearts of men until with unanimity they shall say the sov- ereign white people were right.
 | MT. Cunningham-I am in favor of the majority report and in favor of public records. From, the time a child | first cries until he dies of old age the
 man makes record in this world. By | that record he Is judged by his fellow | men, by that record he is to be tried at the judgment baryof Almighty God.
 l am willing to admit the propriety of concealment in some things, not only the propriety, but the necessity. I am
 quite, sure if the records of the indi-
 viduals of this Convention in all of the relations of life had been steno- graphically reported at the time that many things that have been done would have been omitted. Matters that con- cern us as individuals between our selves and our Maker, between our selves and our God, are private mat ters for which no one suffers and s1o one Is blessed but ourselves. But in public capacities we should go on record not merely as to what we do but as to what we say. Words are the signs of ideas and what we want here is ideas. And if those ideas can be expressed in words, then those words should be taken down that they may be studied.
 for one have no Constitution in my pocket. I do not know that I shall propose a single thing for this Conven- tion. I tor one confess that am in- competent to pass on certain matters. One of those questions is the inhibition of the Constitution of the United States on the question of suffrage. There are gentlemen on this floor who know what this Convention can do, there are gen. tlemen who do not know. I belong to the latter class and I would like to have an opportunity in my room or in some quiet spot to take up that have been submitted
 by men who are competent to pass up-
 on these questions. 1t Is true that in
 the enthusiasm of the moment we
 sometimes say things that we ought
 not to say. There are perhaps many
 married men who can recall the time
 when if they had had stenographic re-
 ports of the situation and studied over
 them they would not have proposed.
 Now what we want to do is to be
 given an opportunity to sift out the
 wheat from the chaff that we may make flour for the mills that not even
 the Supreme Court of the United States can afford to deny and to do that we
 must have an opportunity to study
 t'lese questions. The cost is of no consequence, much less than I had sup
 posed it could be done for, but whether it can be done for that is not my busi-
 ness. That is the business of the gen. tleman who gives the bond. and I am heartily in favor of going on record in this business not only as to what we do, but as to what the motives are that inspire our action and If there is in what is said shroud of death for the future statesman, it Is he who weaves the shroud and if there is future greatness and honors to him
 that is approved by the people. then
 by virtue of every American right as a citizen and as an aspirant he has a
 right to it, and therefore he should be proud of it. I sincerely hope the ma jority report will be adopted.
 MT. Ashcraft--I think have the ca- pacity and the experience which will enable me to express clearly some of the reasons why these reports should not be made. There is not a man on this floor who believes in the publicity of our actions more than l do. I do not want this Convention to do any, thing in the dark; but, sir, in order that we shall be known of men, and the purposes which have actuated us during the session of this Convention, it Is not necessary that it should be put down in black and white. If we shall be able to say anything which is worth being gathered into the store house of the great human heart. then, Mfr. President -it will be treasured up here, and the representatives of thej press, as the minority report says, will promulgate it and distribute it among the people of the State. If any are so unfortunate as to express those things which are unworthy of guiding human conduct they too will be gathered in. like the tares of old. and consumed in the fires of oblivion. We have no oc- casion to perpetuate them. I have no desire in the years that are to come to point to any of my fellow citizens and say you made this, and this, and this mistake in the years that are gone by. Now, MT. Chairman, believe that the elastic way in which our Supreme Courts have handled the constitutions, not only of the United States, but of the respective States, has enabled them to adjust them to our progressive situ- ation, and am perfectly willing as the years go by, to have those august bodies review our actions, and search after our motives in the light of the experiences which then surround them, and believe under those circumstances that they will feel less bound, and less
 ,.4pered by the ties of the past, if they are left free from these printed reports. But, MT. President, it has been said that We want free and full discussion. There are many mem- bers on this floor who are not expe- rienced in public debate, who would be glad to stand up here among their fel- low citizens and speak out the plain and simple words which move in their hearts, but those men will feel sense of timidity and diffidence in express ing themselves freely and frankly if their rhetoric, if the form of their ex- pression and all that kind of thing is to be put down to be read and criti- cised by those who may be willing to lightly treat their course of conduct.
 Now, MT. President, under all the circumstances. the fact that we do not get this matter in the nature of bound book, but only in the nature of a newspaper supplement; in view of tho fact That if will really result in