The age-herald., 1901-09-29

Legislature and judicial officers are pro- hibited under penalty from receiving
 passes; lands belonging to or under con
 trol of the State hereafter cannot be sold
 to private corporations or associations
 for a less price than that for which they
 are subject to sale to individuals; section
 104 of the new constitution contains S1 separate prohibitions against the passage
 of local laws by the Legislature, where by vast mass of expensive local legis- lation will hereafter be avoided, and all
 such matters must be taken care of un-
 der the operation of general and uniform
 laws to be hereafter enacted by the Leg
 islature; among these prohibitions are
 those prohibiting the granting or amend ing of charters of municipal or private corporations. and the changing of coun- ty seates by local laws; and under these
 provisions hereafter no secret benefit or
 exceptional advantage can be obtained by any individual or corporation by pro-
 curing the passage of private bills Of
 which the public has no notice, and which have been fixed up in some law yer's office and logrolled through the
 will be immenselyF DWLHRDYO ODD z Legislature.
 Will Improve Legislature.
 I have no hesitation in saying that by the provisions requiring quadriennial ses-
 sions, prohibiting local legislation, and
 regulating the procedure for the passage
 of bills through the Legislature, the standard of legislation will be immensely
 raised and the personnel of the State
 Legislature greatly improved Under the new constitution cities and towns can
 not issue bonds except by authority of the people, given at an election held for such purpose; a board of pardons is cre-
 ated, thepeby preventing or checking the abuses of the pardoning power[and just | hq tinguished ex-governor's record in the pardoning of criminals may have had something to do with the passage of this ordinance. After the first election under | the new constitution neither the Govern | or, nor any member of the executive de- | partment is eligible as his own successor, | and let it be noted by the dear people that the Governor cannot be elected or | appointed to any office in this State, or | to the Senate of the United States during his term, or within one year thereafter,
 thereby largely taking away from the Governor the inducement to use his office
 to build up machine to get Into the
 United States Senate. Did the distin- guished ex-governor notice that this pro- vision was in the new constitution?
 These and hundreds of other improve ments on the old constitution the distin- guished and unprejudiced ex-governor, after careful study of the new constitu- tion, did not notice, and did not advise
 the dear people about them, and yet all
 of them are important and some of them of incalculable importance to the people
 of the State, and no fair judgment of the merits of the question can be formed without due consideration of these omit ted matters Why did the ex-governor
 omit any reference to them whatever? |? Was it solely for the good of the dear people? or was he arguing his case like
 a lawyer and a partisan? -'- Now as to matters he does mention He says that the new instrument Is com plex, proliX and ambiguous. It is simply | given as, his opinion without; a single fact to support it. Against that opinion I put my own opinion that it is not complex, prolix or ambiguous, and I back 1t up by the reputation of the able committee on consistency order and harmony of the constitution, of which our distinguished fellowtownsman, Capt. Frank s. White,
 was the able chairman. Their work was thoroughly done, and I submit that any fairly intelligent man can read it and un- derstand it without difficulty.
 Governors Opinion Erroneous.
 He says that 1t neither secures honest elections, nor white supremacy and that
 it's suffrage plan is bad. I deny the cor
 rectness of this opinion, and put up against it the opinions of an overwhelm- ing majority of representative Democrats from all sections of the State In the con- vention, who had studied the question for
 the good of the State and who came to
 their conclusions without the hope of re-
 ward or office. He says it authorizes the creation of large number of new offices. This is denied, except as to the tempora-
 ry offices of registrars for the registra- tion of voters under the temporary plan of suffrage; and he says that 1t curtails
 no unnecessary expense. This Is also de- nied, and in support of it we cite the pros vision for the holding of quadrennial ses- | sions of the Legislature, and of elections | every four years, and the like. He says | it injures the public credit, and under it | existing bonds of the State will be re- | funded by the present Governor at q | lower rate of interest as soon as practi- cable after the ratification of the con- stitution. He says that 1t does not ade- quately provide for the common schools This is denied. Under the old constitu- tion the minimum appropriation required of the Legislature for common schools
 was $100, 900. Under the new constitution it must not be less than 30 cents on the
 500 of the taxable property of the State. which will produce a common school
 fund of not less than about $700,000
 year, and in addition thereto each county
 is authorized to levy special assessment of 10 cents on the $100 for local school
 purposes, when authorized by the vote of
 the people, provided that the total State
 and county rate of taxation shall not ex-
 oeed $1.23 on the $100.
 Speaking of the temporary plan, he says that mo one can vote next year in
 the State and national election, except, first soldiers and their descendants; sec
 ond persons of good character who un- derstand the duties and obligations of citizenship under a Republican form of government No other person than. these can vote next year, and it must be re- membered that this favored class will | elect State officers and Legislature to | hold office for four years, and this fa- | vored class is to be chosen by four reg | strars appointed by three State officials | Gall candidates for office in that cleo | tion)."
 Do They Want Negroes In?
 I was not aware that there would be any national election in 1902. The num- | Der of registrars to be appointed in each | county are three instead of four. and the | favored class that the distinguished ex- | governor speaks of will be no more and | no less than practically the entire body | of the white people of the State of Ala | bama. What other class or classes is 1t | that he wants to get in? Do he and Gen. | eral Shelly, wiley old politicians that | they are, want any more negroes to get | in? Under the temporary plan persons l who were soldiers in any of the wars in | which this country has been engaged, | or the descendants of such persons can | be registered as qualified voters. How | many white men in this State will this | exclude? Practically none. except those | who are foreign born, or children born of | foreign parents since the civil war, but these latter nrarfioallu