The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-14

members of the House, and saw that.
 Mir. Hinson-Does not the United
 States Constitution require that
 member of Congress shall be 25 years
 of age?
 Mir. deGraffenreid+Yes.
 Mr. Hinson-Then does not the Unit
 ed States Constitution contain some-
 thing that cannot be enforced?
 MT. deGranffenreid--I said unless there was something in the law to the contrary which controlled the body, the body was a law unto itself. l have never investigated the question or whether the Senate ;ould admit bring to make is that elch delioeratlVe body Is a law unto itself. And by the Constitution is to be tie sole judge Of the qualifications of its members. | MT. Chapman-Woule it not be en- tirely proper for this convention to make a provision that he Central AS sembly should not elect as Senator any l man who had been Governor within on eyear of the time of this election as Senator?
 l MT. deGraffenr eid-Tnat is not the question to which I an speaking. and 1 have never investigated 1t, but if the l AS6AoAdLuTS were 10 HIeCL d oChuboi contrary to this provision and the man appeared at the bar of the Senate and offered to be sworn in as a member of that body, it would not be the courts of Alabama or the people of Alabama, | but the members of the United States Senate, who would de,ermine whether or not he was entitled to a seat in the body.
 l Mir. White-Has not the Senate of the United States power to seat a man that the Legislature did noc elect?
 MT. deGraffenreid-They are the Judges of the qualifications of their members iE that regard.
 | As I was going to say, I am in sym pathy with the purpose of this Section 5. and believe that as far as possible. we should remove the temptation from the Governor of our State to use his office for political purposes and for his own political advancement.
 1 If, MT. President, all of our Govern | ors were like the man whose remains were carried from this Capitol today. | or. if they were all like the man who has succeeded him, there would be no reason for such a provision as contem- plated in Section 5, but our history and l the experience of our people indicate to the contrary. My objection to this Is purely technical that we should not put in the Constitution as part of the fundamental law anything that is not law and that cannot be enforced as law by the courts of this State.
 MT. Long (Walker)-I have a substi- | ute for the amendment offered by the gentleman from Hale.
 The substitute was read as follows: Amend Section by adding the words 'or appointment" after the word velec- tion'' in the sixth line and further by striking out all the words after the word term in the seventh line.
 MT. Long (Walker)-I am not posted in natural history, but it seems to me that this section is an Armadillo, one of those ambiguous animals that we all used to hear so much about. With my amendment adopted, this section would read, beginning in the sixth line. and the Governor shall not be eligible to election or appointment to any office under this State within one year after the expiration of his term. " Then we go on further in this and put him under pledge. It seems to me that is a very ambiguous animal.
 | Mir Brooks-I had prepared and amendment to strike out the last clause of Section 5, but the amendment of the delegate from Hale entirely covers that. | l Q6SlTe IO Spcdh IO liidl favor the general purpose of Section 5, but the last clause appears to me | to contain a provision which is inap- propriate in a Constitution. l am free to confess my unfamiliarity with the | great mass of our different State Con- stitutions, but my limited observation leads me to believe that such a. provis- ion of this is, to say the least of it, unique in constitutional structure. As | has been we'll said by the gentleman from Hale, a Constitution is the or ganic law, the fundamental law of the land, designed to operate upon the peo- pie either through some self-enforcing power of its own or through some pro- vision or legislative enactment. But submit that this last clause is not sus- i ceptfb1e to enforcement by either of | those means. The evident purpose of 1t is to make the Governor of the State ineligible to the office of United States Senator at any time during his term or within one year thereafter. But why does it not express that tneligi- | bility in direct and express terms. Why does it not say clearly and distinctly that he shall not be eligible to the of | flee of Senator and that he shall not be eligible within one year after his term to any office in the State. It Is probable that the committee saw some | obstacle in the way in the Federal Constitution or laws respecting the qualifications of Senators. I am not prepared to say that such considera- tion would impose upon them any in- superable difficulty. but the fact re- mains that we have in this provision a proposition to make the Governor in eligible by a mere pledge to the people How do they propose to do it? Simply by tacking a moral sanction to the Gov ernor's accepting the office in the way of a pledge to the people. That is the proposition. This is a sort of inchoate or intended or suggested prohibition upon the right of the Governor to ac- cept an election to the United States Senate while he Is Governor or within twelve months thereafter. Now, l sub init, as a rule, moral propositions dop't generally enforce themselves, and there | is no way by any legal sanction in any power of enforcement in the Constitu- tion or by any legislative enactment | to enforce this moral sanction There fore, it seems to me it is a mere bru- tum fulmen. It cannot carry out itself and it cannot be enforced by any law and. therefore, I favor the amendment of the delegate from Hale to strike that | last clause out.
 MT. Chapman-I have an amendment to the amendment of the delegate from | Walker
 The President-The chair would sug- | gest to the gentleman that an amend ment to an amendment is already pend ing, and an additional amendment would not be in order at this time.
 MT. Sanford-I move that we ad | iourn