The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-30

places The members of the State &Board of Registration---the Governor, the Auditor and the Commissioner of Agriculture had been selected. he said, because they resided in three distinct sections of the State.
 Mr. Miller argued that there was no ground for the statement that the Black Belt counties would practice fraud when the Black Belt counties had prayed and worked for this Con- vention to rid themselves of fraud and the. dire necessity for going outside Of the law. Therefore it was mortifying that insinuations had been made that
 the door had been left open for cer- tain counties.
 Mr. Miller then detailed the qualifi- cations for electors and declared that the Committee had provided a stairway for electors to climb within the next
 two years. The soldiers and descend ants would be inside the door after
 two years. Then the book would be closed and the State would be on a
 broad suffrage plan of intelligence and
 industry. He contended that the suf-
 frage plan would improve the condi-
 tion of the negro. There would be less
 distrust of him when he had ceased to
 be a political factor.
 Mir. Miller concluded his remarks at 4:10 o'clock and Mir. Sollie of Dale was recognized.
 MT. Sollie said that he favored the grandfather clause. He said he be- lieved, however, that the temporary plan should have been extended and at the proper time he would propose an amendment extending it for two years more than the majority report He argued that the fifteenth amend ment contravenes the laws of nature and the spirit of liberty. The white man is not free man when yoked with the negro.
 Looking at the question from a legal viewpoint Mir Sollie said he was not entirely satisfied of its constitutional | ity but he leaned to the opinion tbat 1t is constitutional He then entered into an elaborate argument in support of the different qualifications provided by the committee.
 Mr. Sollie spoke of the amendment which he proposes to introduce. He said | he thought the temporary plan was too limited. He wanted to give youths white andr black an opportunity to be-
 come qualified electors. He pleaded for | the boys of Alabama who would reach | manhood within the next two years and said unless the time was extended | he would object.
 At 5 o'clock MT. Sollie concluded and I MT. Beddow of Jefferson sent up an amendment providing for the publica- | ton of 5000 copies of the speech of Mr Sollie. The resolution was referred | to the Committee on Rules. MT. Maxwell of Tallapoosa, who Is a | banker, was the next speaker. He said that as a layman he had reached the i conclusion that there is a preponder- ance of good in the majority report of | the committee. It proposed to purify | Alabama politics by eliminating the vi- cious and ignorant from the electorate.
 It set a standard of higher aims and | conditions. It provides for more ir- Itelligent electorate and 1t does this | without imposing additional burdens on l good citizens <. l MT. Maxwell said that the report ap- pealed to him because 1t did not dis | franchise any white man. He believed
 in keeping the pledges of the Demo- cratic Party. In common with others, he at first felt it doubtful that this | could be done, but the patriotic Com mittee had solved the diff1cult and
 krotty problem.
 It was 5:25 o'clock when MT. Max well concluded and MT. Ashcraft of | Lauderdale, addressed the Convention. 1 f1e SdlQ dS It WdS Gtiucut ludI lb AioO | reached the point where speeches were | merely tolerated, he would endeavor to be brief.
 The purpose of the Convention, de- | clared Mr. Ashcraft, was to select classes of men who were reasonably expected to exercise the franchise hon. estly and to minimize the vicious and | ignorant From Sparta down to the present time the soldier has stood for | the highest type of patriotism and he can be trusted with the franchise. He
 referred to the Sons of Confederate | soldiers who stood by their fathers af- ter the war and fought with them the battles of poverty and appealed to the | delegates to remember the native pa- | triotism of these sons. l MT. Ashcraft declared that 1t was not | the purpose of the Convention to dis | franchise the negro. A brave and gen. | erous people had no intention of de-
 grading the negro. The great body of
 the people of Alabama and the Conven-
 tion was willing to extend to the pa- | triotic and intelligent negro the right
 to vote. It was unfortunate that the
 term negro was not synonymous with | patriotism. He contended that the
 plan of the majority would improve the
 condition of the negro. He now has
 no voice in the Government, but un-
 der the suffrage plan many good ne-
 groes will be permitted to vote.
 Mir. Rogers of Lowndes, followed Mr. Ashcraft. He declared himself em-
 phatically in favor of the majority re-
 port. He had seen thirty negroes occu-
 pying seats fin the Legislature and sell
 ing their votes for a drink of ~vhiskey
 or a mule. For his part, he said, he
 would rather dwell under military des.
 potism than under ignorant negro rule.
 MT. Rogers concluded his remarks at
 $50 o'clock, and the Convention ad- journed until 9:30 o'clock this morning.