The age-herald., 1901-07-25

constitution which may emoarrasS him.
 We don't want any inhertable rights in this country-every tub must stand on its own bottom. Many of these ;.onfed-
 crates in the war deserted, ard l do not think reflected ary credit on their sons We ought not to adopt any questione be
 means to give a white man any advantage over negro.
 Judge Walker Speaks.
 Judge Walker of Madison, a member of the suffrage committee, supported the
 majority report. Tine fact that we are here, he said, is the result of great movement of public opinion in Alabama
 that the right to vote should be taken away from some citizens who now pos
 sessed of 1t. We are here to strike at the
 evil in our electoral system and let what is good remain. The committee on suf- frage have considered this question long and carefully and have enumerated what citizens are fit and competent to retain the right of suffrage. These are soldiers, and descendants of soldiers and all oth-
 CTS who by reason of good character are fit to vote. Four men of the committee
 have singled out the clause allowing the descendants of soldiers to vote as being contrary to the fifteenth amendment. This is a remarkable objection as there is noth- ing in that clause which denies any one the right to vote on account of race, color,
 or previous condition of servatude. Can
 any one say that his right to vote is de-
 nied without asserting that he comes
 within the category of the clause attach> ed. Can any one say that his right to vote Is denied without putting himself be-
 yond the pale of good citizenship? You | must look at the plan as a whole-no. | take one clause by itself
 A 9+o+4 x-t~ +o character as requisite to voting. Out of many plans suggested the one adopted by l our committee is to separate out of the mass of voters, a group of citizens most 1 fitted for the franchise and to allow them 1 to vote and prevent the others. This se- | lect body includes soldiers and descend ants of soldiers and all others who are | of good character and understand the du- | ties of citizenship. This is objected to on | the ground that 1t is arbitrary, capricious | and unconstitutional. We are here to re- l flute these grounds.
 Who are these soldiers? They are men | who have participated for years in the | affairs of the State. Take them as body | and you get a class of men whose capa- city for self-government has been demon- strated. They have assimilated the prin- ciples of our government. If the right to vote in Alabama had been confined to the soldiers and their descendants would we have this suffrage question now? Ap- | plause.) Take them away to some other | country and they carry with them our system of government. (Applause,) We
 are here to deal with conditions. We have
 suffered no evil from these voters and 1 why not allow them to continue to vote? |? | We came here to take the votes away
 from those who have abused the priv l ilege. Shall we take away from the sol- | diers and their descendants the right to
 vote? We are not comforting 1t on them;
 we are only here to take 1t away from
 those who have abused it. Reading and
 writing and the owning of property is not
 the only evidence of capacity for self l government. Men all over the world can
 read and write and own property who
 are not fit for self-governrnent.
 At this point the convention adjourned | until 3:30 o'clock.
 Afternoon Session.
 The convention reassembled at 3:3o with 119 members present. Judge Walker re-
 stunned his remarks by saying that the most successful attack the opponents of the measure had made upon is was in
 fixing on it the nickname of the grand daddy clause. which caused some people
 to not regard it as of much merit They
 sought to create the idea of a hereditary | voting class Is 1t the purpose of this