The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-07

become candidates in the primary thirty days before the primary.
 Mr. Nathan of Colbert objected 70 tnt amendment.
 The sub-committees report was then taken up section by section
 Mir. Harlan of Tallapoosa, proposed an amendment placing the clerk Of the nu. preme Court among the omcefs 70 pe nominated. The amendment provided tnai the voters should express in the primary their choice for clerk of the Supreme Court, as they would for Justices of the court.
 Mr. Thach of Jefferson moved ts table the Amendment. but withdrew his motion at the rAduest of Mir. Whitson to allow a discussion of the amendment MT. whitson earnestly supported tho amendment He declared that if the peo- ple were capable of nominating justices of the Supreme Court. they were compe' | tent to name the clerk, far less impor- tant oficer. He alluded to the influence which candidate for clerk would use In the primary towards selecting justices l friendly to him. The oface Of clerk, 1 he said, was an important one. but 1 one not difficuit to flll. The clerk, he said, did not bear as close relation to 1 the Justices of the court as Q private sec retary to a State official The place was not as hard to fill, he said, as the duties of circuit clerk.
 Mir, Thach opposed the amendment with equal earnestness. He took, he said, higher view of the character of the candidates for Supreme Court justices. q do not know" said Mir. Thach, "oi i single candidate who would be capa- ble of entering into q trade, or compina- l ton with candidate for clerk. Mr. Thacll pointed out that the con stitution expressly gave the justices oi the Supreme Court the right to name I the> clerk of the court. The amendment proposed to take away from the justices the right secured to them by the constf- tuition A
 while the committee may have the right to force the candidates Tor cierk into a primary" he said, T have heard no clanor. no outcry from the people | to take away from the justices their con stitutionai right of naming tnetr clerk. { The amendment was tabled by vote
 Date of Primary. MT. Carter of Clarke, offered an amend ment. changing the date of the primary from the August date fin the sub-com- mittee's report to April Il. MT. Eyster of Morgan, suggested April ls, and Mr. whiteon proposed April p. MT. Carter withdrew his dale, and Anrii IS and April II, were discussed. MT. Moore of Jefferson endorsed the 18th. It would give the candidates, he said. ample time for the development of their campaign. He had no doubt that the county committees would make the dates | for the county primaries conform with the State primary.
 MT. Nathan wanted a later date, en- dorsing the 25th, and saying that there
 seemed to be 8 desire to hurry the pn- mary entirely too rapidly. It was little enough. he said, to allow the candidates until April %, to make their campaign. On a direct vote the committee declin- ed to accept the 25th of April as date for the primary. By a vote of 17 to the 1ith of April was selected, the motion for that date having been renewed by Mr. Stanford.
 Proctor Opposed April. Mir Proctor of Jackson objected to the change of the date of the primary from August 15 to April Il. ii, seThere is not a man in this gathering, said MT. Proctor, who did not 90 before the people in the campaign for the ratih- cation of the new constitution, declaring | that no man would be disfranchised- This nrooosed action by the Committee Will nrevent a great many of the voters from participating in the primary and you know that a Democratic nomination is
 equivalent to an election and the man who cannot participate in the primary is practically disfranchised. You know tna. | there are many men nj Alabama entitled | to registration who cannot secure regis traitor until after July"
 Mir. Proctor said that April was q busy | time for farmers and many of them would not go to the polls. 1t would Dc better for the campaign to end in August, | he said, when they would have more time. The cry fof an early primary, he said. had arisen but lately. and so Tar as he had been able to learn, the cry had come | from the men who were in Ofiice. The people, he said, aid not want an eafly pri- mary.
 'Has not the County Committee of Jackson County ordered a primaryT
 asked George W. Jones.
 "It has," replied Mir. Proctor.
 "what date did it select?' asked MT.
 Jones.
 Jackson's Early Primary.
 'The first Monday in February" respon-. ded Mir. Proctor and a laugh went around the crowded room. MT. Moore of Jefferson favored an early primary. It would be placing too great
 a burden upon the candidates for State offices to have a campaign extended throughout the year, he declared. Mir. Thach of Jefferson, said as a mem
 Der of the subcommittee he had assisted
 in making the report which named the August date The committee had thought 1t well to have the primary after the registration books had been opened. He had however, become convinced that the people were demanding an early primary and he would yield to that demand. The resolution as amended was adopted Adr. Nathan offered an amendment to the section providing that the Justices of the SupremeCourt and the supernumerary
 judge should be nominated in a conven-
 tion. Mir. Nathan supported his amend ment on the floor. He protested against the proposition of having the Supreme Court Judges go out and make canvass before the people
 Mir. Whltson of Talladega spoke for the
 convention idea. He alluded to the great
 expense placed upon candidates in a pri-
 mary. The Methodist Church. the Baptist Church and all religious bodies were &C., | customed, he said, to have conventions | from which they derived benefit and profit.
 Criticises Newspapers. There never has been so for as have
 been able to learn demand from the people for a primary" said MT. Whitson. 'I grant that there has been a demand
 for a primary in the press. Why? In | a primary the press exerts 8 greater in-
 huence than in a convention. Then the
 candidates have to place announ ceuients
 of their candidacy in the papers and the papers get paid for 1t. Very frequently fine candfdatas find if nAcezsasSS tO osint