The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-30

case here to suspend tn Sheriff ii he | thinks him guilty, or such misconduct | that he orders him innpeached. and | lusy also believe that in view of this strlnger power and the extraordinary danger that the Sheritf sometimes in- CUTS, that 1t would be wise and just to allow him to succeed himself, espe- cially if he is subject to tnis power ot suspension. 1 do not propose to take | up the time of the Convention except | to say that have offered that in &C., cordance with the report of the Com mittee on Executive Department, to which the ordinance was referred, | which contains the substance of that amendment, because after consultation, l A great many members of this Con- yention believe that would be the wis | est and safest solution of the question. MT. Rogers (Sumter)-Ie move the adoption Of the amendment offered by the gentleman from Montgomery. The President pro tem.--It Is moved | that the amendment offered by the gentleman from Montgomery be adopt- | ed.
 MT. Oates--I am opposed to that | amendment, and propose to state | briefly to this Convention why l am | opposed to it. In the first place, It is | | stitution that Alabama has ever had In | the eighty two years of her existence | allowed any Sheriff to succeed himself, l and none of them except that Of lSlo l allowed him even to. be the deputy Of his successor and I believe that that was unwise. Allowing the Sheriff 10 be- | come the deputy enables them in some cases to keep the office in the family, | to popularize one of the deputies and | elect him Sheriff, and then he takes tae | ex- Sheriff as his deputy. and in that way the office has been practically in | the same family, in some countiee, | term after term. In this State where | we have so many men well qualified to | fill office, it is better that the office be | passed around, as have heard it said | that the bottle be passed around: and | let other men who are worthy have showing at 1t once in while.
 MT. Rogers (Sumter)-If that theory | is good. why not apply it to the Pro- | bate Judge, the Clerk of Court, the Tax Collector and Tax Assessor?
 Mir. Oates-I am not called on to pass on that position, because my friend, the
 delegate from Sumter. has not offered | such a proposition. If you did. you | would hear from me on that line.
 The President here resumed the | chair.
 MT. Rogers-You are passing on the | Sheriff, why not pass on these other | officers.
 Mir. Oates-Tnat is not up. You are on a side issue now. one that you have | not presented. There Is no officer Tn any county. unless possibly the Pro- bate Judge, and I do not say it. of him, who has such power to use partiality | as the Sheriff. The Sheriff is not only | one of the three officials to- draw the | fury, but wherever additional jurors are to be summoned he is the eule man | to do that under the order of the court. | He goes and selects them.
 He can show favors to them In many, many ways. He is the jailer, or can | appoint whom he pleases as jailer. He | can show favors in the execution of processes. Under our law, when an ex- ecution is placed in his hands against | defendant, 50 that he has the nion .y | In court by the succeeding term of the | court. he cannot be said not to nave | sufficiently compiled with his obliga- | ton so that he, can be removed. He
 can go and levy an execution at o1ce
 on the property of d defendant or he Id
 t'up and give him several months .n- | dulgence, and in that way show iavo1s. | Re is an officer that can shov favaIs | all around and upon every hani, and.
 sir, those and others. For insr anc", he Is even the chief officer in cleo tions. He is the chief returning cffi-
 cer, and he has charge of the brN-s,
 he and his deputies everywhere. and | he can show favors so as to re- .iect
 himself in nearly every instance.
 | Were our forefathers fools, the men
 who made the Constitution of 1S19 And | They certainly had good reason for
 making this officer ineligible to succeed himself, and they also put 1t In that he
 should not be the deputy of his snc-
 cessor. That part was left out in the Constitution of 1875 for the first time,
 the first departure from rule wAll es- | ta hlshs 1.
 Wise men made those Constitutions l They had good reasons for their action Why should we make that departure | now? It seems to me that we ought
 not There has been complaint about
 the provision alluded to by my dIstIn-
 guished friand and colleague from
 Montgomery (Mr. Jones) and now they
 have gotten out of that the power of
 tie Governor to suspend. but still the
 impea chment goes befoi the Suprc me Court, which Is an improvement, and
 as 1t stands, while the sheriff can not
 succeed himself, he can be a deputy. | Is that not enough for him? That is wEat he has under the present Consti-
 tuition. It seems to pe to be a depart
 ure without warrant; 1t Is a dangerous | pc eaent. It may be s1id by some l entlemen-in fact, l have heard it said l by delegates, that in some States where the skerih succeeds h.m3elf, it is all
 well, but 1t does not come f.om any gentleman who has had experience in | those States where that is the prac- tice. Some gentleman may have drop | ped down in a county or visited court
 nere and the c where that happened to | be the case; where the sherin was an exceedingly popular man. but this
 would lead to abuses. It Is an untried experiment in this State, and 1 hope It will not be resorted to in this instance l Why, sir 1 am informed q have seen none of them) that the sheriffs, or | iarge number of them, are ia session here in this city, looking after their .ntel ests. l. Las got so organizations Of Cftice.s a. e 10. med n o. def 10 d.c-
 tate to the Legislature, ana they are Qictating to thls ConVt ntion. Remem- OCT, delrgAtss, that your constituents are the people, and If you make this depai ture, and this innovation, when 1t comes home to tLe peoplA and they lave d .aA experienGe, you and l are res pC nSiLle tor it.
 MT. henIn (Cnambers)-Does not the old Constitution guarantee the right to al Citlzens to be heard by petition? Mi. Oates-I nave not seen any peti- tiop Would not deny anVbOdY the