The age-herald., 1901-09-02
ALABAMA WILL
 SOON HAVE NEW
 CONSTITUTION Brief Resume of the Expiring Convention and It's Prin-
 cipa| Acts DELEGATES DID THEIR BEST Many Obstacles Were Confronted and Everybody Could Not be Pleased. Some Members Have Made
 Great Regulations.
DELEGATES DID THEIR BEST
BY FRANK HARVEY MILLER.

Montgomery, September 1.-(Special.)- Some things, if not all things, come to him who waits, and the people of Ala bama, having waited patiently while the constitutional convention was getting n its work, are about to be rewarded with a new constitution.
 It has been long hot pull for the con- vention. Beginning their work in the lat ter part of May, in the full bloom of an Alabama spring. they have toiled faith fully and well through the hot. blisterina days of June. July and August, and now with the approach of September, with it's touch of cooler weather and faint yet genuine suggestion of fall, the work is complete, and the current turned off from the electric fans.
 How the convention could have sur vived without those electric fans 1t is hard to imagine They have probably saved the state thousands of dollars, for without them the convention could not have worked as continuously as it did.
 Now, however, that the work is over, the question Is what kind of an instru- ment Is the new constitution. Without doubt it can be said that it is fine piece of work. not the best that could have been made, perhaps, but admirable in many ways and under the circumstances the best that could be done. For 1t must be remembered that this convention. al- though made up of the flower of Ala bama's statesmen and leading citi- gems. did not have free hand. Ordinarily constitutional conventions are untram- melled and whatever they say goes hut this was not the case with the pres ent convention. It was under pledge nos to do certain things, and also unoer pledge to submit their work to popular vote for ratification. Thus in some fn- stances the convention was forced to odont expedients for measures which they otherwise would have adopted.
 The Suffrage Article.
 Tn the all-important subject of disfran- chising the negro the convention was hammered by the fifteenth amendment This was expected, however, and the con vention was supposed to be shrewd enough to get around 1t In some way It also had the benefit of the new consti- tutions of North Carolina. South Caro- lima. Louisiana and Mississippi, all. of which had tried to do the same thing. The fifteenth amendment, which provides that no state shall deny or abridge the right of any citizen to vote on account Of race. color or previous condition of servi- tude. is a difficult thing to evade. The convention, however, adopted an educa- tional with an alternate property qualifi- cation as a permanent suffrage scheme, which is unquestionably constitutional. In order to carry out the Democratic pledge not to disfranchise any white man it adopted temporary registration plan embodying a soldier clause, which Is also constitutional, with an additional good character clause, under which all can register who have good characters, whether they or their ancestors were sol- diers or not.
 Taking 1t all in all, 1t is a pretty shrewd scheme-the product of twenty-five of the brightest minds in the convention.
 Constitutional Changes.
 Besides the suffrage article the princi- pal changes made in the constitution are the four-year terms for State officials and the quadrennal sessions of the leg islature. This latter, while a popular measure, Is probably the greatest mis- take the convention has made. The voice of the people should be heard off, tener than once every four years. While the voice of the people may not be the voice of God, 1t Is generally heard on the right side. The result of this fnno' yation will probably be that the Govern or will call extra sessions of the legis- lature every two years.
 An important change Is the reduction of the State tax limit from seven and a half mills to six an da half, and setting aside three mills of this tax for the pub lie schools. This Is great advantage for the schools and Is anything but backward step in education. There Is probably no state in the Union which makes such a liberal constitutional pro- vision for its schools, and Alabama, by this measure, advances from the tall of the procession to the head.
 Circuit solicitors will hereafter be elect ed by the people. This Will end certain log rolling in the legislature. The leg islature, by the way has had It's wings chopped. The convention seems to have had it in'' for the legislature and has curtailed their power in many ways notably taking away from them the right to pass special and local laws on many subjects. This is good thing, however, both for the legislature and the people. As a crowning indignity to the legislature the convention has even forbidden them to ride on free passes. It would seem that this is an appropriate place to exclaim: Sic transit gloria mundi.
 Law as to sheriffs.
 The law relating to sheriffs remains as