The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-16
ALABAMA CON-
 STITUTION-MAKING
THE BODY AND ITS WORK VIEW
 ED FAvoRABLY.
Tendency Towards Conservative Ac- tion-Tha Chief Schemes for Securing Negro Disfranchise-
 ment and for Division
 of School Money.

The following special correspondence appears in The New York Evening Post over the signature of Max Ben nett Trasher:
 Montgomery, Ala, June $-The Ala bama Constitutional Convention has now been in session three weeks. The acts of the Legislature which provided for the Convention allowed fifty days for its sessions, but it is predicted by many persons that the business of the body will not be completed in that time So far nothing has been done beyond the presentation of flood of measures advocating this or that pro- vision for incorporation an the new Constitution.
 No one can watch the deliberations of this Convention and not be impressed with the fact that it is, in the main, a conservative body of men. The ses- sions are held in the Representative Chamber of the Capitol. At least a third of the delegates are gray heads, and nearly all the rest have reached middle life. There are a few men TO- ticeabfe for their youth. One of the youngest of these, MT. Erie oettus of Athens. who is only 24 years old, has introduced one of the most radical of all the measures advocated: That no negro, black man or person of African descent. shall be allowed to vote in any Federal. State. County or Municipal election in the State of Alabama"
 The Convention consists of 155 dele gates, one for each Senatorial district. four for the State at large, and one for each member of the State Legislat~ ure, which consists of 100 members The chairman of the Convention is MT John B. Knox. a lawyer. of Anniston. Among the leading members is Thomas G. Jones, who was chosen Governor of the State in 1890. and reelected in 1892, and whose administration will be remembered for the many difficulties which 1t encountered. and for the de- cision with which the Executive met them. MT. Jones comes of Virginia family, which owned slaves for gene rations, and served through the war in the Confederate army. He Is reckoned one of the ablest Constitutional law yers in the South. a.-.. z
 While a variety of measures will be considered in this Convention, 1t has been generally admitted that two transcend all others in importance - the restriction of the franchise and the question whether the public school money shall be divided between the races according to the amount of tax WHICH edCn udyS. ISA~HONs hdS steadily contended that the school money could not be unequally divided Constitutionally. and that the basis of the franchise measure should rest up- on a poll tax. He adds a clause which provides for Board of Registrars, which shall decide upon the applica- tions to vote of a limited number of persons each year. who may be dis qualified by the provisions of the meas ure. An open letter which he has just addressed to the members of the Con- vention and the public. which has been widely published, contains some signifi- cant statements. In 1t he says that any interference by Congress with the Southern States growing out of this matter seems remote; but with so many Southern States moving in the matter. and the tendency exhibited in some of them. not merely, to deprive fne negro Of suffrage by the unequal administration of laws. but in some to deny him the equal protection of the law in such matters as schools and the like, it must be a very confident man who can predict that in the not dis tant future a feeling may not arise in the dominant section of the country, accentuased and hastened by political necessities. which will be full of peril
  dain in our fundamental law provisions violative of the Federal Constitution, or. steering clear of these evils, ad minister laws fair an their face SO as to practically disfranchise the negro as a race"
 Ex-Gov. w. C. Oates. who>represent- ed his district In Congress for fourteen years. and succeeded Mir. Jones as Gov ernor has advocated Jery conservative measures. He would have a poll tax, and Board of Registrars which would allow practically any one not of no toriously bad character" to vote. Both these propositions are strongly opposed by some of the members on the ground that theN. are too complicated, and that they put to much power in the hands of the Boards of Registrars.
 Senator Morgan prepared a plan, and, had it submitted. although he is not q delegate. which prohibited any negro from holding office in the State. One delegate would not allow any negro to sit on a jury. More than twenty educational measures have been sub mitted. more than half of which would have the public school money divided according to the proportion which each race. pays. A memorial presented to the Convention by prominent negroes of the State. in referring to this, calls attention to the fact that students of ---sr--- ---.--~-