The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-19
The Clerk then read Section IT e

Sec. IT. No person hereafter con. victed of emDezziement of the public money. bribery. perjury or other infa- nous crime, shall be eligible to the legislature, or capable of holding any | ofrice of trust or profit in this State. | Mir. Oates-That Is the same as is in | the present Constitution.
 The Chair here recognized Mr. Watts of Montgomery.
 MT. Watts-I have an amendment to Section IT.
 The Clerk then read the amendment as follows: By adding thereto the following words, no negro shall be per- | mitted to hold office in this State."
 The President-The question is upon the adoption of the amendment offered | by the gentleman from Montgomery. | MT. Watts-That amendment of mine is an important question in this Con- | vention, the constitutional law. I want | to request the permission of this Con- vention for their indulgence for about | & half an hour to discuss 1t. The President-The question is shall the time be extended to the gentleman from Montgomery not to exceed thirty minutes.
 There being no objection. the chair announced that the time asked for was granted.
 Mr. Howze-Doesn't it require a sus- pension of the rules and wouldn't . suspension of the rules require a two- thirds vote?
 MT. Fitts-I rise to a point of order. The chair has already announced that permission has been granted.
 The President-In the opinion of the chair, it would require suspension of the rules.
 MT. Howze-It would certainly re- fauire 8 suspension of the rules in or- der to put u at through. and before 1t be done. it must be ascertained by . two-thirds vote.
 The Presidential seems to the chair that the point is well taken.
 MT. Blackwell-I move a suspension of the rules.
 MT. Lomax-Permit me to call the attention of the chair to the fact that it has been the practice in this Conven- ton since this ten minute rule has been adopted, that when a gentlemans time has expired. motion is made to ex- tend his time. and such motion was adopted without a suspension of the rules It has been repeatedly done, and l suggest that the President is suffi- cient for a ruling of the chair, without | more, especially in view of the late time at which the point of order is made.
 The Presidential all these cases, the point of order was not made. and the chair does not feel authorized to raise points of order. especially wherever it l interrupts privileges of members. think where a point of order is dis tinctly made, it seems to the chair that he is without power to disregard 1t.
 Mr. Duke-I made the point of order that the point of order made by the gentleman from Jefferson comes too late. The chair had already announced its decision on the vote, and the gen. tleman had gone forward to make his lspeech.
 MT. Lomax-The presumption was after the chair had announced It's de- cision, that the rules had been sus- pended in accordance with the law.
 If a motion had been submitted to 1 suspend the rules and the chair had announced the result, although suf- ficient vote had not been had to sus- tain it. it seems it would come too late. No question has been submitted to the the Convention at all about whether the rules will be suspended or not.
 MT. Pettus-I suggest in addition to the point of order the presumption was that the motion was behind any motion to extend the time. The motion was to suspend the rules and extend the time and there was no call for divis- ion of the question.
 | doubt about it.
 MT. Merrill move that the rules be suspended for the purpose of extending the gentleman's time.
 The President-Upon a further con- | sideration, the chair will decide that the point of order made by the gentle man from Jefferson was not in time' in view of the practice that we have indulged in of extending the time With question of suspending the rules of the Con- vention.
 MT. Watts-I regret exceedingly that 1 should have to ask from this Con | vention the extension of time which have requested. But this proposition 1 which have offered to the Convention | was first submitted to our attention by Senator Morgan, as one of constitu- tional nature, and cannot be discussed in the limited time ordinarily given to members. I desire to urge considera- tion by this Convention and the adop- ton of that amendment. We are here to do what we legally can to insure the reign of the white man in Alabama. This amendment is a pronounced step in that direction. It provides that no negro shall hold office in this State. If the Convention will bear with me-wili be kind enough not to interrupt me with questions-I will undertake to show, not only that this proposition IS within the Constitution of the United States, but that as a matter or policy it ought to be adopted. This negro question is a troublesome one. It Is not only hard to solve now, but it has continued to be difficult of solution for many years. For more than cen- tury, the negro has been the subject Of legislation. Whether that legislation has been by the people or by the Con- gress of the United States, by the States of the South or by those of New England. that legislation, at least un- til a few years before the war between the States, has been almost uniformly adverse to the negro race. As early as 1705 Massachusetts was leglslatlnS against the negro. In 1774. Massacnu- setts, and in 1892 Rhode Island, pro- hibited the inter- marriage of the races New Hampshire provided that her mli- itia should consist of free white cltl- zens while Connecticut made 1t penal offense to establish a negro school. When the Declaration of Independence was drafted and those words used i which are so often quoted. "all men are created equal" there was no thoughs of the negro and he was not lnctuoeo in them. When the preamble to tn~ Federal Constitution was written, the negro was not included in we, the people" whose rights were there de- cIared. assert it without the | eoor oF euccessful contradiction.