The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-24

ton of the legislature as to whether they will do 1t or not. If they exercise that discretion and that sound 1udg- mcnt. it will enable many man that has to lay in jail jerhaps i've or six months to go before some enter his plea of guilty where war rant is sworn out in the case. or If he does not desire to plead guilty he may be tried before some court or compe- tent jurisdiction under the warrant | which may be sworn out in that par ticular case. As I said before, when the matter was under consideration. the distinction between grand and pet ty larceny Is of the most shadowy character. has long been shadowy ana indistinct in some cases. The maxi mum penalty for petty larceny is twelve months hard labor for -he county and fine of $500 in addition. at the discretion of the court. or jury tiying the same: the minimum pen- alty fer grand larceny Is flOe, hard labor for the county >r one years i'm prisonment in the penitentiary. It is rare, indeed, Mir. President. that the maximum punishment is ever given in a case of grand larceny. Now for thcsa reasons, gentlemen. l merely ask YOU to put it in the power of the Leg 1 islature of this State to put 1t within their power to dispense with the ne- cessity of indictment ia that class Of eases. As the Constitution now stands, and as it will ste:,d if you do not aoopt thi Section, it will never be within the power of the Legislature of Ala bama to change it. it will have to re- main as it is that where a man IS bound over for grand larceny that he must lay in jail at the expense of the ~,,I hn nf of g. speedy trial. and it is for these reasons thS. 1 ask you to pass this amendment.
 M.. Oates-I most heartily concur
 with the views expressed by the gen.
 tleman from Jefferson, and the purpose
 aimed at. But the Section has no
 prope.. place in the Legislative De-
 partment it belongs in the Judicial
 Department, and I am not only in
 favor of his proposition as he presents
 it, but l am in favor of enlarging It.
 and would, if had an opportunity to
 amend it myself, so that the courts
 may dispense with an indictment by a
 grand jury where they cannot get them
 in cases of outrageous murders, De-
 cause you cannot suppress crime of
 that kind in any other way in the
 State of Alabama. Therefore l will
 move to lay the amendment offered
 on the table, and will cooperate with
 my friend to take it from the table and
 put it in the Judicial Department when l that comes up.
 MT. Ferguson-Am I in order to re-
 ply;
 not debatable.
 MT. Ferguson-I will ask the gentle
 man from Montgomery to withdraw his
 motion to table the amendment.
 MT. Oates-I am not disposed to cut
 off a delegate from anything he wishes to say. but I am greatly desirous of finishing this report.
 The President-The gentleman from
 Jefferson is not in order, as no dele gate can speak more than once except the Chairman of a Committee. MT. Ferguson-May I ask the gentle
 man from Montgomery a question,
 then3
 The President-Does the gentleman . . from Montgomery yield? M:. Oates-I will yield.
 MT. Ferguson-Wouldn't that have the effect of weighting down this amendment that I propose. I want ii
 to go through on its individual merits. Mir Oates-It tends to do that, to weigh it down, but will vote for your
 propositiop-I will vote to insist on you: amendment.
 MT. Macdonald-I rise to a point oi
 order. There is motion to table. The PresIdent-The Chair will call
 the attention of the delegate from Jef- ferson to Rule IA. No delegate shall
 speak more than once to the same question The question is on the mo tion of the gentleman from Montgom-
 cry to lay on the table the amendment
 offered by the gentleman from Jeffer- son.
 Upon a vote being taken, the motion to table was carried.
 MT. Whiteside-I have an amendment
 to offer.
 The Secretary read the amendment
 as follows:
 Department by adding Section - as , follows: The Legislature shall have , no power to take away any right Of , action or destroy any defense to any suit after such suit has been com
 menced.'
 MT. Whiteside-I move the adoption
 of the amendment.
 Mr. Oates-I ask that it be read. The amendment as offered by MT.
 Whiteside was read.
 Mr. Oates-That is already provided
 for and is wholly unnecessary, and therefore I move to lay it on the table On vote being taken, division
 was called for and the motion to lay on the table was carried, 7S ayes to l; noes.
 Mf. Oates-I move that the Article . on Legislative Department
 M:. Brooks-I will ask that the gen. tleman yield to me until offer an
 amendment.
 There were expressions of dissent. Mir Brooks-I think l ought to have
 the right to offer an amendment. The amendment by MT. Brooks wal , read as follows:
 Section -.
 Any person holding office under this , State who shall directly or indirectly
 ask, demand, accept, receive or consent to receive for his own use or benefit
 or for the use or benefit of another, any , free pass or transportation, or pass
 or ticket at a discount. other than is
 sold to the public generally. shall bt , guilty of a misdemeanor. and upor
 conviction shall be fined in a gum not exceeding two hundred and nifty dol lars ($250) and at the discretion of the court trying the same, in addition tc , such fine. may be imprisoned for a
 term not exceeding two months. and , upon such conviction shall be subject
 to impeachment and removal from of B hcs.
 | Any railroad or transportation com
 panN, or officer or agent thereof Wht
 shall grant a free pass or shall 2t re y duced rates not common to the public