The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-03
THE AFTERNOON SESSION.

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 THE AFTERNOON SESSION. E
 When the roll had been called at the afternoon session. it was announced that 129 delegates were present. The pending question was the substi- tute to Section IS, relating to the poll tax, and the Browne amendment was taken up. It provides that the Legis lature shall fix the age limit for payers of poll tax.
 Captain Graham of Talladega ad' dressed the Convention. He said the majority of delegates on the floor was growing heartily tired of the argument that so many votes would he cast against the Constitution if this or that amendment was passed or not passed. For his part, he proposed to go ahead, and if the people rejected the Consti- | tuition, the delegates would feel assured that they had done their duty. He declared that the people in the whito | counties would not object to increasing the age limit to 60 years If the money was used for the schools of Alabama. He said he was opposed to the amend. ment of his colleague, Mir Browne, and in favor of the substitute of the Con- mittee. Mir. Sanford of Pike spoke against the substitute offered by the Commit tee.
 MT. O'NeaI of Lauderdale spoke against the Browne amendment, and declared that this matter was one of principle and not of policy. He argued 1 in support of the Committees substi- I ute, and said the poll tax should be | fixed in the fundamental law. Judge Tayloe of Perry spoke for the Committee substitute. He said MT. Browne had not solved the problem with his amendment. If relief could | not be secured by. the Convention, he asked how it could be expected that l the Legislature would afford relief. He favored an age limit from 21 to 60 years.
 MT. Duke of Chambers paid a high tribute to the Committee and it's work, but said he could not support the sub- stitute which had been adopted by the Committee in few minues as a sub- stitute to section that was the result of the deliberation of many days. He did not believe in doing an injustice to the white men of Alabama to satisfy the Black Belt. It was not fair, he de- clared, to exclude from poll tax a man 46 years old and perpetuate a tax for sixteen years on man who is A years old. It was a discrimination against the young men of Alabama, and the delegates would find it out when they
 
 returned to their constituents. MT. Burns Makes Speech. Mir. Burns of Dallas got the floor and made his first speech to the Conven- tion. He said heretofore he had been willing to permit other delegates to frame the organic law. He had touched elbows with Popuiists and Republicans, men who had gone crazy about Bryan and men who had li,,l. I TD.,l mer. He had been thrown with men who voted for Kolb and men who stood shoulder to shoulder for Tom Jones. For himself he was c pluribus unum, and he said he preferred to represent Dallas County than 10 be a delegate at large or to represent a district. He stood squarely by the Committee. It was true that the Committee had changed its opinion He quoted the aphorism that wise men sometimes change. but fool never. He said the Black Belt stood by the Committee and he advocated the substitute. He showed that the Black Belt had stood by the State. It had none of the ag- ricultural schools. It had none of the State educational institutions. All the Black Belt asked was fairness and justice. It wanted the poll tax pro- vision. MT. Burns closed with an elo- QutnL IIlSHl III HIS IOE WElLS supremacy in Alabama.
 MT. Duke of Chambers. moved the previous question, and 1t was ordered.
 Captain White moved to table the Browne amendment and by an aye and nay vote of 63 to o9 the amendment was tabled.
 Mir. Sanford of Pike, moved to sus- pend the rules for the purpose of re- considering The order for the previous question, and by an aye and nay vote of 83 to 36, the rules were suspended.
 The vote by which the previous ques- tion was ordered was reconsidered, and Mir. Sanford sent up an amendment to the substitute for Section IS. The Sanford amendment excluded persons exempted by law from the provisions of the substitutes, and provides that all other persons under 50 years shall pay poll taxes.
 MT. Grant of Calhoun. moved to ta- ble the Stanford amendment. and Dr. Cunningham called for the ayes and nays. The cal was sustained and by an aye and nay vote, 51 to 67, the Con vention refused to table the Sanford amendment.
 The sanford amendment was then adopted by a viva voce vote of 60 to 55
 The ayes and nays were called on the amended Section and the call was sus- talned. By d vote or 10 10 to the amended Section was lost.
 This action of the Convention served 70 kill all propositions relating to the original Section Is. which provided for a poll tax and to which the Committee on Suffrage had presented a substitute.
 The presiding officer, Captain Graham of Talladega, ruled that the original Section B as reported by the Committee was the pending questions and by an overwhelming viva voce vote Section IS ss originally reported by the Committee was adopt