The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-28

cradle of the Southern Confederacy be- come a holy place. think you, gem tlemen.
 The President pro tem-The gentle- man from Montgomery tMr. Watts).
 Mr. O'Neal HauderdaleJ-That the argument of the gentleman from Mont somery may not De interrupted. move mat his time De extended 50 minutes.
 The motion to extend the gentle mans time was carried.
 MT. Watts--Mr, President, l favor the majority report. I believe that 1t IS within the Constitution of the United States. believe that added to the arguments that have been advanc- ca by the distinguished gentlemen who have preceded me on this side of the question can produce some other arguments which will convince a reasonable man of the perfect consti- nationality of this provision. l have not the happy fortune. MT. President, to have been like some of my col leagues upon this floor, a soldier in the wal. between the States, for the last tocsin of war had been sounded and the stars and bars had been furled at Appomatox before l was F years of age. but l had patriotic mother and nad father whose heart was in the cause and who taught me to have such a reverence for Mir. Davis and for those who upheld that cause. that the impression will remain with me as ior2 as life shall last I am one Of these Black Belt Democrats, one of these men who have been spoken of upon the floor of this Convention. in- tlmating at least, as having the inten- ton of perpetuatins frauds by means or this registration. Why, gentlemen, fhnGa al IA what the Black Belt has suffered. As a school boy 1s years of age I helped to carry a city election in this town when we had to have riot to do it. Nfter had come from school, under the leadership of Gen. James H. Clan ton, whose picture hangs above us wonder. and who was one of the brav- est men that ever lived in Alabama, we stood at the Courthouse in this city and drove back the black cohorts who were trying to keep the white men of montgomery from getting to the polls. We have had that sort of thing to deal with In the Black Belt There was bioodshed; there was riot not only in Alabama. but in the other Southern States. Then fraud was resorted to as being the less hurtful to the negro in bodily sense. and upon the principal that evil might be done that good might come from it. The Democrats of the Black Belt have stood to their post. have been in the ballot box and counted out the negro in order to pre- serve the political welfare of the whole state or Alabama. But Mir President. the time has come when we are tired or 1t. We want the day of honest elections to dawn in this fair State. We don't want anyone to be able to point a finger at Alabama and say that fair election Is not held there. We men of the Blackbelt want to get down to honest methods. Can you doubt 1t gentlemen? Would you be sitting here in this hall today but for the Blackbelt? What section of coun- try was 1t that came up en masse in favor of this measure and in favor of this Convention? Was it not the Blackbelt-Dallas. Lowndes. Montgom- cry. Bullock, Russell and these other counties that have stood to you since 1874, when We helped you to elect the bald eagle of the mountain as the Gov ernor of Alabama. If we wanted to perpetuate fraud why did we want this Convention? We could have continued it, we could have continued our rep resentation by simply going along un- der the law we had, but We have come here and you have increased the num- Der of representatives to 105, and not one of the increase comes from the Blackbelt. That seems to me the greatest proof the Convention could have that the Blackbelt has no idea and no intention of perpetuating the frauds which seem to be charged against 1t. l am little surprised Mir. Presi- dent that the opponents of this ma TnV nRf stN.N.t r.A been on some uniform plan. We find that the gentleman from Barbour (Mr DanDthe gentlemene from Mont gomery (Mr. Oates and MT. Jones) the gen tlemen from Jefferson (Mr. White and Mir. Ferguson) and other gentlemen have gone upon the question of con stitutionality. We find MT. Speers in wandering around through the decis- ions has utterly misappre rehended them
 but we find that he and MT. Lowe have taken position that the form ol registration Is but a new kind of fraud These men who compose the Suffrage Committee are as good men as there are in this Convention. They are men who stand well among their fellow men They have stood we'll in this State up to this good day. and even the minority of that committee recom- mended the same registration scheme Some of the minority have already oc- cupied high positions in this State others perhaps are destined to occupy high positions, yet not one single mem- Der of that Committee makes minori- ty report against that scheme. Is il possible gentlemen that twenty five members of this Convention could be So foreign to all of their past char acter.' to all right and honesty as tc come into this Convention and propose for it's adoption a deliberate fraud? say that We are bound to dismiss any such thought from our minds. What
 Is this plan which these gentlemen have submitted? In the first place you must be a citizen of the United States and of the State of Alabama, and by the amendment must have declared your intention to become a citizen. You must have resided two years in the State. one year in the county and three l months in the precinct. you must not have been convicted of any of the of lenses mentioned and up to Jannary lst 1903 you must have either been q soldier in one of the wars mentioned | descendant of a soldier or must have | good character and he able to under stand tho principles of Republican gov | ernment. After 1903 any person may | register who can either read or write and has been engaged for the past | twelve months in some employment or | who has forty acres of land upon which | he lives or $500 personal or real prop | erty assessed at that value for taxa | ton. Those who register between now and the first of January 1g03 are eIar