The age-herald., 1900-11-28
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

noyed by young people and wilt quarrel with them"
 "A child born on this day will be quick in anger and stubborn in mind; in business il will be successful"
 Astrologer Raphaers prophecies for Thursday, November 29 1900:
 Be very cautious and quarrel not"
 Beware of law and quarreling, and giv- ing offense to thy superiors; those in em ploy should be particularly careful; thy business will require much attention"
 "The young will court"
 "A child born on this day will be very headstrong and difficult to manage; Tn business it will not be fortunate; it will be too fond of pleasure"
 Give thanks to Almighty God for the blessings thou hast received Much mercy hath He shown unto thee.
 "A meeting of far wider interest than the particular line of business which it will represent will be the assembling of the legislative committee of the Alabama Press Association at Montgomery tomorrow, Wednesday," said an old newspaper work CT. Precisely what the committee has in view I have no means of knowing, but It
 
 them to the Legislature as rightful, lawful imperative demands-not beg for them as favors or courteses which may be grudg ingly granted.
 Tt would be positively Imaginable but for its element of pathos, this persistent re- fusal of the newspaper press to take care of it's own interests, to stand together as one force and demand it's common rights Instead of observing a community of inter- ests and striving for their maintenance, Alabama newspapers whine and snarl and blackguard one another, while the Ala bama Legislature biennially cuts away the privileges of all of them and deprives them of sources of income Some of our Alabama newspapers display towards each other the meanest spirit of selffshness, envy, jeal- ousy and general islander and suspicion. They resolutely refuse to give one another credit for any worthy or creditable thing, or any evidence of ability to secure news or business. They refer to one another as the evening paper the morning paper our local contemporary, the sheet across the way exchange and so on, not hay ing the common fairness or self-respect to print the name of the newspaper referred
  This spirit of meanness is sometimes dis played so bitterly that it might islander even the dead; and it is mournful that amongst the oldest newspapers of Ala bama are found the worst offenders, jour nals of such small spirit that they grow bitter if they see in vile contemporary a dollar advertisement or a common every day Alabama murder case which they themselves failed to get
 "Meanwhle and for twenty-five years, the Legislature and county officers and others have gone steadily forward in cut ting down the income of newspapers of Alabama. This State became finally Demo- cratic in politics in 1874, and then was be- gun the real legal warfare against news papers. Governor Houston and his follow CTS in the State government, forced to a rigid economy in public expenditures, be- cause of poverty of the people and paucity of the public revenues very quickly be- came penurious. The illustrious Governor set the example in his private life in the matter of cab fare Although a rich man, he was said to have had a twenty-five cent cab contract for himself in Montgomery, though the customary fare was fifty cents. Not more than three gastlights were all lowed in the capitol and perhaps no iced drinking water Economy by wholesale was provided for in the constitution adopt ed in 1875 and still unhappily in force One of the greatest economies was the aboli- ton of the lieutenant governorship and the resultant saving of the vast sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. The preservation of that ancient and his- toric office would have been worth to the people during the past three weeks of anx- iety more than it would have cost in hundred years. Next Wednesday, Decem- Der 5, 1900 will be the twenty-fifth anni- versary of the date on which the present constitution went into full effect. Who will be the Governor of Alabama next Wednesday? Can you name the man? These are questions of vital importance to nearly two millions of people; and for and in consideration of the absurd sum of $S75 800 saved from the lieutenant governors sal ary during quarter of a century, no man is able to answer either question, and in consideration of that saving the state of the public mind is unwholesome and fruit full of all manner of possible mischief.
 For five and twenty years the economy immortality has been played for all 1t could be played for in the dishonest game of demagogy, and the newspaper business has suffered more than any other business whatever. Perhaps it is the only business which has directly suffered; and all the wrongs imposed upon newspapers have re- suited from the fact that the newspapers would not protect themselves. Through their efforts one hundred Representatives and sixteen or seventeen Senators are elected every alternate year, and those men have assembled regularly, and with equal regularity have they cut down the news papers means of support by 'economiz- ing ir legal advertisements and otherwise. The prices of such advertisements as have been required to be printed in newspapers have been made profitless, and trees and dead walls have been made to take the places of newspapers. Yet the newspapers have gone on praising our able and inde-