The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-12
BALLOT BILL
WAS UP AGAIN
FINAL ACTION POSTPONED.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
REPORTING PROGRESS.

Heated from Time to Time.
! Halves of Ebert Said the Whole
scheme Was n FRAUD Upon Its
Face-Proceedings in House and
senate.
| Atlanta, July 1.-THE Australian
ballot was again taken up in the Com
mittee of the Whole of the House to-
day and sections 8. 9, 10, II. Il, and
! 10 passed after a few attempts were
made to introduce amendments. Only
| a few unimportant changes were made
in the sections as amended.
There was a lively tilt between Mr..
Tigner of Muscogee and Mr.. Halves
of Ebert, and the dispute waxed so
warm that the chairman had to rap
for order several times. Mr.. Halves
declared that the attempt to reform the
ballot system was a fraud upon the
face of it.
Before the election bill was taken
up, however, the House had a very
lively hour, when the committee on
Rules presented a report making
number of bills special order. These
bills were to exempt church property
from taxation; to increase the Cover
nor's salary: to rotate the Superior
Court judges; to increase salaries of
Superior and Supreme Court judges;
to establish d Court of Appeals; to
define the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court; to call constitutional conven-
ton, and to allow counties to CONSOLE
date certain offices.
al oF
| the session from 10 to 9 o'clock in the
| morning.
Fielder Against Them.
No sooner had the report been read
| than Mr.. Fielder of Bibb made a strong
argument against the recommended
tiOns He said that there were sew
| eral important bills that were intro
duced in the House two years ago.
"All the hills recommended by the
| committee as special ORDER said
Mr.. Fielder. ARE for constitutional
amendment, and l can see no reason
| why they should be given preference
| over all other bills
| Mr.. Morris of Cobb replied to Mr..
| Fielder, stating that the bills reported
| by the Committee on Rules should be
| given precedence, as they called for
constitutional amendments and. there
fore, required a two-thirds vote.
After q lively debate Mr. Knight of
| Berrien offered a substitute for the re-
port making the order of business the
regular calendar, except the general
! appropriation bill, and the general tax
| act, when the election bill was dis
posed of. The substitute was adopted.
The part of the committees recon-
mendation to change the meeting hour
| to o'clock was adopted.
Action on the Sections.
| When the Australian ballcA bill was
| taken up, Chairman Slaton announced
! that when the committee last sat it
had under consideration a motion to
reconsider the amendment to section s
offered by MIR. Fielder of Bib, which
was to add at the end of the section a
| clause requiring all voters to vote in
| the district or ward in which they were
| registered.
After warm debate the motion to
reconsider the Fielder amendment was
! put and lost. Section as amended was
| passed. Section g. which provides for
the appointment of managers and clerks,
was read. Under the section three man
| ayers and three clerks were required
| and only freeholders were eligible as
! managers. Several amendments were
voted down. The section was adopted
| as it stood.
Section 10, which provides for ballot
]
debate.
Section II, which designates how an
J elector shall cast his ballot, was read
and adopted. One requirement of this
! section is that when a ballot is voted
it must have written on the back of
it the initials of the manager who
! furnishes it. This prevents a ballot
which may have been obtained by
fraud and fixed on the outside from
| being used.
Managers to Aid Illiterates.
Section II, providing that an elector
shall not remain in a booth longer than
! three minutes if all the booths are oc-
| cupied, and that no ballot shall be
carried away by voter, was read and
adopted.
Section 10, which provides that if a
! ballot is spoiled or defaced another
may be furnished him by the mama
gers, was read and adopted.
| Section IA was read. 1t states that
! if an elector is unable to read his bal
lots he can get one of the managers or
more to aid him in preparing his bal
lot, and that those who aid him can go
to booth with him.
MIR. Tigner of Muscogee offered an
amendment to strike the whole of the
section and substitute another requir-
| ing all three managers to assist the
voter who could not read, and that
such work shall not be done in booth,
! but outside.
! Mr.. Fielder of Bib offered an amend
ment to strike out one manager or
| more and substitute managers" with
the proviso that the managers shall
not make any suggestion as to how
| the voter shall strike the ballot.
Fraud on the Face of 1t.
Mr.. Tigner of Muscogee spoke for
his amendment. He said that a man
ager in a booth with an illiterate vot-
er could fix matters just as he wanted.
Mr.. Halves of Ebert. who is oppos-
ed to the whole election bill, asked
Mr.. Tigner if the bill was adopted
how could the white people in coun-
ties. where the negroes were in the
majority have a fair count and keep
the negro candidates from winning.
Mr.. Tigner replied very warmly that
the negroes could be kept where they
were put just after the war and that
there was no more danger to the white
supremacy in Georgia. Mr.. Halves
arose quickly and exclaimed, Then
you don't want a fair election, and l
say the whole attempt to have ballot
reform is a fraud on the face of it"
Mr.. Tigner was about to reply when
some one arose and moved that the
Committee of the Whole report pro-
gress and ask leave TO sit again. The
motion was carried and the House ad-
journed.