The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-02

| present generation and will report to generations to come the courage. the manhood and the neroism that this
 country has possessed. These are the 1 men. the worn out crippled men. for
 whom we should weave laurel crowns
 to place upon their brows. They put
 themselves up to stop the bullets cs the enemy. and 1 for one want to l go on record that am in favor of fix | Ing It so that we can give to that grand | army of heroes that tardy justice to ] which they are so much entitled.
 | MT. Sanrord tMontgomery)-I know l that the Convention Is growing very
 much wearied with this discussion, and | notwithstSn ndipg that tect, 1 ask its in- diligence for few minutes. If | stranger had enter ed the nall and had
 not known the character of the assem-
 ply, he would have supposed it was an
 association of bankers greatly disturb | ed lest the interest on their bonds
 should default, or that there were men
 here anxious to sell bonds. That is not
 a fact. We are here to make a Con- | stitution for the State. The borrowing l of money is an unfortunate incident in | the history of Alabama, as the issue of
 bonds has been. If she had never
 been abe to borrow enc dollar. or to
 sell a solitary bond. the influence and | the power and welfare of Alabama would have been greatly augmented. | We must not suppose that owing 1 bonds and selling bonds and paying
 interest upon bonds is the chief ob-
 ject of govel nment. l may be par doned for reminding you that for forty
 years after 1790 such things as bonds l or a State were hardly known in the United States. After the war of 1872.
 when the general government had be- come indebted to the extent of S13,000,-
 GOO. there were no such State bonds. Such a thing was almost unknown fin
 the history of this country. but in 1sSt
 the people entered upon wild schemes 1 or speculation and reckless enterprises.
 Alabama, in 1887. issued bonds to the
 extent of $5,000,000, and all the States
 engaged In this speculative mania, un- til lSi0, when the failure of a bank in 1 Pennsylvania precipitated a great
 monetary crisis and great depreciation
 of property in this country. Then
 Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Mary land defaulted, as also Michigan. Illi-
 nois. Indiana and Louisiana. All of
 them afterwards paid their indebted
 ness. except Michigan. Louisiana and
 Mississippi. I only mention these
 things to show you that while we are
 all anxious to preserve the. honor and | credit of the State of Alabama, that
 mei ely to pay interest is not the chief | object Of government, and even those
 great States who were in arrears are
 now In the very front rank of this re- public. But I am very much amused beg pardon-interested, in some of the
 discussions. The gentlemen opposed to | the reduction first stated to you how
 much money is necessary to meet yt1r present liabilities. and then they go forward and repeat item by item, every | one makes up the sum so as to impress l It, that 1t is about twice the amount 1 that will be the amount disbursed by the 30th of September, 1901. Now, we are here for the purpose of making limitations. We are here for the pur-
 pose of establishing offices and defining the duties of those who occupy them. the people to elect one man Gov ernor oftener than once, and thereby disfranchise him, the people 50 far as that office was concerned, though faithful, efficient and competent men,
 are deprived of the right of electing him again. Why not limit the agent
 that has the power to put burdens upon the people? Why do you limit individ.
 alas from aspiring to office, and limit
 the people in their choice of officers, | and vet decline to limit those men who have power to place burdens upon the people? The more you limit power, the more you expand liberty; the more you
 curtail authority, the better 1t is for the freedom of the people, and, there- fore, I am for limiting the Legislature in it's power of taxation to the utmost
 point that can safely be done. ana meet all of our obligations-interest on bonds, the ordinary expenditures or
 State, and whatever may be necessary | have war, all of your factories would
 shut down; your steel plants would go out of blast; your iron furnaces would | close. and. therefore, we must not limit | taxation. If ali those things happen. | we would be poorer then than we are now, and if we were poorer then fnap now, ought not the taxes to De lower
 and ought we not to be more limited ID the power of taxation? So 1t seems 10 me that that argumapt is utterly IaI- lacious-the poorer We are the less you
 ought to take from us of food, raiment
 and shelter; and the less labor you
 ought to require of us to pay taxes. | Another gentleman says, wny' my little town of Florence is so op-
 nressea with taxes in the way or H.
 censes and privilege taxes that the
 people are beginning to sell their prop ertv. If that be so, if every httIe | hnmlet yillaE2 ana Iohu ae oNtAS
 ing the people, ought we not to see
 that the Legislature Is still more re.
 strained from taxing the people ana
 adding burdens-the very reason why the Legislature of Alabama should hoc he nermitted to do what the little nu-
 nicipalities everywhere are enforcing
 upon the people. Now 1t seems to me 1 Mr. Chairman, that most of the aryu-
 ment has arisen from apprehension | Apprehension based on what! on the
 annrehensions of two very distinguished and much esteemed 'trienos ot nllne
 from Montgomery County. Both nave
 been Governors with great honor 10 the state and much credit to themselves,
 and all their argument is based upon | their experience--one of seven years | ago. and the other of nearly hve l years ago. They remember the diffi- | ,.alties that beset them when they 1 borrowed money. it is a nightmare
 still upon their blessed spirits. They
 are afraid that the Governor shall not 1 be able to borrow money. It Is a mere 1 conjecture. There .s not any arsu-
 ulent on that fact except conjecture. | There is not any argument on that fact except conjecture and school boy calcu-
 lations. The Committee. on the con- trary, has recently made investigation | of the condition of Alabama. They
 find from examining the very dccu-
 rnAnts that our friends have examined l and calculated with so much persist
 ency-besldes correspondence with leading men all over the State. We