The age-herald., 1901-09-23
MR. BURNETT AT THE FUNERAL IF
 THE PRESIDENT He and Colonel Wiley Repre- sented Alabama at
 the 0bsequieS SOUTH HAD POST OF HONOR Gate City Guards Marched Next to the Hearse-Here Consulting With Underwood About
 the Constitution.
SOUTH HAD POST OF HONOR

Congressman John L. Burnett of Gads- den, member of the constitution cam paign committee, arrived in the city yes- terday from Washington. Colonel Bur nett lad intended to be present at the meeting of the committee Saturday, but missed his connection.
 "I had been to the Presidents funeral at Canton" he said. yesterday. "I was in Washington the morning the President died, and felt that I ought to attend the funeral. President Mckinley had been very kind to the South and as I was the only member of the Alabama delegation in Washington who could attend the flu neral, I though ought to go. When we reached Canton I found Colonel Wiley had arrived there, and I suppose there were others from Alabama I had in- tended to come directly South from Can ton, but the sergeant-of-arms in charge of our special train assured me that the train would reach Washington in time to catch the train south on Friday. This would have put me in Birmingham Sat urday morning President Roosevelt's train was in front of ours returning from the funeral and it was constantly being delayed along the route, which caused the Congressional train to be delayed also, and I missed connection at Wash ington.
 Great Crowd at Funeral.
 There was a remarkable outpouring of the people at the funeral" he said, in reply to another inquiry. Canton, I thought, was town of about eight or ten md in1n h{f I i,,R ,I 1t has about thirty thousand It is a beautiful residence city. and President Mckinley had a beautiful home there. On the day of the funeral there were at least 100000 people in the city. mill itary company from Atlanta, the Gate City Guards, I believe, was given the post of honor next to the hearse At least one hundred and twenty-five Senators and Representatives were at the funeral. Sev- enty-six left Washington on the special train.'
 Asked as to the prospect of the consti- tuition being ratified in his section of the State, he said
 q do not think there Is the same op- position to the constitution that there was to the holding of the convention. A good many people were against the holding of convention because they feared that the constitution would not be submit ted back to them for ratification. Now that this fear has proveU groundless think the people when they understand the advantages of the new constitution will be in favor of it. -1any of them have not yet seen it, and a campaign of nI. lN., x.yiIl h the leading dailies of the State have printed it, but the weekly papers have not, and even if this were done there are still thousands of people in the State who are not subscribers 70 any of them. To reach this class the constitution will have to be printed in book form and distributed. It would be good idea, too, to have the old and the new constitu- tions printed side by side, so that the people could compare them.
 He May Take the Stump.
 T have come to Birmingham to consult with MT. Underwood" he continued T do not know whether or not will take the stump but am ready to do anything in my power to promote the campaign. I expect to be pretty busy shortly in pre- pairing the brief and argument in the con- test over my seat in Congress, but any time at my disposal will be at the ser vices of the committee"
 Asked as to the outcome of the contest, Colonel Burnett was very sanguine.
 'T feel no uneasiness whatever" he said, "and am quite confident I will re- tain my seat.''