The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-20
VERY UNFORTUNATE REFER
 ENCE

Nearly all of the objections urged to the ratification of the new Constitution are so fiimsy that they disappear when touched. Here Is one of them:
 A Lieutenant Governor is created. That such an officer is unnecessary Is shown by the orderly succession of the present Governor, filling the nrSt vacancy In the offlce of Governor that has occurred In Alabama for fifty years. Ex-Governor Johnston's statement
 Undoubtedly the creation of an officer, to succeed to the office. when the Gov ernor dies or is disabled, is not "unnec- essary." The man elected by the Senate to preside over 1t. Is the man the old Constitution provides to take the Gov ernor's place in contingencies The new Constitution is not a whit different from the old in this respect except that it gives the presiding officer of the Senate new title and declares that the whole people of Alabama shall elect the man who pre- sides over the Senate and may succeed to the Governorship. instead of seventeen Senators. The Lieutenant Governor gets the same per diem and no more than is given the President of the Senate under the present Constitution, whose office is abolished. So there is no room for demagogic hullabloo about increasing ex- penses. The eX-Governors real objec- ton to the creation of the office of Lieu tenant Governor. under these cirCum- stances, must be that 1t was wrong to amend the Constitution to permit the peo- pie to elect the man. who takes the Gov ernor's place, and take that right away from the Senate.
 Orderly succession" is good. Nobody doubts. under the present Constitution. the right of the President of the Senate to succeed to the Governorship, when the Governor dies. But what about the case, which the people have not forgotten, if ex-Governor Johnston has. concerning the orderly succession" in the Governors s office at the end of Johnston's t"rm?
 Governor-elect Sanford then .Iy crit ically ill, and at one time it was doubtful whether he would ever be able to qualify by taking the oath of office. The present Constitution provides that the Governor shall hold office until his successor is elected and qualified, and in case of the impeachment of the Governor, his re- moval from office. death. resignation, re- fnsal to qualify" etc. the President of the Senate should discharge the duties of the office, until the time appointed for the election of Governor. or until the Gov ---NN- return or be acquitted, or other disa' bility be removed" etc.
 Governor Johnston promptly vetoed { bill providing for the contingency present. ed by Governor-elect Samford's condition His inspired organs and partlsans imme- diately gave out, that the Constitution applied only to Governors" not Aiov- ernors-eiect;" that the failure iron
 physical inability of the Governor elect tC qualify, was not a refusal of Governor to qualify" within the meaning of thu Constitution-in short, if Governor-e cleo Sanford should die, before qualifying by
 taking the oath, Governor Johnston
 whose term had expired and who had no'
 been candidate or voted for at the election for Governor, would be the Gov | ernor under the Constitution. for two
 years moreI The Advertiser fully exposed
 these pretensions at the tune.
 There appears little doubt had Cover
 nor-elect Sanford died without having l taken the oath that Johnston would have