The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-14


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 Mr. Jones--Not under the Constitu- Non, because right below 1t the section declares how contests of elections shall De determined. The joint convention is Sh tribunal which must have some pow sr to declare the result, reject improper fsturns, etc, and I know of no way oi preventing them under the guise oi sounting and publishing. from contest mg. if the language here does not pre- vent 1t.
 Mr. Lowe--It seems to me the origi- nal proposition of the committee and the amendment, will tend to render this en- fire section incongruous and irrecon- cilinble I believe the provision or the nld Constitution is amply sufncient' However, I would not be prepared no" fo sticlxle as to the terms and to con sunae the time of the Convention in oe- batting as to phraseology, but l should dislike to see engrafted in a section oi lhe Constitution as important as that we are now considering, a proposition that would render the section totallS irreconciliable with itself. The propo- sition that now comes into tnis pnIase ology is making the Speaker a minis teriaI officer and making the two houses when asse embled purely minlsteriai That is the tendency of the amend ment, But the amendment does no' reach the section of the Constitution beginning with line 13, the last clause If this section. Beginning at the tnlr- teenth line of this Section 4. 1t reaos ~Contested elections for Governor Lieutenant-Gover secretary VI State, tSate Auditor, State Treasurer Attorney-General, Superintenden, ol Education. Commissioner of Agricuitule ana industries. shall be determined py hoth houses of the General Assembly, an such manner as may be prescrioed oy law" In such manner as wno may prescribe? There would be but one Iaw and that would be that the power WE vested in the two houses assempleo " count the vote. ..
 Now, will you say. in Section ,, tna' the power of the two houses m count ing the vote shall be purely mins
 rial and then say. in line 15 or tnis sec fion that the power Of the two hvusss to determine contests arising snan os s ahsolute? Let it mean one tnins oi 4hn ether. Let us strike out one pro- s,ision or the other. That matter IS SC main to my mind merely as a mattei s,f truth that a Constitution should ho' contain clauses inconsistent with tnem- reIves. that I hardly think 1t necessary Fs, aebate 1t. That the simple statement If fine proposition Is sufficient, ana | fherefore. move that this Section pe re-referred to the committee. ..
 The President-The question rish' now is on a motion to reconsider.
 Afr. Lowe (Jefferson)-I tnougnt 'he ...ofion to reconsider had prevailed.
 sFfe Prcsident--It has not been car ried. It is under debate. .
 MT. Robinson-The powers of the joln' convention under this section, as pre- pared and reported by the Executive Committee, are that it shall consider obiections made. That is the question Now. in considering that question, the sole purpose of that amendment IS that at shall be submitted without delay' then and there, without debate, sim ply to examine the face of the returns and see what they show and that the whole power of that joint convention IS limited to the power of the Speaker. It it as plain as 1t can be. The General Assembly has the power to decide con- tests for these State offices. They may decide then and there that they will de- eide that contest. What prevents them? They may declare, and that ob- lection might go, that they would de- sire to go behind the returns made by the State officers in several of the coun- ties; that convention might declare InaL I1Cy ndQ d NO BO bChAAAd those returns and consider all questions that affect the election of a particular officer. Some gentleman might object because he says the returns from cer- tain county are fraudulent. He might make the objection on that ground. Then that joint convention, construing that power without limitation offered by me, would go into an investigation of that question and inquire into the frauds and determine the question and set aside the prima facie case made by ehe returns of the officers. ---.----
 Now. cannot see why this ought to be reconsidered. That amendment is as plain and as unamblguous as it can be. It limits the powers of the joint convention to those possessed by the Speaker, simply to examine the returns upon the face of them, and to determine that question without delay or debate, just as the Speaker would do 1t. can not see that there can be any objection to that unless the genelemen of this convention desire to give to the joint convention the power to go behind the returns and take charge of that QueS- fson and when they take charge for one purpose they take charge of 1t for all.
 The delegate from Tuscaloosa desires to correct errorsi When you open the door to correct errors, where are you going to shut it? When you depart from au inspection of those returns as they appear upon the face. you open the door for the joint convention 70 do whatever they may desire to do, so far as that particular question is con- cerned. That is unwise and it will be productive of ggreat evil to give that convention any powers except to exam inc the face of the returns and re- ceive or reject them.
 MT. Fitts-Your committee are not at all partisan in this matter and have no desire to fix this in any way but as the convention wants it fixed. We thought the amendment offered by the daiegate from Chambers was far-reach- ing, and in that we were right. We thought we ought to ask this reconsid- eration because we failed to make any statement to call your attention to it just then. We are perfectly willing to do the work over again and fix it any way the convention wants it done. We are the servants of this convention We want to understand the conven- tion and to have the convention un- derstand us. It does seem to us that if you write down in this particular section on page that the duties of the Speaker are purely ministerial Cnd then provide that the duties of the joint convention, these two Houses, are purely ministerial. that that sets hard and fast rule.
 .AGr. Robinson-Will the gentleman permit an interruption?
 MT. Fitts-Certainly.
 Mr. Robinson-I would like to ask