The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-19

anu t4G II8uL VI rOh9 AS - f~e@re~~- right. but they are separate political rights. and they belong to different classes of political rights. They con template different things; they contem- plate different privileges. They are different in meaning. Why, Mr. Presi- dent. when this Identical question was before the Congress of the United States. when the Fifteenth Amendment
 was being passed upon, this question was argued-the question whether the broad term political rights. covering all parts of the political rights of the citizen, should SO into that amendment. or whether 1t should be restricted and limited to the single proposition of the right to vote. was then argued. Nu- merous statesmen spoke upon the question. and 1t was finally agreed upon that the right of suffrage alone should ne protected.
 MT. President, showing that our rec ord is consistent and in harmony with the result of that discussion, our court. In the case of Kentz against the City of Mobile. 120 Ala, where the question came up as to whether man should be required to be learned in the law 70 be an oflicer in the city of Mobile, heid
 the act to be unconstitutional m tne
 provision which required him to pc iearned in the law, not because 1t was obnoxious to the Fifteenth Amendment.
 but because it was obnoxious to Sectfon 2 of Article I of the Constitution or this State. By some strange notion or the Convention of 1878. that provision
 was enacted. It does seem that some of the constitutional provisions Of that
 instrument must have been made more or less under duress of the Fourteenth
 and Fifteenth Amendments: yet ar
 though neither of the amendments re.
 auired that there should be put inio our
 Constitution a clause protecting all tns
 political rights of the citizens ana
 giving them to every man. 1t was done
 with the exception that the right 10
 hold certain offices was confined 10 per
 sons learned in the law; and. inasmucn as the office created in Mobile was not within tine constitutional inhioition, or rather constitutional requirement, that the officer should be lea. ned m law' provision requiring such was stricKeh down by our court as being unconsu tut ionai, and because Of our own Som ,e.s stitution, and not because or tne FIT teenth amendment in the unlted o'as Constitution. So, then. our own Tn,, TUu,' nassing upon that question has foiow- ed up the discussion and the conciusion
 reached in congress and has foiioweo
 m the true and sensible meaning oi tne Fifteenth amendment. holding that thc eight to hold office is protected E A'n
 hama alone by our own Constitution. Now this Convention has stricken out the words "poi.1cal rights" in our rorstitution. Then we come oack 10 inc nronosition offered here. and insist that one of the two political rights, the right to vote is protected py tno 18th Amendment, and the other' tns right to hold office. is not. holo WILT others that we are not bound upon tne present question by the loth Amenu went: that nothing else but the litn ana fsth Amendment could by any stretch of the imagination even touch unon the question. and the decisions or inc State courts and the Federal courts have so clearly shown that the lAtn aroerdment does not bear upon 1t. that we can pass from that amendment anu limit our investigation to the lotn Amendment alone. and that the loth Amendment is specifically pointing out the right to vote, or the suffrage right. according to the old rule Of construc- | lion that the specifically naming of one in a series of matters standing In equal situation in an enactment. IS an exc'u- | sion of the others. Then say. NAT. l President. that If this Convention sees | proper to do so. without going furtner 1 into details and arguments, in my hum
 ble judgment, the Convention mas tne l power to pass this ordinance
 Then. passing from the legal aspect of the case. is It policy to do so. Jt l has gone throughout the length and 1 breadth of the State of Alabama thst 1 the chief aim and object of thts Con- | vention Is to reform the suffrage of this State. If there Is one thing which may more infuriate the people Of q 1 community. may have more vexinS | effect than any other. 1t is to see the 1 prospect of their local affairs or or | their district affairs, or of their State 1 affairs, passing into the hands Of negro | officials. If we are in Alabama to nave | that peace and quietude which Is best | for both races, l say that 1t IS best | that the negroes do not hold our or | fees, but that the white men hoIo | them, The day may come when the me- | gro has gone 50 far In the arts Of civ ilization that 1t will he proper and right that we reconvene ourselves in g 1 Constitutional Convention. and extend | to him new rights. but until that day | comes, and we know not when 1t will | come--it is prohlematical. 1t is wrapped | in the great bosom of the future ana We cannot say when 1t will come. the better and safer plan is to act upon l the conditions which now exist. ana | which will exist most probably for years to come, and say to the negro. | ii is hest for you, and for us all. that | we curtaiI you of this right to hold ofice in the State of Alabama. Because l with the negro in local offices. ana the white men in Alabama appearing be- | fore the negro official. always means to | stir anew the old feelings of prejudice
 which cannot be restrained, but which l if the negro keeps his place and con-
 tinucs to make the progress which he
 has made in times past. may become
 a thing of the past. The negro will re-
 main here, and some of them nust Tote
 in Alabama. and so long ss that IS | true. there is a possibility and even
 probability that they may hold once
 The probability becomes stronger than ] in the past because we nave neen sent
 here by a people who have carried their
 elections confessedly against the pop | uiar will of the section where the ne-
 gro is in majority. as long as they have
 wished to do so. and have sent us here
 for the purpose of making laws under
 which we may purify the hallot box.
 and by which we may declare tue re-
 suits of elections as they are. and that
 being true. there is more probability or inc negro holding office in the immedi- ate future than there has been Tn tne | immediate past. unless the right IS taken from him. -,,,..
 MT. Coleman (Greene)-The quesIiSn
 now before the Convention has been
 nrecipitated upon us somewhat ana