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asking for accommodations he must have the evidence of his collateral, his credentials, know his piece, or pack a gun, or he don't get any money, and no changes in the laws will ever help him to get it otherwise. It is true that the farmers' paper is slow, awfully slow sometimes. He can find more foolish excuses for not paying when due, such as the bottom fell out of the well, the chimney fell off the roof, or the bull jumped over the moon. In the meantime you have intermittent periods of night sweats through the fear that the bank examiner will slip around and catch you with an overstock of musty papers (a large part of which possibly he has already hinted you had better place in the morgue; in other words, charge off to profit-and-loss account), but by gathering an increased stock of patience, much solicitation, and prayer, you drift along until you strike a bumper crop and in the end you generally get your money. One of the best and most prominent responsible farmers in this section bought an automobile and stood me off two years on a $450 grocery bill, and so it goes. But, take it all in all, the farmer is as good a risk as the merchant, artisan, and other classes, and is entitled to as good a rate as anyone. There is a new day coming for the agriculturist; his sons and daughters are awakening to the call of the efficient and scientific side of his work. The whole system is being made oyer. He will in time have a better appreciation of credits and will make better use of them when he gets them, but it is up to him as an individual to make good and thereby establish a community standard for general lower rates and wider extended credits, and I would further remark that the farming classes should pick the mote out of their own eyes and study the scientific and efficient side of their great calling before they criticize too deeply the business and professions of other classes.

Please excuse this hurried jumble of facts. The question of rural credits is worthy of much serious consideration.

Yours, sincerely,

O

A. L. ROGERS.

1st Session

No. 165

APPOINTMENT OF

HON. HENRY D. CLAYTON AS A SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA

OPINIONS

RELATIVE TO THE SEATING OF

HON. HENRY D. CLAYTON AS A SENATOR
FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA

PRESENTED BY MR. BANKHEAD

AUGUST 18, 1913.—Ordered to be printed

WASHINGTON

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OPINIONS RELATIVE TO THE SEATING OF HON. HENRY D. CLAYTON AS A SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA.

STATE OF ALABAMA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Hon. HENRY D. CLAYTON,

Washington, D. C.

Montgomery, August 14, 1913.

MY DEAR CLAYTON: I inclose you an official copy of the opinion of the attorney general in which he advises me that a vacancy caused by the death of a Senator the power and duty imposed upon me by section 3, article 1, of the Constitution of the United States remains unaffected by the adoption of the seventeenth amendment for the reason that this amendment, by its expressed terms, postpones its operation in the case of a vacancy occurring as this one did until the expiration of the term, which Senator Johnston was holding at the time of the adoption of the seventeenth amendment. This opinion I had requested before making your appointment and failed to give you a copy before you left the city. I fully concur in the conclusion reached by the attorney general.

Yours, very sincerely,

EMMET O'NEAL.

STATE OF ALABAMA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
Montgomery, August 12, 1913.

Hon. EMMET O'NEAL,

Governor, Capitol.

DEAR SIR: Your letter requesting me to advise you as to the course you should pursue in reference to the vacancy in the Senate of the United States of America caused by the death of Hon. Joseph F. Johnston, one of the Senators from this State, received.

In determining this question it is necessary to consider and construe the seventeenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which is as follows:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for the electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate the executive authority of such States shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancy by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as a part of the Constitution.

In connection with section 3 of article 1 of the Constitution which it amends and also in connection with article 5 of the Constitution,

which provides for and authorizes amendments to the Constitution, with the restriction "That no State without its consent shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate."

The primary purpose of the seventeenth amendment of the Constitution was to change the method of electing Senators, and to provide for their election by the people direct instead of by the legislatures of the several States, and also to provide for the filling of vacancies which occur where the Senator has been elected, and to provide for the filling of vacancies which occur where the Senator has been elected, and to provide for the filling of such vacancy by the people in such manner as the law may provide, instead of by the legislature at its next session as was provided by section 3 of article 1. In order to prevent any State from being for any length of time without its proper representation in the Senate, it was provided by section 3 of article 1 that the executive of the State might make a temporary appointment until the next meeting of the legislature, and the seventeenth amendment has provided for a like purpose that the legislature may empower the executive to make an appointment until an election by the people.

It will thus be seen that in both the seventeenth amendment and section 3 of article 1 of the Constitution all proper safeguards were provided to prevent an unnecessary vacancy in the representation of any State in the Senate

The seventeenth amendment further provides:

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as a part of the Constitution.

And in order to determine what effect this provision of the amendment has, we must bear in mind the facts of the particular case now before us, which are that Senator Johnston was elected by the Legislature of Alabama as a Senator of the United States for the term of six years, beginning March 4, 1909, and expiring March 3, 1915, under the provisions of section 3 of article 1 of the Constitution, and that the term for which he was elected has not as yet expired, and will not expire until March 3, 1915, under the provisions of section 3 of article 1 of the Constitution, and that the term for which he was elected has not as yet expired, and will not expire until March 3, 1915. Also, that the seventeenth amendment became effective as a part of the Constitution of the United States by the proclamation of the Secretary of State of the United States on the 31st day of May, 1913; and that the Legislature of Alabama has not been in session since the seventeenth amendment to the Constitution was proposed, and that there has been no opportunity for legislation in this State which would carry into effect the provisions of this amendment, in so far as legislative action by the several States is rendered necessary.

That the provisions of the third section of the amendment were embraced in the amendment, not for a permanent purpose, but for a temporary purpose; that is, to preserve the integrity of the Senate as a constitutional body until such a time as its membership could be elected in accordance with the provisions of the amendment, no reasonable man can doubt. Nor can it be doubted that it was known and recognized at the time the amendment was framed and submitted for ratification that this change would require time within which to become operative.

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