The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-10

show that the modern tendency ts limit and narrow the powers of the Legis- lative Department of the government is the result of evolution. the slow, gradual outsrowth of actual experience, by all the States. in tie administra- ton of State Governments. The de- mand in this State for additional and more stringent limitations upon the power and competence of the leglsla- ture has gradually grown from actual knowledge that the remedies heretofore adopted have proved unavailing. There Is no reform in the constitution we are now framing more important than a check upon the evils of local and special legislation. In every public utterance upon the stump. the advocates of a Constitutional Convention pledged the people of Alabama. that next in im- portance to a reform of our suffrage, the purity of the ballot and the re- movai of the causes, which had forced our people to resork to questionable methods to maintain good government, was the pressing need of legislative re- form. The growing evils of special. private or local legislation had long been recognized in Alabama. The framers of the Constitution of 1875 had undertaken to check and as they sup posed had prevented this class of legis- lation. They had provided that the General Assembly should pass no local or special law on a subject which could be provided for by a general law, but the decision of our Supreme Court tbat the question of whether q local or special law could be provided for by a general law was purely the subject of legislative discretion rendered their ef- forts in this direction fruitless. since that time States which have framed new constitutions have sought to ever. come this danger by enumerating specifically certain subjects as to which the legislature was absolutely prohibit ed from passing local. special or private laws. This method was adopted be- cause experience had demons.rated that the usual requirements that -he legislature should pass no local, or private Jews on subjects which could De provided for by a general law, had utterly failed to arrest the flood of local laws, which with ever increasing volume had been pouring from every legislative body. Hence we find that the latest and best considered constitu- lions contain long lists of enuma .a,ed cases as to which the legisla ture is ex. pressly prohibited from passing local. special or private laws. The .uliness and minuteness with which in many constitutions this long and ey,:. :n- creasing catalogue of local or special laws is presented, demonstrates that the nischiefs and evils arising from improvident and corrupt legislation If this class had grown alarming. Tfst these constitutional prohibitions less en or check the evil is shown by the States where this method has been adopted.
 Illinois for instance soon after the adoption cf her constitution. reduced her sesssional statutes to about hree hundred pages, Iowa to about 200 0pages, whereas Wisconsin statutes for 1885 reached two thousand pages there be- ing in that State very little restriction on legislative action. In Alabama there has been a gradual but rapid increase in the number of local or special laws. The size of the volume has been in- crsasing annually until the last local acts were so volumenous they were un- wieldly and could not be incorporated in one volume.
 MT. President, the question may be asked what is the cause of this wide spread opposition to this class of leg islation. Local, special or private bills are condemned because they destroy the harmony of the law, consume the time of the legislature, obscure in the eyes of members of the General Hs- sembly the importance of general laws, furnish opportunity for perpetrating jobs, infiict injustice on individuals or localities in the interest of favored few. It has been truly declared that they are one of the scandals of .ne country. They have been in the past ard will continue to he in the future the prolific sources of corruption. Such bills are most frequently presented and promoted by corporations or individuals proposing to form corporations n cr1er to secure some valuable franchise privilege or other pecuniary advantage which cannot be obtained under general laws. To procure the passage of such laws all the methods of intrigue. lobbying. and log rolling are used and some time lavish expenditures of money. The history of legislative bodies shows that in the great States of the Union the prdnoters and authors of such bills have not hesitated to buy those who could be bought, or win support for their schemes by methods however questionable. The bribery end fragrant corruption which has disgraced the Le- gisla ture of some o{ the States of the Union can all be traced to the effort to secure the passage of local or private bills. comforting some special or valu- able privilege. franchise or pecuniary advantage on the promoters or syndi- cate interested in the proposed legisla- ton. In States like New York 1lli- nois and Pennsylvania. and some of the new Western States. offering promising fields for pecuniary investment, the possibility of making money out of 8 seat in the Legislature, has furnished the opportunity to reap golden har- vests for a certain class who regard money as of more value than character or self-respect. It is to the credit of our institutions that only in few Of the great States of the Union has this open and shameless bribery been at tempted. So far the money power has directed its attacks against the Legis- latures of only a few of our States, and while our State has so far been exempt ed from such scandals and the person. nel of our Legislature has been pure and above reproach, the effect of such legislation has been felt in other ways. It has created a spirit of localism and bers of the Legislature the importance of general laws. A member of the Le- gislature is no longer under the system which these local laws have establish ed, a representative of the State. He is the member from Buzzard's Roost. or Limekiln. and his whole time and talents are directed towards securing the passage of some local legislation which will increase his locM influence