The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-23

| scarcely c0ncetVe now gentlemen on the rioor Of the Convention can con- l clude that out of thfs language there may be raised up the proposition that | the joint Convention in canvassing the returns act in any aspect of the case | judiciaIly. My construction of this sec | tion of the Constitution is that the joint Convention together with the | Speaker of the House of Representa- tives in the act of declaring the result of the election act iministerially and not tudiciaIly. The amendment pro- posed by the gentleman from Sumter | Is simply a constitutional declaration of what I conceive to be the meaning of the section as 1t now stands. fur- ther contend that there is not, in sec tion 1, such uncertainty in the language as to leave 1t open to doubt as to whether or not the joint Convention has control of the Speaker in declaring the result. will read the language of the Convention. He shall, during the first week of the session, to which
 said returns shall be made, open and publish them in the presence of both Houses of the General Assembly in joint Convention. The persons having the highest number of votes for either of said offices shall be declared duly elected" My contention is that that
 means shall be declared elected by the
 joint Convention. not by the Speaker of the House" The Speaker of the House simply opens and places before the Convention the returns from the different counties as clerk might do, and then the joint Convention takes LTD and canyasses the returns and de- clares the result. Therefore, as I say, with the section as 1t now stands in the Constitution the amendment of the gentleman from Sumter is not neces- sary because 1t only seeks to do that which is apparent and clear Tn the sec tion as 1t now stands.
 Now, as to changing the present Con- stitution and giving the Convention who are to declare the result of the
 election, new duties, new powers and new authority. The proposition is to give them in addition to ministerial powers which they now, hold by law certain judicial authority and ciothe them with certain judicial functions The gentlemen of the Committee and the Chairman of the Committee under take to avoid the force of the ,argu-
 ment that the joint Convention should not be made in the first instance and | before the declaration of the result & body for contesting the election-I say, they seek. it seems to me, to avoid the force and effect sof that argument by making them a contesting body or a
 body for the purpose of carrying on contests only to a very limited extent. Now. Mir. President, a contested elec- tion begins with and includes the re-
 suit as it Is declared, and all that per tains to that result, the holding of the election. the counting of the votes, and
 everything from the. beginning to the
 end of the election and up to the time
 when the returns are placed before the Speaker of the yHouse and there laid Nhn4 ha
 back of that which is fraudulently and
 wrongfuIly done comes within the
 scope and purview of the contest.
 Why, then. should we invite q body organized not as Q court but as po-
 Mtical organization, without any defi-
 mite rules, without any limitations up"
 on their power to act, without any de- markation lines, without anything by
 which the people may know how they are going to proceed or how far they
 will go in this direction or that, or
 what processes they will resort to, or
 how they will conduct their proceed ings-all left to them, to proceed nolens
 volens. and say,s."we do this or that,
 with no provisions of law laying down
 the rules to govern them. while the
 people stand off and walt and this joint
 Convention proceeds to act as A judicial
 tribunal and goes certain lengths into
 
 pose of ascertaining whether there has
 been fraud in the election. If we may
 take the first step. if we may put up-
 on the joint Convention the power or
 the duty or the right ex mero motu to
 Judiciaaly take this first step. why not
 let them so two steps or three steps or
 half way or nlne-tenths and leave only
 one-tenth of the contest to come up and be passed on finally when the
 ivN uka lad In ha ordinary way? l say where Is the rule or reason for putting these men a short distance into the judicial aspect of the case and not allow them to go any farther? ~'
 Well, let us see. The gentlemen speaking for the report of. the Commit tee and against the substitute offered by the gentleman from Sumter, have given some reasons. They say that if forgery has been committed by the Judge of Probate. or the result as de- clared Is sent in falsely, this at least should be corrected. I suppose they expect to cover in that suggestion, both mistakes and forgeries; that 1t would be only fair te permit the Joint Convention, to unravel at least that far, which could easily be done. in or der that az near the truth may be as- certained in declaring the result as is possible. g..
 But let us see If when we view the case on all sides. we do not see rising up before us greater evils than those that exist as the matter stands today. We have in favor of the Constitution as 1t now stands, the fact that it has never worked evil. We have the prob ability that it will not work evil. We have the fact of its proven wisdom; that 1t has been tried; 1t is a tried friend and tried fundamental law something that the people know now to contide in. to cling to. and lean upon; something that the people of Alabama will have confidence in, hay ing lived under it for a quarter of a century. and when it Is sent back to them for their ratification they will readily ratity 1t.
 We have as against that. the pos sibility that some ministerial officer from the counties will, either through mistake or through fraud, send up from the county to the State, false return What more have we against that. We have the fact that these returns come in h.st at the time when mems minds are excited; when their judgment is perhaps off it's guard for the time be- ing. and place IS given to their pas sions, to their political aspirations, and | to their ambitions. We have a body | with no defined limits, with no lines | within which 1t must act, with power i to 20 down to the counties. They can | go 10 the rural districts. where officers l in charge of elections. as we know, | as a matter of fact, are not very well | t-ajoad In law and not very caplble |