The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-07

Qt0DlG ATG kAlC <OAAtE AVt " AA4<&4 @.@@ power arises. It is their duty
 Mir. Fersuson--I rise to { point of order.
 The President--The gentleman VIII state his point of order.
 MT. Ferguson-I respectfully rise to . point of order-the Convention has passed upon that question as to bow they shall be elected.
 MT. Merrill-They have not adopted the section as amended yet.
 The President--The Convention hae not adopted the section as amended. It has incorporated In the section as: ro- ported an amendment. but the Questicn of adopting the section as amended has not been submitted to the Convention.
 Mir. Merrili-The people. MT. Presis dent. are the sources of all power. and 1t is peculiarly their duty to select thef officers who are to serve them in tn&sl various branches of the State. If yeity say that the people are incapahls <Ir- selecting any offer, or filling any office. then, MT. President, you make direct thrust at republican form of gov- ernment, because when they cease to be capable of selecting the men to serve them In the offices, they cease to DO capable of self government, and the form of a republican government ts . failure. Now, that Is admitted. They say that although this power to elect belongs in the people, and 1t is their duty to exercise it. that they ought to delegate this power to their agents, the legislature, to serve for them. l say, MT. President, there Is no argument in that. The fact that the principal iS incapable of discharging- -the duty and must appoint the agent to do the tning. Is an absourdity upon its face. Wny Is it that the Legislature, the servants of the people. can elect their omcers better than the people. the principal tt- self. Now. let us go further. u mas been the policy of this Convention 10 cut off from the Legislature everything except the discharge of the duty for which they were elected, that Is, the performance of general legieiatton. We have cut off local legislation. we have cut off everything we could, we have pruned 1t, and we propose now to take the solicitor business away from them and prevent their being harassed py duty which the people ought to per- form at home. We leave the LegislA- ture in a condition where they can dis- charge their great trust, and hereafter you will hear no more criticism Of the Legislature because their duty VIII 70 plain and simple and they will have the time and the inclination to dis- charge 1t.
 MT. Ashcraft--I offer substitute for the section and the amendment.
 The Secretary read the substitute as follows, The solicitor in each county shah be ieiected by the qualified elec- tors therein every four years. whose salary shall be fixed by law according to the requirements in each county. The office of circuit solicitors shall cease at the termination of the term or the present incumbents."
 MT, Ashcraft-We are told by the distinguished member from Chambers that the Legislature Is not affected by certain disqualification for the election of solicitors which the people them selves are affected by. I beg to call the attention of the Convention to the fact that they are affected by infinitely worse disqualifications. It Is true that the members of the Lesisiature are not to be affected by the course Of conduct pursued by the solicitor I'm the county, but according to the chserva- ton and experience of those of us who are here, am sure. we will concur in the opinion that they have been ef- fected by other infiuences'very largely. Now sir, the day has passed in Ameri- ca when any man can stand up and with self-respect affirm that the people of the State in the respective localities are incapable of selecting those persons who shall discharge the public duties. The necessity for the election of circuit solicitors by the Legislature has long since passed. the people have felt 1t. and a great force comes up here, Mir. President, asking that they be re- habilitated with the right to elect their officers. We met the mailed hand of the lobbyist. Mir. President. we -can- not go back to the people of this State and say to them that we have dis. charged faithfully the trust that has been reposed in us, that we have fully performed the duty reposed by the people, if we fail to fulfill their wishes and do not believe that e member on this floor but would say that If the people. unembarrassed and free. would say that 1t was not better that they should be allowed to elect their solicit tors. If that is a fact. if the people do have faith in themselves, why should we not repose the same faith7 Now. the amendment proposed by me. under it's provisions, 1t is not required that the salaries of the solicitors In the respective counties shall be uniform. puL u uOc3 ECQulNC IHC A0&@t0tuES shall fix those salaries according to the work which is to be performed in each county. Of course the solicitor in Clay County would not be required to per- form the arduous duties, nor to possess the great skill which would be required of the solicitor in Jefferson County, and therefore the amendment provides that tn Legislature shall fix these salaries according to the requirements in5the several counties. Now. in naAny of the counties that have county solicitors. we
 have circuit solicitors covering these same counties there Is a tapping ever and doubling up of the expense. This, will provide for the doing away with all of that. It gives .us an opportunity of saying to the people. W have rid you of a large ex. pense. and we have freed the legislature from perhaps the most corrupting in-. fiuence that enters into its body, Tho solicitor being in the county, will do more thorough work, because he will he familiar with all the affairs, with ell the transactions. with all the cir cumstances. He will know the people. Ee will know the witnesses. he will be able to act intelligently. he will be able to respond quickly to the demands. I think. MT. Presi lent. that all the argu- plents flor home rule are very strong, and that the arguments against home rule are relatively speaking very weak.
 MT. Pitts (Dallasl-I rise to support the substitute. Let us take a common sense view of the matter. Of what good Is a circuit solicitor. now? I submit that in every c0untV In thiS State ther0