The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-07-29

the entire unexpired term He should
have the power Of removing any admin
istratiVe official in the employ of the
state and appointing his successor
Under the present constitution the gov
ernor is apart from the lawmaking power
and can recommend to the legislature for
its consideration such measures as he
may deem expedient. Eminent authori-
ties have held that these recommends
tons can take the form of bill. lf the
governor should so elect In revising our
constitution, 1t would be well to define
this power more clearly. to authorize the
governor, If he saw proper. to D. resent
his recommendations in the form Of bills,
and to give these bills precedence in tho
consideration of the legislature IT might
be well to allow the governor tc he rep
resented in the legislatu either in PER
son or by Some Official whom he might
designate, with full power 70 submit ana
discuss the measures presented. Lli with
out the power to vote.
The present provision in the constitu-
tton which allows the governor the power
10 amend any bill submitted FOR his ap
proval should be retained. This amend
meut is In the nature Of a veto, IT is
not found in the constitution Of any othet
state and is one of the novel features 81
the constitution or 1901, the value an
wisdom Of which cannot We denied. II
vests In the governor a most important
and far-reaching power 1t makes the
governor in a sense more directly re
sponsible for every bill enacted by the
legislature. With sufficient time for
scrutiny and investigation. there is no
reason why vicious or bad laws should
be enacted, If their defects can DE cor
rected by the governors amendment. II
bad law is passed, the governor is gen
orally held responsible at the bar Of pub
lie opinion, and hence he should be armed
with this amendment power by the pro-
visions of the constitution and his amend
ment should not be overcome by less than
a two-thirds vote, instead of a majority
of the members-elect as now provided
This increase of the power of the execu-
tive would tend to better legislation and
make him directly responsible to the peo-
pie for the laws enacted during his adj
ministration, AS President Wilson de-
clared, the people look to the governor
ana not to the individual members or
the legislature for leadership. and for
the passage Of such laws as the economic.
political or social condition of the state
may require and judge his administra-
ton by his success or failure in securing
the enactment OF necessary laws.
The constitution charges the governor
with the duty of seeing to it that the
laws are faithfully executed He should
therefore be vested with the power to
appoint such subordinate executive agents
as may be necessary to maintain order
and secure a proper enforcement of the
law. 1t has been suggested that the power
of the governor to enforce the laws of the
state would be very materially Increased
If he was vested with authority to en-
ploy well disciplined and well trained
state constabulary, which could he quick
ly concentrated and which would he in
dependent of merely local opinion Sue
force should be composed Of small
body Of men. subject to the orders Of
the governor, with fun authority to in
vestigate crimes or infra ctinns Of the
law in any part of the state, with power
to make arrests. vested fully with all
the powers that the sheriffs of particu
lar counties might possess This small
body of constahulary would hscome ex-
pert in the detection of crime and the
small expense attached would be more
than compensated by the more vigorous
prosecution of crime and enforcement of
the criminal laws OF the state Such a
body of men. selected on account of their
qualifications would he far more valn-
able than the private detectives upon
whom we are now So often forced to
rely, to aid in ferreting out crime and
bringing the guilty to Justice. My own
experience convinced me that the public
largely overestimate the value of the serv-
ices of private detectives, and I am of
the opinion that officials known as the
state constabulary, or state sheriffs, vest
ed with all the power and authority Of
the law, under the control of the COVER
nor, would be a most effective and valu-
able agency in securing better enforce
ment of our criminal laws.
Lynchings. which are generally the
product of excited local feeling, will
never be stopped by the sheriffs, who
are most generally influenced and
controlled by local public opinion Ii
is true that the power the governor
now has to order the impeachments
of sheriffs who fail properly to pro-
tect prisoners in their custody from
mob violence, if exercised with Wig
ilance and firmness. will tend to bet
ter enforcement of the law, but even
the fear of impeachment will not al
ways prevent sheriffs from yielding
to the influence of the mob.
This body of state constabulary
would largely dispense with the na-
cessity of state militia, which is
generally badly disciplined and slow
to arrive at the point of trouble. The
of dollars expended by the
state annually for its state troops
would be more advantageous spent
for a body of state constabulary, we'll
mounted. we'll trained, experts in the
detection of crime. under orders of the
governor, with all the powers Of il
sheriff to make arrests and to main
tain order and enforce the laws III
any part of the state. Alabama APP
thousands of dollars for the
support and maintenance Of her state
troops, a sum as large. If not larger,
than the dominion of Canada expends
for her mounted consta bulary, when
maintains order and policies a terli-
tory larger in area than the United
States.
The executive department, reorgan- !,
lied on the lines suggested, woul,.
make the governor in truth as well
as in name the chief executive officer
of the state. clothed with sufficient
power to guarantee an efficient and
administration.
SOURCE OF OBJECTIONS
This programme will be criticized
by those who oppose all rsform of
the executive department from the
fear of executive usurpation or tyran-
ny. They would deprive the gov
ernor of the power to do much good
for fear that he might do much harm.
This is the policy which has been
pursued both as to tho executive and
of power and responsibility has re-
suited in lessening the efficiency and
usefulness of both. 1t Is the primary
cause of the weakness of the state
and all the trend of
modern thought on the subject is that
there is but one remedy for that weak
ness, and that remedy is very de-
cided increase of power and, respon-