The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-13

Nr. de0raffeureid-Iu your part oi
 the county. Excuse me. but Mir. Rogers (Sumter)-If the gentle \ man will permit a question. some days ago, in your eloquent way you advo. cated increasing the pay of the Cover. nor of the State of Alabama. Were you authorized to speak for the people oi Ala bama as to what they wanted dons | about that?
 MT. deGranenreid-we didn't put il in the Constitution, either.
 MT. Rogers tsumter)-But didn't you | want to put 1t in there?
 l MT. deGraffenreid-Yes. I wanted tt I and I am willing. so far as that small
 matter was concerned, to go before the people and say 1t was right
 | tIeman permit another interruption? l MT. deGraffenreid-Yes.
 MT. Rogers (Sumter)-we are wiilina | to go before the people of the State | of Alabama and say whenever you ] want counties of four hundred square
 miles, you shall have it.
 | MT. Howell--I misunderstood the gen. tlemap's question. I meant 10 answer | that knew what our people wanted Mir. deGraffenreld-1n your section | M.. Howell-In my section.
 | MT. deGraffenreid-I understand, and | I did not challenge that. 1 suppose ev. cry man here feels that he knows something of the wishes of the people of his particular locality about this matter. but this Is a subject in which
 all of the people of the State of Ala bama are interested.
 Now some gentleman has referred to l the State of Georgia, where we know | of Gnaan rntinffaG It was only a day or two ago that Q | distinguished gentleman of that State who was in the State of Tennessee where I happened to be. said to me | that he had read the report of this | Committee. and that he wanted to say that the State of Georgia had made a grave blunder in providing for so many small counties, and that a number oi the county seats of the counties oi
 Georgia were mere court houses. with a store and postoffice. unable to keer up the officers and the dignity of a county. But, gentlemen. there is another matter I desire to place before you. We came here as have already stated for the purpose of reforming the suf- frage. That was the main purpose for which this Convention was called. We
 would not have been here had 1t not been for that subject. Let us be very careful not to load the Constitution down. Let us be very careful not to do anything here that may render il doubtful whether or not this Consti- tuition will be adopted by the people when we send it back to them for rat ification Remember that it is mat
 ter of the gravest importance to the
 State of Alabama. to its integrity and AAA nh hA en lieved from the ignorant and the vic
 ious at the ballot box. Let us be care full not to do anything that will de- fleet the attention of the people from that subject when this instrument is
 back to them for adoption
 MT. Cornwell-AI R1ove to lay that amendment offered by the gentleman from Hale. on the table.
 MT. Blackwell--I will ask the gentle man to withdraw that for while. The majority of the Committee have not had an opportunity to oppose the meas ure. and I would like to speak in op- position to the measure offered by the minority.
 Mir. CornweIl-I will yield to the gen tleman.
 MT. Blackwell--In behalf of the Com mittee. Mir. President and gentlemen of the Convention, have no doubt that it is amusing to a good many of us here to see how readily we about face, in our ideas. when our interests sug- gest a change of front. You will mo- tice, Mir. President, whenever we have got a measure here that we want to put in, we know 1t is not Legislative in it's nature and character. and when ever anybody else has got a measure that we don't want, we know that It is legislative in its nature and charac- ter. You will notice, also that when ever a thing is offered a gentleman does not want, he says we are loading down the Constitution. You will mo- tice he says we have got up something that the people don't l-now anything about. and yet when he supports any thing that the people have not been consulted about, why he says, l am willing to risk it before the people. 1 am willing to risk it before the peo- pie, assuming that nobody else is will ing to risk anything before the peo- pie in this matter.
 Now, MT President, we live in a progressive age. The State of Alabama today has a population of practically two millions of people. The first limit in 1919 fixed the area of counties at nine hundred square miles to the county. In 1865 we had grown so that they said that SIX hundred square miles was a sufficient limit. We have got twice as many people here today as we had in 1S65 and we have grown much more rapidly since that time that we did from 1919 to 1865. Then if it were wise upon the part of our ancestors to make that change because of the in- creased wants and demands of the people and the population of the State, is 1t not wise for us to do 1t? We are growing on all lines, and this Consti- tuition Is not to last only for this year, or until the meeting of the next legis- lature, but the probabilities are that this Constitution will last for half a century to come. The probabilities are that in Alabama then, If we in- crease from now until that time as we have in the last thirty-five years, we will have seven or eight millions of people to accommodate before a new constitution is framed for the State of Alabama. Are we willing to say that because we have always done so and so that we are in favor of continuing to do so and so? Are we willing to say that we will have no better houses than our ancestors had? Are we willing to say that we will have no better schools than our ancestors had? Are we will ing to say we will have no better roads than our ancestors had? Shall there be no room for growth and development? Is it necessary for the family to live in the same house 1t has always lived in? As a matter of fact I am inform ed today that there are counties in Alabama where they have to go as much as forty miles to get to the court