The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-15

| This t1fteentn AmenOment, Salo MT.
 Knox is re-enacted in the Alabama Con-
 stitution of 1875 and yet he said his friend (Mr. Stallings) would hug 1t to his bosom. ! He said that the old Constitution went | further than the Fifteenth Amendment | and said that no qualification of suffrage | should be enacted. This was the Con-
 stitution to which Mir. Stallinas clings, he said, and had been fearful that this
 good and great Constitution would be changed. He believed Mir. Stallings was | honest in these statements. but he said
 he wanted to know how 1t was that Mir
 Stalings was a delegate to the Demo- | cratic Convention that nominated dele l gates to the Constitutional Con-
 vention, he wanted to know why MT Stallings voted for the Democratic plat | form which declared for white supre- | macy.
 And vet" said MT. Knox with great 1 emphasis, ''he stands up before us and saws this new Constitution Is illegal, un- I constitutional and cannot stand" Ap- plause).
 the audience for what he termed his '1n- tense earnestness." He had been pro ceeding with the utmost dignity and It was apparent that he felt the audience might misunderstand ms crlticlsh oi "f' Stallings.
 He assured the audience that he had the highest regard for MT. Stallings and for other gentlemen who opposed him in this matter. He read the Democratic platform adopted by the convention whcn nominated delegates to the Constitutional Convention and said that if MT. Stall ines was opposed to disfranchising the negro now, he should have stood up in the Democratic Convention and saved the
 State s9)0OO. Applause).
 MT. Knox said Mir. Stalhngs had melted him to tears by telling about the great disaster to come to Confederate soldiers by reason of "the grandfather clause" He had quoted General Harrison and oth- CTS whom he had said were great law yers, and had declared that they saw that it was unconstitutional. Answering this statement, MT. Knox said that with the greatest respect for his friend. MT.
 Stallings, he would have to say that General Harrison and others had said nothing of the kind. The Suffrage Com
 mittee of the Convention was entirely unanimous. he said, as to the constitu- tionality of the soldier clause. The mic nority, he said, was merely opposed to the clause relating to the sons of sol- diers If it was unconstitutional. MT. Knox said, the sons of soldiers would come in under the good character clause. He absolutely denied, however, the un-
 constitutionalty of the sons of soldiers
 
 preme Court would not so construe it. Defends the "Grandfather" Clause.
 MT. Knox said Mir Stallings had eulo-
 gized the Confederate soldier and he would like to put his friend Denson on the stand against him. He said Colonel Denson was riding around the State
 paving up the ground like a mad bull," and charging that Confederate soldiers
 were to be put upon a pedestal above ~R A@t,A Nf Colonel Denson made in 1899, in which
 he declared that the negro could be eliminated by an educational and a prop erty qualification clause. The Convention had met the requirements of Colonel Dem son, said MT. Knox. and Colonel Denson
 went down to Montgomery Saturday night and champing at the bit, declared that it could not be done.
 MT. Knox continued reading from the speeches of Colonel Denson and was fre- | quently applauded
 Then MT. Knox said that MT. Stallings | had declared that negroes could not be
 disfranchised and he had observed that Mir. Stallings had got considerable ap- plause from the cuffy side of the house" | (Applause) Hes got 'em all over the
 house." shouted a gentleman. (Continued | applause).
 Criticises the Big Four" | MT. Knox said the trouble with the op- ponents to the Constitution was that they wanted to reorganixe the Democratic
 party. He characterized the opposition | as the Big Four-Johnston Stallings. Shelley and Denson." He said the great
 est fault he had to find with them was
 that they didn't get together" Each one talked a different way. He read from
 a message to the Legislature of 1898 by
 Governor Johnston that i've would be
 recreant to our duty If we continued
 to temporize with the dearest rights of the people" h this message, Governor Johnston recommended the calling of Constitutional Convention to disfranchise the negro and he criticised him for his change of heart. Then Mir. Knox said he would put General Shelley on the stand He read from a card by General Shelley that the negro has "engendered and fos- l tered depravity," because of election methods.
 "Oh. righteous Judge" exclaimed Mir. Knox, with great deliberation, and the audience yelled.
 Tn some sections, Mir. Knox said the opponents of the Constitution spoke one way and in other sections they spoke another way. Tn the white sections they said the new Constitution would disfran- chise white men, and in the Black Belt they said it would not disfranchise the negro He said that they opposed the plan DeCauSe dDSOlute peTIecllOH WdS HoI guaranteed. So far as corruption was concerned. MT. Knox said that no power Oil earth could stop stealing absolutely. He said that God Almighty had said Thou shalt not steal"
 If God Almighty can't do it, exclaim- ed MT. Knox, "how can you expect my friends, Stallings. Denson, Johnston and Shelly. to do it. especially when thyve started so late in life?" Loud applause).
 They can run both ways and bark at each end" said MT. Knox. and the au- dience laughed and applauded again.
 MT Knox declared that the great Dem ocratic party which represented the white people of Alabama started this movement for white supremacy Now MT. Stallings and his friends took the position that the white men of Alabama could not be trusted. He said the Democratic party might be trusted to enact laws, to levy taxes and to elect officers, but they had charged that 1t could not be trusted to honestly administer the provisions of this Constitution.
 Fellow citizens, there has not been a more dangerous assault upon the Demo- cratic party since the war" MT. Knox continued Why MT. Kolb had more re- spect for the Democratic party than they have. He called himself a Jeffersonian. The Palmer and Buckner men called themselves Palmer and Buckner Demo- clats. but when General Shelley and his crowd met in Birmingham. they deposed Oscar Underwood and called themselves the Democratic party" (Applause).
 rroI-;,o the undersf a ndtrn