The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-11-05
THINGS HERE ABOUT
AND ALL ABOUT
ny NED BRACE.

My friend, Clarence Knowles. who Is
bald-headed ard ugly, but who dresses
well and Is somewhat clever, and pHldes
himself on being a social leader as wsfl
as a rafting insurance man, who plays
good game of poker, and is a very
good all-round fellow, has managed to
break into the Georgia legislature. He is
a member of that distinguished body
now, and is making some what of a repu-
taJ.ioD therein. Yesterday he introduced
resolution calming upon congress ito
enact laws SO as to place quarantine
regulations in the state of Georgia I'm
the hands of the federal gov'-Inmehe; or,
better, in the hands of .he Marine Hes
pital Service. His idea is a good o1e
The federal government should have
charg- of the epidemtcs of yallow fever
and smallpox, and should make the
quarantine regulations
am for states Fights on general prin-
ciples. but there are zome things the
general governments can do more syc-
Dramatically than the states. The states
are Jealous of one another. The cities
are jealous of one another. They some
times quarantine against olse another
purely for the purpose of gei9t.ng trade.
Quarantine regulations IN the hands of
THE general govelnme MT wou break this
up. ALI the states would be treated
alike.
The Knowles bill is right Such III ks
should be passed through the legislatures
of all rlre southern states. Let the gov
ernment itself handle this matter 1t
can do lit better than any of the s>ateo
and there can be no politics in it,
l see the Georgia legislature Is also
discussing a general prohibition meas
ure for the sjtsl1e of Georgia. That re-
minds me that some of our frienos in
Earmln CHAM are quietly getting up a
movement to bring the prohibition move
ment in the mex. city election. That
would make a pretty lively contest in
Birmingham i have no idea prohibition
would carry in Birmingham indeed,
I think it might impede the development
Of the town, but I understand 'lhe pro-
htbitEorda.s here are dett rmned to make
the issue in the next local caimpa gn.
I see they are going to bring up that
old commissary question again and have
another fight over that But l don't
know anything about the commlssary
question, and 1 am glad of It, l pro-
pose to let the people interested fight it
out among themselves. 1 have troubles
of my own and l think 1 had better
keep out of that.
But I do like this gas fight. That is
the thing all the people here are inter-
ested in We all want cheaper gas. We
are entitled to 1t, too, and l think We
are going to get it, There is every rea-
son why we should have cheap gas and
no reason on earth why we should per-
nit the gas company to continue to
charge the present outrageous prices.
As said the other day, don't blame
my good friend Gen. Roden for charg-
ing all he can get. That is human ma
ture. But when he finds out that he
cannot sell gas any longer for more
than a dollar, I judge he will be glad
to get that for it.
That reminds me that there ds
lots of talk of a new gas company. A
wealthy gentleman told me yesterday
that he was figuring with other parties
about a bi-product plant built out near
the Sloss furnaces; that the coal would
be burned into coke from one furnace,
and that the gas from it would be sold
for few cents thousand feet The
company he proposes to organize would
lay mains through the city and supply
gas for heating and lighting purposes
for much less than a dollar a thousand.
He says there Is big money in 1t. The
Howard Harrison company will furnish
mains for about $1S a ton.
Cheap gas is undoubtedly coming. If
the present company don't give 1t, a
new one will, and that inside of year.