The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-30

kt1bs WEIGH the QAGiusloH pt tHe Sol- pred pepulation from the basis of ap- F'iftesnth Amendment took away ab-
 soluteiy from the State the power tu exeluae the negro from suffrage, and | therefore the second section Of the Fourteenth Amendment can refer only to those other disqualifications, ne, CT likely to be applied, by which a State might lessen her voting population by basing the right of suffrage Un the ownership of real estate, or on the pos
 session of fixed Income. or upon a
 certain degree of education. or upon na-
 tivity or religious creed. t is still in
 the power of the States to apply any
 one of these tests or all ot ihsm if willing to hazard the penalty pgescrib- ed in the fourteenth amendment,"
 This Is a complete answer to the various gentlemen on this floor, and is
 undoubtedly the right construction to
 be placed upon 1t. The war of 1885 Is over, reconstruction is over, Are we
 willing to risk the chances of recon struetion again? hope not, Now, MT.
 President, in conclusion want to say
 word in regard to the Black Belt
 Democrat. What of him? MT. President I have been closely associated with some of them in every Legislature that has met since 1896. That association has been of such q character that if af- lords me much pleasure to avail myself of the opportunity to say that they are high toned, refined, educated. pa triotie and as bis-souied men as it has ever been my pleasure to meet. I have found them when the question of right against might was involved, to be in- variably on the side of right against might-except in politics. Standing up for the weak against the strong. In each and every Legislature above re-
 ferred to, 8 proposition has been made
 by some Hill county Democrat, at tho instance of some one by three would be politicians of my county. who are out
 and want to get in, and their only chance through the appointing power. tS rob us of local self-sovernment, The Black Belt Democrats after hearing the evidence as I produced 1t on this
 foor. and I made my ease so plain that they on every occasion stood by me and I have been able to defeat any Legislation in that direction affecting my county. and we have local self-goy- ernment In the county of coosa, I stand here in my place as a represen- tative of the people of that county. and l tip my hat to the Black Belt Democrats. t
 MT. Blackwell-Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention; rise to to that section of the Committee on Suffrage and Elections which is com menly known as the grandfather clause, l know It is little late, MT. fFesideHt-there are s, great many others who wanted to say something on that subject, because it was a sub- jeet We had discbssed before the people, and had said that we intended to try and put into the Constitution, and we desired to let the people know how we have carried out the pledges made to them. In addition. we thought that it was the proper thing to say something. believing that things said by local men might be read by the local people, and thereby more people would know the reasons that prompted us. know the subject has been discussed and re- discussed. Mr, President were you ever boy, and did you ever have a whole lot of people at the place you had to eat> and when you had to wait, did you ever go behind the door near the dining room and look through the crack to see how they were getting along, what was prepared on the ta- hle and see the luscious pieces of chick en disposed of and the nice hot biscuit FtAN AAa AtNk yVH Auph lBuHlukIy uHktl you saw the last piece of chicken gone and the last hot biscuit disappear? ? Were you ever a boy under those cir cumstances? Well, that Is the condi- ton am in now. That Is the condi- ton man Is in who attempts to d,s- cuss this question after all has been said about it. feel like the old preacher who was invited in after the feast and requested to ask blessing. He looked up selemnly and said: Lord, bless the owl that ate the fowl and left the bones to Seaborn Jones'" It is not expected that we will ali agree upon this matter, There are three preposi- tions that l lay down that am will ing to live and die by, The first is, Mr. President, we may differ and be honest in our difference; the second, that we may differ and continue to be friends; the third is, that we may diff fer and yet be Christians, Now, those are bread propositions that I lay down to start with. l do not expect to see Us all agree on all of these matters. We come from different quarters to this Capitol today, and We are all attempt ing to reach the same place; yet as a matter of fact, we came here by diff ferent things along the way, We do not take the same route even to go to a place. knew at the outset of this movement that we were going to meet obstacles all along the way, but obstacles frequently have 8 capacity of developing man, showing what there is In him, You never saw hoy fly kite unless he had the wind against the kite; he has got to have opposition as a matter of fact before the kite rises. Not q great while ago, sir, I visited NiagaPa; l got there in the night time, and I heard the sing ing of the water, and in the morning when l went out to see what 1t was that produced the beautiful music that I had heard, l saw the mighty roaring river coming in contact with the oh- atacles that nature had placed in its pathway. I saw great beulders that nature had placed in the water, and learned 1t was the obstacles that the river came in contact with that had made the water sing it's swsetett song, and l looked and saw the mighty vapeF thrown high into the air. and the rain, bow amid the sIistening spray l saw it was the obstacles that produced all these visiens that were so beautiful to the eye. When you take \ pPlsm and let the rays of the light strike It, those rays are broken up and present to you ali the colors of the rainbow, It Is the Instructions that bring out all this beauty of color, So, ohstructione of themselves are not necessarily hurttul things. I expected to come in con tact with these obstructions, Now, am for this majority report, It seems to me to steer clear of all the breakers and give us just what We promised the
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