The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-02

| iGcation by the ayes and noes and the Chair ruled me out.
 | The President--The Chair ruled mos | ment ago that when vote was to De | verified any gentleman may call for verlfication by division or by the | ayes and noes, but the Convention can- | not be expected to sit h,fe indefinitely, 1 taking verifcation of votes Mir. Long--I withdraw my call for | a verifcation. just simply wished to show there were two sides to the ques- | ton
 The President-The gentleman is not | in order to discuss the question. The | Chair heard him very patiently, and now the Chair is ruling on the question. | And now when the Chair submits the | the question on a call for verifica- ton by the ayes and noes, the Chair l submits the call to the Convention. The call was not sustained. It seems to the l Chair the ayes have It, and the ayes have it, and the matter is referred to | the Committee on Suffrage and Elec- tions. The Secretary will read Sec ton 19.
 l Mrl Sanford (aFontgomery)-I in tended to offer this amendment to Sec tion IS.
 Mir. o'Neal (Lauderdale)-I move that he be allowed to file it. and that 1t be referred to the Committee on Suffrage and Elections.
 Unanimous consent was given for the l amendment to be referred to the Com mittee on Suffrage and Elections. Section 19 was read as follows: | Sec. 19. If any secton of this Article shall become imperative and void by reason of the decision of any Court of competent jurisdiction, the General As sembly shall have power, and it is l hxs hnr l feet in such Section pointed out by such adjudication, by a two-thirds vote of all the members of each House of l the General Assembly.
 Mir. Sorrell-I have an amendment
 Mir. Walker (Madison)-Wil the gen. tleman excuse me a moment?
 MT. Sorrell-CertainIy.
 | MT. Walker-On behalf of the Com mittee l desire to offer an amend ment. in the first line. oy inserting af- ter the word Article" "or subdivision thereof" in the third line after the word Section" by adding the words
 Tor subdivisions" in the fifth line af- tter the word Article" add the words 'or subdivision" and in the sixth line
 after the word Section" add the words
 "or subdivision"
 The amendment was read as follows:
 Amend Section 15 by adding In the
 first line after the word Article 'or subdivision thereof by adding in the third line after the word section" the
 words "or subdivisions" by adding in
 the fifth line after the word article
 the words ''or subdivision" and by adding in the sixth line after the word
 section,' the words ''or subdivision. T
 Mir Walker (MadisoD)-I ask unani. nous consent on behalf of the Com-
 mittee on Suffrage and Elections to in.
 sert the amendment read by the Sec. | retary.
 Consent was given.
 The amendment by Mir Sorrell was
 then read as follows:
 Amend Section 19 by adding at the
 end thereof the following: Provided
 that any law enacted by the Genera
 Assembly as provided for in this sec.
 ton shall not become operative unti
 ratified by majority of the qualified
 electors in this State"
 The Presldent-The question will b,
 upon the amendment offered by tn,
 gentleman from Tallapoosa.
 Mir. Sorrell-Mr. President, we hay,
 been here for ten days discussing thi.
 all-important question of the report O
 the Committee on Suffrage and Flee tions. We have been patient. we hay, been interested. but no more so tha, the people whom we have the homo
 to represent. We have differed. Mem bers of this Convention have differe,
 upon the great questions that wer,
 presented by this majority report Great and. eminent lawyers on the floo Of this Convention have said that il their belief. some sections of this arti
 cle are unconstitutional They hav } presented their views at length, whil majority of us have thought and be
 lieve yet that this report is the bes , report that could be adopted-the bes
 suffrage plan for Alabama that coul, be adopted. We have believed ant \ believe yet, that the report of the ma Jority Committee is constitutional, an, that 1t will stand the test of the high [ CT courts. But in the wisdom of tn ) majority of that Committed and il ? view of the fact that there was a ques l tion as to the constitutionality, the, I have seen fit to bring in Section 19 o l this report, which provides that per 2 chance the courts were to decide tha ? | any clause or any section of this arti 9 cle was unconstitutional, that the leg
 islature shall have the power to correc ! that, and to enact, If you please, sue law as will remedy the defect point l ed out by the courts, and that ques
 ton Is left absolutely in the hands O l the legislature. For fifty years 1t ha | 4 to Constitution should be left entire
 ly to the legislature, therefore we hay l engrafted in every Constitution sine
 1861, the wise provision that no amend E ment to the Constitution could b , made by a legislature. It could onl
 be suggested by them, and would onl e become a clause in the Constitutio . when it was ratified by the people.
 see. MT. President, no good reason a = this time why we should depart fror F that time honored custom-a custor e that has met the universal approval c v the people of Alabama since 1Sbl. Now
 if it was essential during all of thes . years to throw around the legislatur e this safeguard, l submit that it is dan s gerous today to tear it down. I sub
 init that if it was essential in the day r | gone by to say that the legislatur : shall not amend the Constitution with ? out the consent of the people, that 7 is more essential to do it now becaus t we are dealing with a question in thi } convention that is nearer to the heart g of the people of Alabama than an s | question that has claimed our attent
 ion for more than a quarter of a cen s tury. If the United States Suprem I Court were to declare a single sectio g of 1t unconstitutional. then what? w
 are thrown back then into the hand
 of the legislature, and say to ther l that for the first time in a half cen
 tury, we propose to give into you v hands the right to amend that defec ]. In such a way as will meet your ar