The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-25

poor mans freedom is all he enjoys in this worlc and this would deprive him of that God-given right.
 After all why may not Alabama fall back on simple poll tax provision or $1.50 from the age of 2l to 45 and this would guarantee our freedom and 1t could be met with by all deserving illit- crate poor white men in Alabama, and we would not be subjects to adverse decisions from the Supreme Court, neither subject to a reduction in rep- resentation, in Congress and the Elec- toral College of the Southern States.
 So, MT. President and gentlemen of the Convention, in conclusion l wish to appeal to you not to allow Section to be written in the Constitution, which provides for education and prop erty qualification for the reason should the grandfather clause be decided by the courts unconstitutional. many of our old soldiers and thousands of white men in Alabama would be disfran- chised, and shall never permit my self to vote for such a proposition, for during the time of the cruel war be- tween the States. and also before the war of 1861, our school system of Ala bama was very limited and our young rnen was deprived of the grand oppor- tunities we now have, ard our young men as well as older me were drug off in the war and never had the op- portunity we have now, and even after the war was over they were too poor to seek for an education as their prop erty was all gone and their wives and children were in a destitute condition, and those who had families of their own. and the young soldiers who had no wives and children, had mothers who were left widows, and sisters no were left orphans, and those who loved their families, their mothers and their sisters had no time to educate themselves, and now for this Conven- lion to go and provide laws that will aeprive those people from their rights $ something more than I can do, for never will disgrace my fathers gray hairs by depriving him of the only free right this Government has granted him lfter he has fought for his country and ais people and for what he thought was right. do hope. gentlemen of the Convention, that you will vote that part of Section down and not allow It to go before the people of Alabama to ask their ratification of such, for It would not only be shame on our fathers. but a disgrace to our State.
 Tn conclusion, I wish to say that shall at the proper time offer an amend ment to Section 10 of the Committees report on Suffrage and Elections.
 MT. Graham (Talladega)-I would like to ask the gentleman a question before he resumes his seat.
 Tn. Presiden!-Will the gentleman yield.
 MT. Freeman-Yes sir.
 MT. Graham-I understood the gen. tleman to say awhile ago that he would not vote for any proposition that would diEfra
 MT. Freeman-I did say so.
 Mir. Graham-I would like to know whether you would vote for any prop osition to disfranchise any class of col ored people?
 Mir. Freeman-I will sir. I am will lins to sacrifice anything on that line. but the white man, and the man of my own color, l shall never agree to sac rifcs.
 Mir. Banks-This Convention cannot afford to do anything unworthy of it. self. inconsistent with it's own dignity md exalted character. There are many great questions that must be settled by wise enactment of law and all these questions st ould be met in a spirit of fairness and in a spirit of utmost candor. There should be no lodging, no evasions, no trickery, ID subterfuges. bat recognizing the value of truth we should apply it's rules and principles without fear and without thought of consequences to ourselves This is not a political or party caucus met together for the purpose of gain ing some party advantage under the spacious plea of moral reform. This is not body of political trlcksters who by the arts of political legerdermain Or the skill of political jugglery would produce measures that the courts would condemn as shams and artifices to evade law, not to conform to It. This Convention ha7 great power, but it is not absolute. There are constitutional barriers to this Constitutional Conven- ticn. We ourselves are under author ity, authority that We must fully and loyalty recognize and obey, if We would expect to command the respect and obedience of those for whom we are enacting law. If a spirit of disloyalty to constituted authority is allowed to md place in the organic law of Ala bama, it's poison will dIffuse itself through this whole instrument and this Constitution will lose it's majestic place as the defender of society against wrong, and will furnish an excuse and plea for l;swlessness. Our ears must be deaf to the clamor of passion and prejudice, to the loud behests of party frailty and to the mean and deceitful plan Of expectancy when we stand face to face with dangers like this. Let us seek to conform to that law that we have sworn to obey-not gingerly. not partially, but freely and fully.
 The conditions from which we are seeking relief are bad and great harm has resulted to Alabama from the evils that have grown up in our midst out of these conditions. There has haer one great safeguard for us, and that is this: Law has never sanctioned inn morality. We could not plead that law itself Justified and approved the viola tion of law
 One Of the great questions before the ConVention-and in the opinion of many the greatest question before us-is tbe regulation of the suffrage of Alabama There are peculiar difficulties in Ala. bama and the other Southern States that confront us in the settlement ot this question. It Is an old ouestiorN one that had its origin in the institu. tlon Of African slavery in the South-that grew in ,n' tensity and bitterness until 1t precipitated the most disas- trous war of modern times, costing tbe government of the United States bll- lions of dollars and almost a river of blood and tears and that cost the South-We have no measure by which we can eatimIte the cost and no de sire to detail the horrors of that sacri- flee. As we began again the struggle for existence in tha most 6Ac0jata aF