The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-23

enterprises that did not pay worth . cent. and tell you 1t Is dangerous foi the State of Alabama to undertake thing of this sort, and I trust that my amendment, where 1t says the State oi Alabama shall not go into any of these enterprises, will be adopted, and that she sball not loan her credit, nor open the vaults of her treasury to anybody She has enough business to attend tt in looking after her own interests, and hence 1t is dangerous-it Is wild cat to go into business of this character by this State. Why, 1t is a very danger ous thing, in my opinion. and hence trust this section will not be adopted l have never been able to find out Who the author was. daughter).
 MT. Sanford (Montgomery)-I am the author of it.
 MT. Handley-And you want to go into internal Improvements?
 MT. Sanford-I do.
 MT. Handley-Why, that is a question passed years ago. and it is a thing that Alabama will never do, in my opin- ion. establish public works and i'm provements, by the State; spend the peoples money to build canals and to build railroads, and to build furnaces. .A should go on a little further. They would want to go into the mining business, and into the furnace busi- ness, and into the cotton mill business, and bore for oil. Great laughter).
 It Is dangerous precedent. Let in- dividuals do all this sort of work. Keep your State clean and let her have a credit tbat is unimpeachable by any body. That is my doctrine. and think it Is the doctrine of the Demo- cratic party, that we leave out inter- nal improvements by this State. It was set aside fifty years ago, in a na- tional election for President, and l trust that my distinguished friend will not urge this matter. and if it is urged, trust the Convention will vote it down.
 MT. Sanford-When introduced that section, had in my memory the great works and internal improvements in other States, that have been of great benefit to the people. My long time and much esteemed friend from Randolph was entirely mistaken in his history. Alabama never entered into a scheme of internal Improvements since it was State of this Union. It did indorse boEds under the radical rule and ad- ministration, which did plunge it into
 
 dollars, nearly-but no where in the United States has any party ever said that State could not go make inter- nal improvements. My friend says it was settled in the days of Henry Clay. He is entirely mistaken. The question did arise in the general parties of America. but it was internal improve ments by the general government. to which I am most strenuously opposed, and to which the people of America have been opposed, except in making navigable streams more navigable by removing Instructions. It is opposed to canals being constructed by the gen. eral government, but I never heard of the people of a State being against the construction of canals by itself. Who does not remember the famous canal in New York, built by one of the Clin- tons, to develop the State, so as to make it the empire-common wealth of the Union, and decrease the taxes of the people by the income derived from it? No man except my friend from Randolph ever thought internal i'm provements would mean a steamboat or an OK cart. No man ever thought it meant mines, because Alabama owns no mines. It owns nothing except this square upon which this Capitol is built,  elymosynary establishments. It owns no mines, no marble quarries, nor granite lodges nor coal measures, nor iron fields nor furnaces. It would be absolutely absurd for such construc- tion of the proposition to be made. But that it should have the right of constructing roads. within it's own do- minion, is another question. AS have just mentioned. the Erie Canal of New York State-that glorified that State, and placed it in advance of all in this confederation. Look at Georgia with 13S miles of Western and Atlantic Road running from Atlanta to Chat tanooga, that for years and years con tributed to the support of the State of Georgia by its income-one Of the most prosperous States in all of this South ern country
 The President-Will the gentleman please suspend for moment?
 MT. Sanford-Certainly.
 The President-The gentleman from Montgomery will be entitled to the floor on the afternoon session. He has con stunned one-half of his time.
 Leaves of absence were granted as :ollows: MT. Kirk of Colbert; MT. Searcy for today; MT. Stoddard for to- day
 The Convention adjourned until 3:30 D. m.