The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-06

 ever he could get the floor he could call for the division.
 The President-That was the former ruling of the Chair and will be ad- hered to, unless the gentleman rom Wlaker yields the floor.
 Mir. Long (Walker)-Mr. President, have no desire to take up the tE1e | of this House. neither nave l any | apologies to make for offering a rssolu- | ton that seeks to save to the tax nay CTS of Alabama $70 day, on a con trect, an illegal contract, made with | out an aye and no vote in U is assem- hly, although called for by myself. A | contract that, had it been legal and II there was any excuse for it, is certalniy null and void on account of the errors. | the numerous errors that have existeq | in that report from the first day. on May A, until the present time. A te- port that is so full of errors, that me numerous corrections are almost equal | to the numerous leaves of absence that | are asked here by members daily upon this floor. A report that makes u May 2Sth twice in the same montn' ai- | though three days apart in the pro | ceedings. A report that makes min- | ister of the gospel advocate 50 cents | for mileage instead of cents, as the distinguished gentleman from Cleburne ! was made to appear by this reporl. A report, MT. Speaker, that Is With | out a fact and precedent in the State | of Alabama that is gotten up' HI my | humble judgment, for no other pur- pose than to air the great set speeches | by the members upoE this floor at an expense of $70 day. when on the markets of Alabama those same set | speeches would not sell any whsre'
  Why, MT. Speaker, the only smart thing have said at all in this convaii- tion, is credited to another man than myself. Naughter.)
 I would probably ask for correction | of that report, but l do not desire to take any laurels from his crown. an willing to let him have 1t as they nave 1t reported.
 Why my resolution has certainly done some good, Mir. Speaker. wnetner 1t is adopted by this Convention or not they are now getting the dates riehl' | which is some improvement.
 Now, then let us reason together as business men; let's look at these facts as they exist, not as our ambitions | would dictate, but the principles, ana | the business principles of Alabama | and the tax payers interests O. the State. Let us look this matter fairiy | in the face. I have investigated IL some and I am prepared to state. In | answer to @ direct question, that the Clerk of this House states to me, without one dollar more expense, that he can furnish a carbon copy of every resolution, and every report of com mittee, to the printers at o'clock in the afternoon, and the printers Will publish that in pamphlet form, not ex- | ceeding 40 to 60 cents per page, and thirty pages is the most that any of the proceedings of this Convention would amount to up to today. There fore, he can publish it, an exact copy of the Journal, at an expense not ex- ceeding $15 a day, instead of $72 per day.
 Something has been said, and a hue and cry will be raised that we are | bound to stand by our contract, that once made we should stand by it. l believe, MT. President in standing by any proposition that Is fairly made, whether Just or unjust; l believe in paying all debts, private State, gamb- ling, debts, and everything else that are made; but, contend that this contract has been violated, and gentle men, the bond given for the faithful performance of the contract should be declared null and void, and We should | pay them up to date and let them go. Now, MT. Speaker, there has been a l great deal of wisdom set forth in the many resolutions that have been of fered upon this floor. Midnight oil been burned time and again, and the | result has been the birth of some res- olutions here, relating to dog laws, re- | lating to stock laws and fixing the time that a man who has been relieved from a troublesome woman shall re- main single. seven years before he shall be entitled to another draw from the matrimonial basket. Uaughter) Now MT. Speaker, you may just as well say a man shall stay single ten years be- fore he goes courting, as that he shall stay single four years before he gets married again.
 | I believe that the publication of these stenographic reports,- that are. sent broadcast over the State daily, is the cause of many such unwise resolutions as those to which I refer. I believe, MT. President, that it is largely due to these reports. Why, sir, you can watch the members here, each one of them, and I am probably as guilty as the balance. and the first thing when they get The Advertiser after introducing a resolution or an ordinance on the day previous. is to turn to their resolution and swell with pride like a toad frog l will be unanimous in their verdict, l am statesman true and great, l won der why haven't the people of Alabama found it out before. Great indeed have been many of the resolutions which have been introduced here, and foolish indeed will be the peo- pie, after reading 1t at any ex- pense of seventy dollars a day, if they do not recognize our greatness in fur nishing them such literature to read.
 A friend of mine in Birmingham re- gently told me that he thought the ob- ject of the stenographic report was to put so much that was foolish in 1t that the people wouldn't read it. told him no; that believed the object was to have so many errors in it that a man could deny anything that he said.
 It is certainly one or the other of these reasons why the gentlemen in sist upon the adoption of such a mo- tion. Take the history of the case. | Why a motion was made here, before the Convention was fairly settled, and fairly organized, for a special committed to be appointed to draft such work. doubt not but that every member or this floor had received-various commu' nications. looking forward to the adop' tion of this thing before the meeting of the Convention. It has been charg- ed in some of the newspapers in Ala bama that l had a set speech for just such an occasion as this. and that some of the set would set down on me, but