The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-12

the expense is a matter of mere baga- telle, that we can safely so to them and meet them face to face. and tell them how and why we sought to pro- vide for such emergencies as shadowed this State six months ago, ana am in favor of the proposition.
 Mr. Santord-l have but few words to say, and I must say to my friend from Walker, to whom always listen with great interest, that he is entirely mistaken with regard to the canvass of seventy-five It so happened that took a very active part in that: l ad- vocated the Constitution of seventy l five, notwithstanding some objection. ! able features, principally because 1t was the work of our own people. It | was ordained to substitute a Consti- | tuition that had been ordained by men | from the four corners of the globe. | Men who pretended to represent coun- ties in whose boundaries they had nev- CT set foot. Men pretending to be del- egated from counties whose names they could not pronounce. Strangers to our people. In the convention of sev- | enty- -four, which met in seventy-five. | the chief objection, the great objec- ton. was the Board of Education, and
 the Commissioner of Industrial Re- sources, whose ignorance was the laughing stock of all Alabama. He said when he was shown piece of rock salt, that it was silver quartz out of which silver came. Of course the people objected to all these offices.
 l MT. Oates-He Is the same man who discovered brass mine
 | MT. Sanford-The same man. l want | to say to my friend here. that he seems | to be sensitive upon the question Of the Senates choosing it's own officer
 He thinks that thirty-three men ought to select the President of that body. If that be true. how much more inn portant is it that eighteen hundred l thousand men should choose their Lieu | tenant Governor who Is but Vice Governor. The Government of the | United States elects a President and | Vice President. Why should not the State of Alabama elect Governor and 1 Vice Governor? The Vice President has a fixed salary. The Lieutenant | Governor of Alabama would have no salary according to the traditions or this country, except when he Is pre- siding owe rthe Senate, and then he will receive, and woul dno wreceive. l pre- sume, the very same compensation that the President of the Senate receives. IL | is not a burden to our people.
 | I agree with the gentleman from | Barbour. who Is averse to creating new offices No man is more opposed 1 to numerous offices than I am. Offices are the source of weakness, and If the l Government could be carried on with out an officer, it would be the wisest | invention in political afRers that tho world has ever seen, but that is an irn- possibility, and therefore we should | have just such officers as experience l has taught us are necessary for the | welfare of our whole people.
 | It seems to me there can be no just objection when the people have a right to choose their Chief Executive. that | they should have the right also to say who should succeed him, in the event of a grea tcalamity, or in the event of | A resignation, or in the event of his l departure from the State. What ob- | ection is there to it? The recent and | present unfortunate conditions In Al abama teach us the importance or t4i-S measure. Seventeen men may choose ' your Lieutenant Governor. who possl- bly, may take charge of Alabama m the next six months. Why not let you avoid such a contingency, with eight cen hundred thousand people to choose
 your Vice Governor. before such misfortune befalls you again? l hope, MT. President that the office Of Lieu
 tenant Governor will be created. It was objected to in 1875 for the reasons that have just stated; that he was an officer created by Constitution | which the people of Alabama rejected
 bv more than seven thousand votes,
 and which Congress itself had put upon us. and therefore everything con- nected with that Constitution was ex- ceedingly odious to our people. Hence the abolition of the Lieutenant Cover norship. The Board of Education and the Commissioner of Industrial Re- sources, which time has shown is nec- essary now, inasmuch as agriculture is no longer the chief industrialism of | Alabama Now we want 1t for the | mines. now we want 1t for the fac- tories; now we want 1t for all kinds or l industries, and therefore 1t is proper that we should re-create 1t, under the form of Agricultural Commissioner and Commissioner of Industrial Resources or Industry, and so with the Lieuten- ant Governorship. I hope, gentlemen of the convention. that you VIII vote | to ral-o hinn an officer.
 MT, Blackwell-I desire to state that during the ca ampaign l made for the position of delegate in this Convention, | on the stump In my country, every where I stated that I was in favor or the creation of the office of Lieutenant Governor. In my county we have ooth classes of men that have been al- luded to here. At least, we have men in the hills, and men in the valleys
 our county being composed Of hills and valleys. I did not find a solitary man either in the hills or in the val leys,-and we want to know something about the sentiments of the people, how this matter will affect them when IL is carried back to them-that was op- posed to the creation of the on1ce of | Iieutenant-Go after the reasons for 1t were given-not a solitary one The recent experience that has beeS here alluded to, was then detailed to the people there, and the difference be- tween the friction that seemed immi- n ,nt here when we knew hardly who would be Governor when we had a Chief Magistrate not sworn in, and the condition of our sister State of Ken 1 lucky, which went through the ordeal of losing her Governor and without friction her Lieutenant-Gov came in and took up the reins of govern mept, was brought before them. and recognizing that they would have the right to pass upon the men who might become the Chief Executive of Ala bama. they readily endorsed the prop osition to elect Lieutenant Governor
 believing 1t was right that we should
 to as great extent as possible, restore the very genius of our government by giving the people the right to elect their own officers, thereby making il indeed d government of the people, by the people, and for the people.