The age-herald., 1899-01-26
Jefferson County Included in Its
 Provisions. THE VOTE WAS 22 10 2 President Cunningham of Jefer- son Its Leading Champion. YIELDED TO THE SILENT MAJORITY Of Women and Children Who Were
 Crying For Relief.
ee COUNTIES ARE EXEMPTED
Senators Sowell, of Limestone, and Nun melee, Voted in Negative. Four of Jefferson's Representatives
 in the House Favor the Bill.

Montgomery, January 25.-(Special.)-The Moody dspensary bill, with several amelo- ments, and excluding from it's provisions twenty-two counties, passed the senate thls afternoon by vote of 22 to g. Senator So- we'll of Limestone, and Senator Nunnellee, of Dallas, were the only members voting against it.
 Jefferson county is included in the meas ure, and President of the Senate Cunning ham, of Jefferson, made the leading speech as it's champion.
 The counties excluded from the bill are: Dallas, Walker, Lamar, Fayette, Cullman, Madison, Montgomery, Blount, Lawrence, Morgan, Mobile Limestone, Pickens, Talla- poosa, Coosa, Talladega, Barbour, Lee, Shelby, Lauderdale, Butler and Winston.
 The dispensary bill has created more in- terest than any bill yet presented, and has been the leading feature of the legislature, of course, excepting the bill calling for a constitutional convention. Its advent into the house will precipitate a battle royal in that end of the capital. Four of the six members from Jefferson in the lower branch are outspoken in favor of the bill, Representatives Mcqueen and Burk-
 
 Many Preachers There
 Every religious denomination was repre- scented in the galleries above the senate chamber at l o'clock when the bill was taken up. Senator Moody, as the author of the bill, first took the floor in it's behalf When he finished speaking the senate ad- journed until o'clock When this hour arrived the gallaries and lobby were packed with surging mass of humanity, studded here and there by the form of a minister in the conventional long black coat.
 President Cunningham immediately called Senator Matthews to the chair and began his speech. He said:
 "Mr. President I had not intended to make any remarks upon this bill Recent developments, however, have led me to study the subject with serious considera- tion Two years ago I moved to strike out my county, and then voted for the bill as local measure. This I did on this bill, intending to do likewise; but hold in my hand two massive petitions. One comes rom the people who favor it, led by the Pastors' union The other comes from the people who oppose 1t, mainly led by the liquor interest. I have not examined them in detail. am not altogether certain which has a majority; but, in addition to both have large petition from the women and children, and in this instance I propose that this silent power shall decide me in what to do. The regulation of the liquor traffic Is conceded and established In this regu- lation the national, state, county and city governments participate. Its manufacture and sale are licensed by all of these. In ad- dition, there are restrictions to its sale on Sunday, to minors, to persons of known in temperate habits, etc. Finally, in some places, its manufacture and sale are prohib- ited We thus find that the regulation of the traffic extends from its slightest re- striction to its extinction.
 Moral and Economic
 'There are two points to be considered In the regulation of the liquor traffic First, its moral, and second, Its economic aspects No one can deny that the incorporate use of liquor is one of the greatest evils of the age. The purpose of legislation should be to restrict this evil to the greatest possible extent. The methods usually adopted have been high license and local prohibition. The one creates monopoly; the other, blind tigers. The purpose of this bill is to limit the evils of intemperance by diminishing the opportun4,ies to obtain liquor, and mod fly the circumstances and environments and associations under which 1t is bought and consumed. If rigidly enforced, it will re- ducc the moral danger to the community at least ninety per cent. (f1ere he discussed in detail the provisions of the bill bearing upon this aspect of the subjecO.
 ''The economic aspects of the measure, while second in importance to its moral features, are, nevertheless, of great impor- tance. It may be truly said that the state, the same as individuals, often sacrifices the interest of morality to that of finance. This if true, is not as it should be. The state has no right to make money at the sacrifice of the manhood, the womanhood and the virtue of its people.
 "The state, county and municipal gov ernment all derive revenue from the liquor traffic. If this bill becomes a law, the state will derive less revenue; the municipalities and the counties more. This is a more equi- table distribution of the revenue derived from the liquor traffic than the present system. Under our existing system. forty five counties enjoy the revenue, thus ben- citing the prohibition counties by taxation of forty-five whiskey counties. Let us take. for example, the city of Birmingham, with eighty saloons The license for the eighty saloons, state, county and municipal. Is about s1.OOo zach. making sso.ooo. Eighty