The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-11
SENATOR ROOT IS AGITATED OVER
 POPULAR VOTE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE D

CONTINUED FROM PAGE D -~---~-~-----~---~---~---- ---------~---~~---~-~~ Percys declaration to the effect that the south could not afford to pay for popular elections the price of federal control MT. Root closed by saying:
 ..I say with much earnestness to the senator from Mississippi and his repub- lican allies that the time has not come when the people of this nation are enter ing the marketplace to buy the right to preserve and protect the national power under the constitution
 Beveridge Replies
 Senator Beveridge replied in detail to Mir Roots arguments. No advance, the Indiana senator said, had ever been un- aertaken that was not opposed by those who saw great danger in the change pro- posed.
 Much of this opposition came, he con- rued. from men of sound type or r1ind but he believed 1t due to fear.
 Taking up MT. Roots contention that the framers of the constitution had made ar effort to guarantee against changes, Mir Beveridge traced the apprehension on tLis point to observation of the history of democracies up to the time of the con- stitutional convention. Previous to that period there had been no republic of ex- tensive area or of large population. The result of those conditions had been that the popular will could be easily inf1u- enced by popular oratory.
 But such fluctuations as had been ex- rorienced in the ancient republics would be impossible in nation of almost 10o.- GO 600 people and of such broad expanse as this, he said. He also declared the French republic to be an example of sta bility.
 Stability" he asserted, Ifs to be found oily in the intelligence and patriotism of the people. If the people are capable Of electing members of the legislature they are capable of electing senators" Prototype of Constitution Referring to the fact that the Senate had been fashioned somewhat upon the English house of lords, Mir Beveridge said that that great prototype is gradually losing it's power. All of the great Eng fish reformers had originally come Into power through the vote of the people, and the laws of the United Kingdom had long rested upon the wisdom, the cour- age and the patriotism of the house of commons.
 l Replying to one of Mir Roots argu- | r1ents. MT. Beveridge said the principal | reasons why the people stay away from l the polls is because they feel they have 1 so little to do with the making of laws l and the election of senators by the state | legislatures. The wire pulling had dis gusted them and it would go on until the 1 popular demand should become irresist- | ible.
 | This Is not a wild fancy. but another ep in the onward march, he said. Tt is a historic movement-no pendu- lun swinging after; there is no swinging 1 ha ack.'
 Bacon Takes Up Question
 When MT. Root concluded his speech | about 6 o'clock he left the chamber. MT. Racon inirledately expressed desire fo. specifications regarding the things which | the New York senator had said .ha- pens" in the south, which ought to call | for federal intervention, but the demapj | did not reach MT. Root until after Sena- 1 tor Beveridge had made formal reply to l the New York senator's speech and the Senate was prepared to adjourn. 1 Just before o'clock MT. Bacon revived the southern question. Repeating tine re- marks of the New Yorker, MT. Bacon ad- dressed himself directly to MT. Root, and asked: What are the things to which ! the senator refers?'
 | MT Roots response was in no wise 1 eva sive or indirect. Recalling tho sup- | stance of his previous remarks he said he lad reference to the voluntary sur. I render by the government of the power td H enforce the protection of the suffrage | |iyprivilges of the southern negroes. Fac- N ing Senator Bacon. and speaking witf H great deliberation, MT. Root enumerated II the peonage system, the lynching of ne | eroes and the disfranchising provisions l such as the grandfather clauses in thu Il constitutions of some of the southerr
 states, as some of the things calculated to deprive the black man of that equa
 protection which the constitution guaran tees.
 Enforcing Amendments
 "The people of the United States ar'