The age-herald., 1901-10-26
MR. BOWIE MAKES 4 POWERFUL PLEA
 FOR RATIFICATION Addresses Large Crowd at Bes- semer After a Day of
 Political Turmoil
PEOPLE ARE DISCONTENTE TED
New County Question Still Uppermost In Their Minds and New Constl- tutlon Is Regarded as Sec
 ondary Consideration.

Bessemer. October -(speciar-Among a people whose faces manifested political discord and dscontent Hon. Sydney J. Bowie came tonight and to a crowd of two hundred citizens delivered power- full address in advocacy of ratification of the new constitution.
 A peculiar condition confronted MT. Bowie, as it is evident the people are still disgruntled over the new county ques- tion and speak of the new constitution as a secondary matter. Apparently one fac tions only interest in the new instru- ment is to oppose it, and for that reason the other side supports 1t.
 Long before the hour for the speaking had arrived the streets were crowded with voters, and on every corner little knots of men were discussing the coming address and incidentally the constitution.
 At one corner the lie was passed and blows followed.
 Urged to Stay Away.
 As the supporters of the new constitu- tion had the meeting in charge, leaders of the opposition, 1t Is said, urged their fol- lowers to stay away from the hall. The question of securing a crowd was then made the issue and both sides went to work. By 7:30 o'clock the court room where Mir. Bowie spoke was comfortably filled. though there were many men on the streets who refused to come and sev- eral men stood at the foot of the steps advising their friends not to lend their presence to the ratification" affair.
 Early in the afternoon one of the rati- ficationists had anticipated this method of keeping down the crowd, and the follow ing is an extract from a circular which was scattered through the town:
 "It has been whispered that a delega- ton of sore-headed politicians and bal lot box stuffers will meet you at the foot of the stairs begging you not to go up and hear MT. Bowie, that he is sent here by the Birmingham ring to cheat you out of the new county. MT. Bowie comes not to cheat you out of a new county but to show you how to be a free man, and he stands for the interest of the laboring man."
 Situation In Bessemer. MT. Bowie, in opening his speech, said l l opinion in Bessemer over the question of ratifying the constitution. growing out | of the failure of the town to secure a new 1 county.
 1 MT. Bowie said he desired to make a | personal explanation before beginning his argument. He read an extract from the Bessemer Workman which intimated that Mir Bowie had assisted President Knox of the constitutional convention in nam ing the committees, and was partly re- sponsible for MT Cornwell, the Bessemer member, being left off the committee on county and county boundaries.
 In reply to the editorial MT. Bowie said that he did assist MT. Knox In naming his committees. He said when the conven- tion first met he went to MT. Cornwell and asked him to support Mir. Knox for president.
 MT Cornwell refused to commit him self continued MT. Bowie, while a ma jority of the members from Jefferson County who were opposed to a new coun- | ty were supporters of MT. Knox. When MT. Knox came to appoint the committees | the BeSSemer matter came up, and as there were opposing interests in Jeffer- | son and decided to select a committee outside of the county who were non-par- 1 tisans.''
 MT. Bowie said when the committee met report recommending a reduction of area in the counties was made Just what MT. Cornwell wanted. When the re- | port came up for adoption he said MT. Knox was the first man to vote for re- duction of area, and all five of Calhoun County's delegates voted the same way. Getting into an argument of the Con- stitution MT. Bowie said such small per- sonal matters should not be allowed to enter the broad question of a new organic law for the State of Alabama.
 Couldn't Please Everybody. "In framing a Constitution for great | State like ours 1t is impossible for a con- vention to please everybody" said Mr. l Bowie. ''The prime object of the new Constitution Is to disfranchise the negro | and eliminate his influence in politics. 1 Mir. Bowie then went into history show | ing that the enfranchisement of negroes 1 was a result of the bitter feeling fol- | lowing the civil war and the assassination
 of Abraham Lincoln. He told of recon | struction days and said negroes were not | only allowed to vote but 1t was a peni- tentiary offense to challenge them As a
 result of such conditions Alabama had negro judges. negro legislators and ne-
 groes in nearly every office in the State. l Alabama was soon almost bankrupt and
 the white men decided something must be l done. In 1874 a Constitutional Conven- tion was called but the men who com posed 1t were afraid to touch the suffrage | question. "These men saved the State at that time" said MT. Bowie, but under the circumstances 1t was impossible for them to eliminate the negro. | Fraudulent Elections Necessary. | Consequently in the counties where the negroes were in the majority it was necessary to hold dishonest elections The men who stole these votes were patriots, and though it was revolution, it was necessary to preserve liberty and white supremacy"
 MT. Bowie said the dishonesty had gradually spread from the black belt to the counties where 1t was unnecessary.
 He said the evil was becoming alarming
 and a new constitution had to be made to preserve the purity of the ballot
 MT. Bowie then read extracts from an
 old speech of Colonel Handy on condi-
 tions in Randolph, white county, where
 1t was necessary to buy the negro votes
 because they held the balance of power.
 Its true in Jefferson and all North
 Alabama counties" exclaimed MT. Bowie,
 and when the negro stands ready to be
 bought and holds the balance of power,
 1t is causing a condition of affairs which
 is undermining the principles of our civil