The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-05
THE SITUATION
IN MONTGOMERY
BY NED BRACE.


minghamers. Some of them are enjoying
it; others are suffering from it. The dis
pensary bill is the big issue. 1t stands
pre-eminent The bill has been reported
adversely by the committee on revision Of
the laws, and the chances are that by legls-
lative manipulation it will eventually fail.
If the bill should come squarely before
the house, however, it would pass. Yet a
majority of the members oppose any kind
of a dispensary law. These same members
haveno the courage to vote against it. The
preachers and the women and the children
and the Sunday school teachers, and :. lot
of others, compose a class which the aver
age legislator dares not oppose.
Those advocating the dispensary bill made
a great mistake No law is a just law
which forces upon one county radical laws
which do not apply to another. The legis-
lature could just as well enact law re-
curing that certain number of counties
in the state would not be permitted to have
Catholic or any other kind of churches in
them.
1t is said in Montgomery that the SEN
ate passed the bill because four-ffths of
the senators had their counties eliminated
from its provisions The bill would have
been more just had it applied to every
county alike, or had it been prepared In
the form of local option dispensary bill;
that is, allowing each county, by vote
of its people, to have either a dispensary,
prohibition or saloons.
One argument mainly caused the revision
of the laws committee to report the bill
adversely 1t was the argument of Colonel
hot he
was unconstitutional, the Alabama consti-
tuition distinctly provides against the state
or its municipalities becoming trading cor
porations.
Although reported adversely, If the bill
gets squarely before the house, some form
of a dispensary bill may pass. L made
careful poll of the house and found that
of the ninety-one members present fifty-one
would vote for a general dispensary bill,
while forty would oppose it
But the shrewdest manipulators are
against the bill. They will handy it about
amend it and manipulate it until the ses-
sion comes to an end.
Notwithstanding the action of the house
in increasing the appropriations for COM
mon schools by S25O,00O for next year, the
indications are that those of us who favor
liberal appropriations for common schools
will yet be disappointed. The auditor says
the state could not afford this additional
appropria ton. l fear it is a fact that some
of the very men who voted for more money
for schools will refuse to vote for meas
ures calculated to raise the revenue suf-
ficiently to provide this additional fund.
the burden will be thrown upon the COVER
nor of vetoing it on the ground that the
revenues of the state will not be sufficient
to pay it.
The house passed this bill by almost an
unanimous vote 1t is now the duty of
the house as an honorable body either to
reconsider the bill or else provide sufficient
revenue by additional taxation to pay the
amount appropriated.
It's hot fight they are having over the
county commissioners bill The governor
is behind it and is urging it. He won big
victory in the house; yet Burkhalter and
Huey seem to be the only Jefferson MEM
bers advocating it. Davidson, Gibson,
Houston and Mcqueen opposed it, and yet
the vote stood 81 to 81, and 1 hear that
the vote for the bill will be proportionately
large in the senate.
Just why the friends of the county COM
missioners did not offer an amendment to
the bill providing for an election in July,
instead of August a year, Is very strange.
An election five months hence would have
given the present commissioners oppor-
tunity to become candidates Immediately
and submit the matter to the people of
Jefferson county for trial at the ballot
box. Yet this proposition does not appear
to have been made.
OF course there has been lots of kicking
in Jefferson comfy among the friends of the
present commissioners and others about
the proposed new law, but If the governor
appoints a strong board of revenue to hold
until the next election, the protestations
will probably die out in twenty-four hours
understand it to be the purpose of the
governor to disregard politics and friends
and enemies and appoint the five very best
men he find in Jefferson county-men
representing all classes.
There has been lots of gossip in Mont
gomery during the past week about rail-
road commissioners 1t may be a surprise
to many to know that there are ffty-two
candidates for the vacancies on the COM
mission. At least a dozen of these men
seem to think that they have a sure thing
of it, The governor refuses to give the
slightest intimation of what he intends to
do, even to his most intimate friends. The
best impression however, is that John w.
Tomlinson will be one of them, and the
other man will come either from the far
southern part of the state or the Tennessee
valley.
The Greater Birmingham bill will come
up next week. 1t is now before the Jeffer-
son delegation. The present indications
are that no more than one member of the
Jefferson delegation will oppose the bill.
Ihat means that it will go through both
houses in short order
The bill providing new charter for Bir-
mingham will lead to quite a contest.