Birmingham age-herald., 1895-10-02
A STRING TIED TO IT.
HEARING OF THE BILL IS POSTPONED
There Is No Cinch Either Way-Barney Gibbs Undertakes to Reply to the
 Governor.

Austin, Tex, Oct 1-The hearing
 which the judiciary committee of the two
 houses propose giving today to the oppo-
 nents of the bill was postponed on ac-
 count of the nabili,y or the latter to be
 present. It is probable that all of
 Wednesday may be devoted by the com
 mittee to the hearing of the objections to
 the bill, and it IS hardly, therefore, that
 eitner committee Will report the biii back
 to its respective house before Thursday,
 and possIDly not untll t11day. IL may
 also De amended in com1nlttee In some
 minor particulars without, however, aI-
 fectlng its real purpose, when is to make
 prlze nghting d felony and permit the law
 to go into effect Immediately after it
 shall have received the governors s.gna-
 ture.
 The situation in the legislature may be changed tomorrow or by Thursday by the absentees, who have been sent for, but had the vote been taken today on the administra ton it would have tailed of the two-thirds to make the bill be- come operative. This tatement is based upon the fact that but ninety-four mem bers of the house were in attendance at + roll call today. Of these fifteen have de- clared against the measure and three arc doubtful. It will be seen, therefore, that as the administration must have eighty six votes to pass an emergency bill, they are short today about ten votes.
 In the senate the conditions were more favorable, inasmuch as twenty-four members of that body were present, with every possibility that no more than three of the number would vote in opposition. This would have passed the bill there without a vote to spare.
 When the house adjourned there were thirtyfour absentees, including half dozen members, who have resigned or nd tn n last session. Nearly all the remainder are claimed by the administra ton men as favorable to the emergency bill. If this be true, and their presence can be se- cured, the measure will be passed. There is no question that an over
 whelming majority of both houses Is fa-
 vorable to bill prohibiting prize fight ing and making such sport if necessary a felony. There is, however, little CO., terie who believe that the bill should not
 become law until ninety days after tho adjournment, and these claim to have strength enough to defeat the bill in the house with the emergency clause at- tached. Much will depend upon the ab- sentees and their attitude towards the | measure upon their arrival.
 The indications tonight are that tho battle between the administration forces | will be brief. There are several reasons for this the principal being that the more influential members of both houses | are anxious to return to their homes as speedily as possible. With this end in view an effort will be made to bring the | measure to a vote by Saturday afternoon next.
 Moreover, the state treasury is in no condition to stand an extraordinary drain upon it's resources, and as each days session involves an expenditure of $1200 another argument in favor of an | early adjournment is found. In addition to the daily expenditure the cost to the state for the mileage of the representa-
 tives and senators will aggregate in
 round numbers $12.000 more. The dem- ocratic leaders fear the populists will in the next campaign find effective cam
 paign material in the special session of the legislature because of its expense to the state and this is another reason why it is desired to minimize the time as much as possible.
 Ex-Gov. Barnett Gibbs, the representa-
 tive of the business interests, who, he
 in Anticipation of the light has written
 reply to Governor Culberson's message
 to the legislature today, which is, to say
 the least. vigorous and unique argu- ment Referring to the governors charge that prize fighting is a brutal sport, MT. Gibbs queries: How much of the animal Is to be legislated out of man? If you take it all. of course he be- comes thing not dangerous to man or WouidH put, on the other hand, he is of no account to himself or his countr. What is left is fit only for soap greas, The orientals studied for 1000 years t find some effective mode of eliminating the brute from man and finally decided that the only way was to unsex him. 'If Texas were fifty years without a law against glove contests 1t might have survived a few months more An emer- gency clause will destroy the value of
 many investments made on the strength
 of license law passed by this same leg
 islature Thousands of dollars worth of
 property will be confiscated by the emer- gency clause which belongs to men and
 women who have no sympathy with the fight or club.
 "The message does not refer to any state in the union that called an extra ordinary session of the legislature to stop | glove contest, for which great prepara- tions had been made by innocent follow CTS of the law of the last preceding ses- sion of the legislature. political party which shudders at glove contests and ruthlessy robs one citizen of his vested | rights will not find a precedent for this | remarkable moral and political feat and faith among the Anglo-Saxon people in the most degenerated days"
 r AT THEIR OLD STAND