The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-24


 State of Alabama is disfranr sea 7 the Constitution that we art -a aeu,ns now. The pledges of the 7 have gone out to every white ms and az l said moment ago. the gr ,:iamor against the grandfather c'4Ise, does not emanate. Mir. Presider. from tbe masses of the voters in this stsre. They want 1t, and it is necessary that we incorporate that clause in t1e Conetl- tuition before we submit t to the peo- pie for ratification. But that question Will be discussed later in ;he 'consiS eration of this report ' trust. gentle. men. that you will suprnrt rna snea4. ment to this section of the coinn7Ittos,. report.
 MT. Ferguson-I rise rr e1pport he amendment offered b. rr-- '-ifea, a,,,,s from Jefferson, and al he aFn,cndS ment offered by tn Be luaa from Mobile, as I believe .g be .'..lsor ,h,. We have clause il 4e Deca sti,n of Rights declaring ti -T -ra. m sbaII be encouraged in u .lr oar. Can we encourag 1.E,rl.>-. to thi. State unless we g. .r~ # n naa' pie coming here as emigrants to nar. ticipate in the affairs of government, ! oeileve that was what induced the iramers or the Constitution of 1875 to enDody that provision in the Consti- tution of this State. I believe that is what induced the framers of the Cons stltution of the United States to rec citizens. ioreisn
 NOW MT President, I desire to adA my mead of praise to what has been sdIo s or the foreign born citizens of Tef- iersoh county. have been soIcitor In that county for wei hish thirteen years and baI. attended its courts and its grand jur!es and desire to saw mat It Is rare, indeed, when you find them defendants in the criminal courts Ua .hat country. They are frugal and .nuustrious people, as a body in the pmnn;s Ioey are Eome-builders, MT. or them have builded homes in Jeffer. son county. and many of their little communities have erected churches tnere TOT the worship of Almighty God. IL IS true, as said by the gentleman rom Mobile, that many of them do moi conceive the good purposes of citizen- snip. That applies to but one or two nationalities; but the great bulk of inc Lorelgn-born citizenship of Jefferson county do appreciate the duties and Iesponsloiiities of citizenship, and well
 
 republican form of government. They nave taken sn active interest in poIi- tics' and as general rule they have stood by the dominant party in this otate In many close contests, I will support, MT. President, the amendment offered by my colleague from Jeffer- son. and also the amendment to Nthe amendment offered by the gentleman from Mobile.
 MT. Sanford Montgomery)-The is nothing that prevents them from voting or holdinG off1ce after their have been natural1zed. It is before they are na- turalized that we are objecting to their voting.
 MT. Ferguson-I think the amend ment offered by the gentleman from Mobile is entirely reasonable and coy- CTS that point.
 MT. Dent (Barbour)-I just desire to add a word or two upon that amend ment but before I do that, I desire to say l have heard a great deal, said in reference to party pledges, and the pledges contained in the platform I do not propose to violate what l con- slider the spirit of the pledges of the Democratic party, but. while I am upon my feet, I propose to present my views of those pleges for what they are worth to this Convention. We are pledged here not to disfranchise any white man. l take it that that means that We are not to do it if we can avoid it and prepare and make Constitution that will be beneficial and acceptable to the people of Alabama. But, MT. Chairman, there is another view of this question which has occurred to me and which 1 have heard discussed, and I want to illustrate. Now. if the con- vention was going to adopt a Consti- tuition without submitting it back to the people, we should certainly be very careful to preserve the pledges that we made them; but that, I presume, in fact. I am satisfied. is not to be the case. Whatever Constitution we make will be submitted back to the people of the State of Alabama for their rati- fication or their rejection. Now, let me illustrate my view of the principle that is involved. We represent the people of Alabama as their agents. Now, principal sends out his agent to make a contract for him, and he Him. it's him in making the contract, stat ing that he is to make the contract in a particular way and in a particular manner and have in 1t particular con- ditions. The agent goes and finds that 1t is impracticable to make such a con- tract as his principal has prescribed,
 
 makes a contract upon the condition that it shall be ratified by his princi- pal. He makes that contract and sub mits 1t back to his principalsand says: Here, I could not make the contract literally as you gave me instructions to make it, but I made a contract as near to it as I could and which l think will be beneficial to you, and you have the right now to say whether you will stand by that contract or reject it." If he does that, I want to know who Is hurt?
 If we make Constitution here, doing the very best we can, for what would be to the very best interests of the people of Alabama, suppose we do vio- late in letter some of the pledges made by the Democratic party in its plat" form: if we refer it back to the people, and they accept 1t, who is hurt by it?
 But now come back to the amend ment. do not believe that the man who Is not citizen of Alabama should have the right to select the men to make it's laws and to enforce them. are but five States in the forty-hve that compose the Union of States in this country that have this principle en- grafted in the organic law. Alabama being one of them? Take out Ala bama. and we have about four or f1ve left-States in the Northwest where this element dominates and controls. You go to the great States like New York and Ohio and Illinois and Pennsylva- mia, and States like them, and they