The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-16

pered and We want to cut it loose iron their charge ani let it walk out zrd stand alone upon Its merits, and n you will place 1t on ,is merits end take away these charges and this damnins influence that Is running the college and has for thirty years. why. Mre President, it will !'e all well with tac institution. anJ the caly way 10 do t Is to make a self p. r,e'u ttfng Loard subject to the approval of the Senate. That to my mind is sufficient guard againsct undue perpetuation by un- worthy membe.s. S3w, M.. President i sincerely hope tia. the substitute 0s the gentleman from Tuscaloosa will prevail.
 MT. Fitts-1 desire to offer an amend ment adding a sentence to the end of the substitute offered by the gentle man from Tuscaloosa. ask 0nan- imous consent to add this: "No trustee shall hold office under this plan for more than twelve successive years"
 The President-The gentleman from Tuscaloosa asks unanimous consent to offer his amendment to the substitute offered by the gentleman from Tusca- loosa. Is there no objection?
 There was no objection, and the amendment was allowed.
 MT. Davis (Etowah)H do not care to make any remarks as to the two amendments proposed by the sen:e- man from Tuscaloosa, but I do desire to make some remarks in opposition to the minority report on this section. It is perhaps indelicate, to me, member of the Board of Trustees of the University, to take part in this discus- sion, but I would be -ecreant to ths trusts imposed in me were I at th.s juncture to remain silent when feel that 6 hurtful blow Is being struck at the chief institution of learning In the State. In coming here as c member of this Constitutional Convention. I adop:- ed for myself a rule of action Tn which, in my humble opuiniosa. WAS wise and safe, and that rule is to guard jealously the provisions of the old cor. stitution and to vote against any ffy. posed change or innovation untifI w6s satisfied that there was necessity fot such change. q shall adhere to tnat rule of action In the present instahee9 for feel that there Is not only no ne- cessity for a change. but that such change would be dangerous to the well fare of the University. What good req son can be assigned for wiping out th's old landmark from the Consultation? You have all heard the cry of i'oliticS. politics in the university; that Its bale full influence was hanging like q m.ll- stone around her neck and dragging her down to destruction, but say to you, gentlemen of the Convention. that this cry of politics in the University Is all wrong, that the charge that the Uni- yersity is going down Is all wrong. She is In better condition for usefulness today than she has ever been. She IS the peer of any institution of learning south of the University of Virginia. She has the ablest corps of teachers that she has ever had. She has for President a man whose nam: is re- vered and respected throughout the confines of Alabama, a man who has left the impress of his splendid pe-- sonality on thousands of Alabama's most honored sons. Would any man dare say that politics placed sinkr+ one of that able corps of teachers there. that politics ever remotely entered in- to the selection of Dr. Wyman for it's President or his predecessor Dr. Pow CTS, both of whom have spent their lives in the cause of education? Gen. tlemen of the Convention, 1t is well known that recently there was an ap- plicant from our own State for the Presidency of the University-a man of scholarly attainments, 0ne who had been honored not only by Alabamians but by the great universities of foreign lands, one who had sto,I high in the councils of the nation, yet he had never had any expscien e as known that his application was backed by petition with the names of If members of this Constitutional Convention signed thereto. urging the members of the Board of Trustees to elect him President; and yet notwtth- standing this great political pressure, they selected a man who was neither directly nor indirectly an applicant for the position. because they believed that the welfare of the University demanded it. Was this politics? Gentlemen of the Convention, beg you to pause and consider long before you make this change. Take not ruthlessly from your chief educational institution the man whom the people of Alabama have hon. ored by making him their Chief Execu- tive. The students of the University feel honored by having the Governor of Alabama present at their closing ex- ei cises The alumni and friends of the University who gather annually at the historic city of Tuscaloosa to witness commencement exercises feel glad to see that the State is present In the per- son of her Governor to add dignity Co the occasion and to bid godspeed to those who are engaged in the noble work of higher education. Do not strike from the roster of her Board the Chief Executive. Let her not feel by such blow that Alabama has discard ed her from the list of her cherished children and has relegated her to the position of a step-child. She is worthy of your love, and your respect, and your personal attention. We all felt, when we elected Dr. Wyman to the presidency, that peace and harmony had at last been restored to this grand old institution, but hardly has she had time to adapt herself to the YepOse thus offered, when an attempt Is made to disturb her serenity and to thrust her back into the old condition of unrest. love the University; love her classic halls. She is my alma mater; my cher ished mother at whose breast imbibed the greater portion of what learning I possess. In youth she nurtured me, and with what strength I have. I shall protect her now. It was the hand of our forefathers that planted here there to be forever a seminary of learning for the higher education of the young men of Alaba ma. The winds and the waves of stormy periods have beat about her. Even the cruel hand of grim visaged war has been laid heAvL fly upon her, and those halls, conse- crated to learning, were consigned to the flames; but even as those flames mounted upwards and the fiery sparks from that seething confiagration leaped