The age-herald., 1901-07-17
CONVENTION QUICKLY VOTES
 DOWN MOTIONS TO RECONSIDER

 follows;
 Section 3-Senators and Representa- tives shall be elected by the qualified
 electors on the first Monday in August, nineteen hundred and two, and every four
 years thereafter unless the Legislature shall change the time of holding elections.
 The terms of office of the Senators and Representatives shall be four years, com
 mencing on the day after the general election, except as otherwise provided
 in this Constitution. Whenever va cancy shall occur in either house the Governor shall issue writ of election to fill such vacancy for the remainder of
 the term
 MT Brooks of Mobile spoke in favor of | having elections on the first Monday In
 August and he opposed four year terms | for legislators and favored a biennial
 session of the Legislature.
 Governor Jones' Amendment.
 Governor Jones of Montgomery offered an amendment ito provide that represen- tatives should be elected for two years and senators for four years. He was op- posed to the entire section and said 1t was a question which had long been dis. cussed and it's advisability questioned. Mississippi was the only state In the union which had said that its legislative power should go to sleep for four years unless awaked by the governor. The legislature
 was the master and 1t ought to visit It's premises at least once every two years.
 Elections for United States senator's come up and governor might appoint a United States senator to office for Tour years who was out of sympathy with thez It
 was also bad plan to have ne~ 11siiate
 and a new house elected at the same time.
 There ought to be some old legislators on the field
 General Harrison of Lee moved to
 amend by inserting Tuesday after the
 first Monday in November as the date for
 holding the elections. He said this was
 formerly the custom of Alabama until
 changed by the constitution of 1875 It
 was economical and tended to the quietude l of the people to have both the state and
 federal elections at the same time. | MT. Chapman of Sumter supported the
 report of the committee. He though Au-
 gust was the best time for the farmers to
 vote. He was opposed to having the fed eral elections at the same time, as the
 state elections would be morally infiu-
 enced by the federal elections. Governor Oates spoke in favor of having November elections and moved the pre- vious question.
 | MT. Reese of Dallas moved to table Gen.
 eral Harrison's amendment. This motion was lost and the amendment was subse- quenty adopted.
 
 ted The convention then adjourned un- til 3:30 D. m.
 Afternoon Session. The convention reassembled at 3:3O with | 125 members present. MT. Lomax, chairman of the committee on preamble and declaration of rights, asked that 1t be read third time and | put upon it's passage. This was done and | the article adopted by vote of 116 to 2, | Messrs. Byers of Franklin and Willet of | Pickens votings no.
 The convention then continued the con- | sideration of the article on legislative Section Four. Section { was read as follows: Section ESenators shall be at least | N years of age and Representatives 21 | years of age; they shall have been citi- | zens and residents for three years and | residents of their respective counties or | districts one year next before their cleo | ton, if such county or district shall have | been so long established; but if not, then l of the county or district from which the | same shall have been taken. and they | shall reside In their respective counties | or districts during their terms of ser | vice.
 | Mr. Duke of Chambers moved to | amend by placing the age limit of Sena-
 
 l that under the laws of Alabama he could l be Secretary of State or Treasurer and | he saw no reason of requiring a Senator | to be 27.
 | MT. Hefin of Chambers said he saw | no reason why if Congress allowed man | 25 years of age to be a member of the | House, that Alabama should not allow a l Senator of the same age to be elected. | He moved the previous question. This | was ordered and the amendment was adopted by vote of 73 to Ss. | MT. Eyster moved to amend by fixing | the age of representatives at 20. This | was put on the table. | MT. Burns of Dallas moved to amend | the section by requiring Senator to | have been white qualified elector for | three years This was tabled by a vote | of 50 to 2S.
 | MT. Burns of Dallas movd to insert the words qualified electors for "resi- | dents.
 | This was tabled by vote of 55 to 39. 1 The section as amended was then adopted. Section Five. | Section five was read as follows: Section 5-The legislature shall meet quadrennially, at the capitol in the senate chamber and in the hall of the House of
 Representatives, (except in cases of the 1 destruction of the capitol, or epidemics, | when the governor may convene them at | such place in the state as he may deem besD on the day specified in this constitu- | prescribed by law; and shall not remain lin session longer than sixty days at the | first session held under this constitution,
 nor longer than fifty days at any subse- l uuent session.
 Discussing 1t. | Mr. Williams of Barbour moved to
 amend by having biennial sessions of the l legislature instead of quadrennial ses-
 sions He said that the legislature ought l to meet oftener than once every four l four years was too long a time to wait | for a bad law ito be repealed in case one
 should be enacted.
 MT Long of flWalker offered a substitute
 to the amendment which provided for the | legislature to meet once every two years | and limited the sessions to twenty-five
 days instead ofsfifty days. MT. Long said
 this would add no expense to the state as l the two biennial sessions would together
 only he as long as the one quadrennial
 session provided for by the original sec | tion
 h MT. Lowe of Jefferson said the proposi-
 tion of the committee to have quadren- | nial sessions was an innovation in the | government of Alabama. The theory of
 Democratic government was that the | legislators should come fresh from the
 people Why this proposed change Was
 it theory or was there motive behind
 it. He saw no objection to having the
 elections on the same day as those of the
 a bad effect to go back to the people and