The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-01

which provides for 6 property auaiia. cation.
 Mr. Proctor--And then you cut out all that class of people who would come in if that Section was left in. Mir. Sanford--By no means. They come in anyhow; but 1t Is the men who carry the muskets and who toll for your country that 1t would let in. When you asked a man to volunteer to de- ego. did you ask if he had forty acres of land7 Did you ask him if he could read and understand the Federal Con- stitution, or the Sermon on the Mount. Aren't these the men who bear the muskets in war and in days of great danger? Who are these men but they who put out the flames on your build ings, and put down insurrections, who make your policemen, who make your gallant soldiers. who make your great heroes?
 A friend suggests that Aristides of Athens was buried at public expense. and that Is true, and no wiser or bet. ter man ever trod the streets of Ath- ems. once the prioe and admiration Of the world.
 There are great many men who have the power of property-and re- spect them for the self-denial the sagacity and the industry by which they accumulated their possessions. yet 1t does not fit them to govern. Yet 1t Is singular fact that whenever a man acquires property, he straightway sets up to be ruler of his kind. It is a peculiArity of humanity. have seen men who did not go to the polls for twenty years, so they asserted, and yet when they accumulated . fortune, SfrQiRhf NnyRpa 1R every little meeting, ward associa tions or little committees, and everything of that kind. and endeavoring to dictate the policy of great commonwealth, when they did not know solitary principle of government.
 So I hope, my friends, that this Ar t1ole that does no good, that shuts out many. will not be insisted upon. If it depends purely upon that, some of the very best men in Alabama would be cut of from the franchise. am speak. ing now not only of the second subdi- vision, but of the first subdivision. and Will tell you an incident to show you the character of the men whom 1t may exclude. There is man now living in crenshaw coun- ty formerly of this county, whom I knew in the army for nearly four years. He marched when he was or dcred to go to the front; he starved rather than abandon his post: he en- countered every peril as cheerfuIly as the bridegroom does his wedding en- tertainment; he was afraid of nothing and bore everything without a mur- mur. When I said to him. calling him by his given name, Sam: T am against disfranchising men because they can not read and write," he said to me. Colonel. you know me-" and If the welfare of my country demands that should be disfranchised and never vote again. let 1t be done" A spirit of sac rifice that few men in this assembly would have entertained or expressed That is the character of men whom the first subdivision may shut out from the polls.
 MT. Weatherly-Does be own any property?
 MT. Sanford-r think he does-I think he owns property.
 MT. Weatherly-Then he may get in.
 Mir. Sanford-That would let him in, but his son may never own any. though he could vote because he was the son of a soldier. But suppose he arrives of age after 1903. it wHl not reach him.
 Mir. Sanford (Pikel--Then I will sug- gest that he could perhaps read and write and have some employment.
 MT. Sanford Montgomery - He might provided he was as fortunate as you represented your son could be in travelling over Europe for five years. and reveling in the delights of fashion able society.
 Now. Mr. President. as 1 was speak ing about the making men who are the possessors of land and'fortune vot- CTS. and those who possess neither land nor personal property non-Voters. AS 1 said these men oftentimes volunteer cheerfully for all the high duties of so- ciety, especially where dangers. hard ships and privations are to be en- countered. Do not exclude them from the ballot box. Poverty is hard enough to bear. Do not expatriate them prac- tically by saying you have got no cOun- try, you are a beast of burden. but not a man, to say who shall be your judges. your legislators or your Governors.
 Christ and his Disciples might be here. having every virtue known to God and to man. and they could not vote. yet the man owninGs millions of dollars. and having every vice and profiigate habit perhaps known outside of the internal regions. votes and makes leaisla tors and Judges and Gov ernors. A poor man, my friends. such as l have described him, made in the image of God. In the image of Christ. also may be excluded from the polls because he does not own the pal try sum of three hundred dollars. or the little COW pen of forty acres. 1 hope the Convention will strike this out.
 MT. Rogers Gowndes)-I would like to know If Christ and his Disciples would not come under the good char acter clause.
 Mir. Sanford-That would depend en- tirely on which way he was going to vote. (Laughter.) Who is to be the jurge of the good character?
 Mir. Sollie-Mav l interrupt the gen. tleman?
 MT. Sanford-Yes. sir.
 MT. sollie-He could not come in after January l, 1903. under the good character clause. could he?
 MT. Sanford-No.
 MT. Coleman (Greene).-Mr. President. the gentleman does not take into con- sideration the purposes of this com nittee. You strike out that section and there is not negro in Alabama that will not vote. The purpose is to en- able those who should exercise the franchise to exercise 1t. He 'has lost sight of the great object for which this Convention was called. to elimi- nate a class of voters who are not com petent to exercise the vote. Similar provisions to this have been adopted in every State. where they have met to reform the article upon Suffrage and elections, and 1t has always been the rIIla in ROYna Efates of tha lIpifad