The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-07
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF ALABAMA

The secretary read the anlenuHiSHt as follows: By adding who shall be paid a salary to be fixed by law" Mr. Spraggins-The Circuit Court so- licitors are not in there under the amendment by MT. Sanford.
 The President - The amendment should relate to the section as amend ed.
 MT. Spraggins-I will ask the clerk to change 1t so as to make 1t read that way.
 MT. Sanford CPike)-I would like 10 call the attention of the gentleman | from Madison to one fact in relation to his amendment. I have ho objection 10 1t in the world. but 1t does not seem | to me to be expedient in view of the | fact that there are a great many coun- | ty solicitors in the State, in small | counties. who do not make over $l5o | or $200 a year, and there are a great many who make a great deal more, than that and will state that the gem eral law fixes a limit to their salary. MT. Spraggins-Does not the law pro- vide that over $150 or S2O0 should go for the benefit of the public schools? MT. Sanford (Pike)-I call your at- tention to the fact that that Is the gen. eral law of the State. that has been | the general policy of the Legislature. There Is no objection in the world that | I have to it personally.
 1 MT. deGraffenreid-In Hale county, | we have a law that fixes the salary or l the solicitor at so much. with provis- | ion that if he makes that much he can have that salary. if he does not make l that much he shall have what ne makes. if he makes more than that, 1t l goes into the county treasury. Wouia l not that meet your objection!
 The President-The gentleman from
 Madison asks unanimous consent so as to make it relate to the section as 1 amended.
 | MT. Sanford (Pike)-I will state to l the gentleman from Hale so Tar as my l knowledge goes with reference to the laws creating county solicitors over the State. where they are created. that l that ia the law, fixing the limit to the | amount that they can make. but It oc- CUTS to me that this amendment or tne gentIeman from Madison will necessi- | tate the General Assembly making fxed salary which would come either | out of the county or State treasury and that it would be a very diihcuit l uattnr. 10 make general law to cover .rot sort of thing. and as the General
 Assembly has already adopted the idea of the pentleman from Madison m nassine the laws for solocitors over tne 1 State I see no reason why 1t shouiu pe changed from the old Constitution, ana
 viii state to the Convention that the
 n-ovision that I introduced there IS III the exact words of the present Consu-
 tuition. It is suggested that nioNe .o
 tshla the amendment of the gentien,ah
 from Madison. but II ne oesile' !"
 cuss it. I won't do it. ,,
 Mr Snraggins-I desire to discuss
 + nresume there will be some ln- | oo,e,ities about the thing, no matteF how we fix it. For instance, tahe q, H large county, and thN solicitor "ll
 wake twice or three times as much as
 he would be willing to take as s~lary
 6xed by law, and the surplus, or course
 should go into the public treasury.
 is true that possibly in some or tnese
 smaller counties, that salary nxed
 hw law would have to be very small,
 but the Legislature certainly unuer
 the local legislation, the legislature | could certainly pass a general law
 hased mon the assessed taxable values
 of that county and upon the population | of that county, and considering the
 h,siness that so far has been done Tn
 that county. The question or whetner
 the officers in this State should receive
 fees ar should receive salaries mas been
 theshed over on yesterday. IL seeHls
 to me that the Convention has decided I
 extent. and there is no further use at
 this time of going into that question
 My own private and personal JudS-
 ment is that all officers should be upon
 A salary, and without that they should
 make sworn reports at least twice
 year and the surplus over and anoVe
 those salaries should go into the treas
 ury for the use of the public schools | or for the use of the roads Of the couh-
 ty. Not only the clerk of the supreme
 Court should be upon salary, put as
 a matter of abstract justice, the pro-
 bate judge and clerk and sherin or each
 county should be upon salaries. It IS
 true that those officers are officers or
 the people who will appoint the ln-
 snectors for this election for ths rati"
 fication of his Constitution. There IS
 no sense in mincing words over thls
 matter. but where we have chance
 and where it is safe, 30 Ia" as thls
 Constitution Is concerned, to carry out that principle, 1t seems to me IL IS our duty to do so. There is one further
 reason, so far as the solicitor IS con-
 cerned, that he should be placed upon A salary. and that Is, in my judgment,
 that no man should have a monied , interest in the conviction of the de- fendant. All lawyers and business men } who have seen the workings of the old fec system will concur with me in the statement that they have often seen } frivolous cases in which defendants were compelled to line up and pay their fines and the costs when under a salaried system, those cases would never have been brought. It seems to me, Mr. President, they are open to
 some inequalities somewhere. Now.
 the question is whether or not in the
 small counties the State shall pay these solicitors a little more than they are entitled to. and receive from the larger counties a surplus that will out balance what the State has already paid in these smaller counties. It is a step
 in the right direction and it seems to
 me that the Convention should cer-
 tainly adopt an amendment of this
 sort.
 Mir. Henin (Chambers)-1 move the previous question on the section as amended.
 MT. Barefeld-I would like to re-
 quest the gentleman to withdraw that motion for the previous question for a
 moment.
 The President-The question. gentle
 men, is a call for the previous ques- , ton upon the amendment offered by th7 gentleman from Madison and the sec
 ton as amended.
 Mir. Hefiin--l withdraw for a mo-
 ment, if he will renew it.
 Mir. Bareield-E am-~ heartily in
 favor of the amendment offered by the