The age-herald., 1901-09-20
Discusses Difference Between the OId and the New
 Constitution POINT ABOUT SUFFRAGE PLAN Privilege of s,.ting Will Only Be De- nied the Unworthy or Vicious" classes-Taken Up Issue
 By Issue.
 

The committee appointed by the con- stitutional convention to prepare an ad- dress to the people has given out the fol- lowing:
 To the People of Alabama:
 The convention lately assembled by you to amend and revise the constitution of Alabama ask your considerate judgment upon the new instrument, and has ap- pointed the undersigned delegates to lay before you the reasons which urge it's ratification.
 Problems Before Convention of 1875. That convention met when the passions of the great war had not yet subsided and sectional distrust was still acute and ag- gressive. The Congress of the United States and public opinion In the dominant sections were still unconvdnced that government for the people of Alabama, controlled or directed by the suffrage of former African slaves, was neither justi- fable nor possible. Our then fundamental law, framed by aliens, had been put in force by military power after it's rejection at the polls. The State was burdened with direct debt and liable for many mil Mons of dollars lost or squandered in reck- less railroad enterprises Our people had just gained control of their State govern ment and were suffering from the miser- ies of long years of misrule and the de- pression inevitable from the readjustment of our systems of labor and industry. It could not be foreseen whether Congress would interfere if changes were made in the basis of suffrage. Above all things, the State needed rest.
 Under such conditions the convention of 1875 had little freedom of action. Its mem- bers shared the opinion of the masses of the people, that beyond the adoption of constitution which should be the free act of Alabama, with such provisions as were absolutely necessary to prevent excessive taxation, the creation of new debts and to enforce economy in the government few changes should be undertaken in the organic law Dreading Federal interven- tion, that convention did not disturb the existing basis of suffrage, but felt com pelled to fasten 1t upon us by restrictions, going far beyond the fifteenth amend ment, forbidding 'any educational or property qualification for suffrage or of- flee" With the great question thus put aside the task of that convention was comparatively simple and could be speed fly accomplished.
 Greater Task of Convention of 1901. The relief afforded by that constitution in the nature of things, could only be transient, since the growing cancer of the
 
 State meanwhile was rapidly changing from agricultural pursuits to mining, man. ufacturing and other industries, and in- creaSing from year to year in population and wealth. It was inevitable that insis- tent demands would arise from time to time for constitutional convention to adjust the existing organic law to our present needs. The final response to these demands was the act of the General As sembly of 1901 and the approval by the people of the call for a constitutional con- yention-
 Compelled to find some solution for the evils, which its predecessors did not att tempt to solve. and confronted by new conditions and faults developed by the present constitution. the convention of 1901 fully realized the magnitude of it's task, the completion of which did not per init of the haste permissible under the conditions existing in 1875. The conven- tion felt It a high duty, no less to you than to itself. to proceed cautiously and to act finally only after the maturest dis cussion and deliberatlon The result is before you. Careful scrutiny and review of the many changes will show their inn portance and prove their benefits. At the sacrifice of breWty we set out these changes in substance, that you may judge of them by what they are, rather than by what we say. -
 Suffrage.
 The years since the adoption of the constitution of 1S15 have been one long battle to prevent the undermining of our institutions by the participation in our government of mass of unworthy or vicious voters. Daily experience has brought home to you, with a force to which no recital by us can add, the array of evils which follow in the train of such a struggle, and their fearful sweep in the future, If we can not find other means to insure good government. Relief from present conditions Is essential to our morals. our peace and our welfare Moth ing could be worse than the inevitable op- eration of our present suffrage provisions. Any change which restricts the evil must be Improvement.
 With the choice of means narrowed by the fifteenth amendment and compli- cated by the necessities and conditions of different localities. the task of framing remedy which would meet your desires and be free from objection or attack up- on moral or constitutional grounds, has not been an easy one. Your delegates have wrought as best they could. and submit the result of their labors. feeling confident that the plan submitted will purge the electorate of the unworthy and vicious voter. who has so long debased our suffrage.
 The suffrage article of the proposed constitution provides for the registration of all voters under the present law who have honorably served their country in war the lawful descendants of such per sons, and all who are of good character and who understand the duties and obIi