The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-01

made the motion.
 The Presidential division of the ques tion is demanded A
 Mr. Cobb--Before making it.
 Mir. BlackweII-I rise to q point Q | order. 4 | The President-A motion to table i not debatable.
 Mir. cobb--I do not desire to appi, the cloture-
 The President-Unfortuna tn gentleman applied 1t to himself. Tn
 Chair will have to follow the rules O
 the Convention. The question is on tL, I motion to table the amendment offered
 by the gentleman from Tallapoosa.
 .Mr. Pillans-I withdraw she sall fe
 a division of the question.
 | Mir. Pettus--I ask for a division. Upon g. vote being taken. Iboti
 amendments were tabled
 Mir. Boone-I desire to offer al amendment which has been recon
 mended by the Committee on Order I Consistency and Harmony of the Con
 stitution to the Article on Corpora | tions.
 The amendment was read as follows
 Amend the Article on Corporations b.
 adding the followiutg immediately afte
 Section 227. page ss, "No city or tow
 having a population of more than si:
 thousand shall have authority to gran
 to any person. firm, corporation or as
 sociation the right to use It's streets
 avenues. alleys or public places for tn works, gas works, telephone or tele
 graph lines, electric light or powe
 plants. steam or other heating plants
 street railroads or any other publs, utility except railroads. other thar
 street railroads, for a longer periot
 than thirty years.'' | Mir. Boone--I do not desire to taks
 up the time of the Convention moro
 than five minutes on that amendment
 which will be found on the first page of the Committees report. The objeci of that amendment is to prell.nt muni. cipal corporations from granting fran chises which are irrevocable for a long CT period than thirty years. The expe- rience of all municipalities where that has been done has exemplified that il Is not to the interests of the people. Now. why should it not be done? Some say that it would keep these public utilities from being put in different cit- ies in Alabama. 1t might as well be said that the establishment of national banks in Alabama would not be done because under the act of Congress reg u'ating national banks. no national bank can be chartered for longer pe- riod than twenty years. Such Is the law in Alabama that we have adopted here in reference to banks. and the ti- tie by prescription to property is twen- " years. Now. let us try and do some thing in the interests of the people.
 Mr. O'Neal-I understand you to say the purpose of the amendment Is to prevent any irrevocable franchises to corporations. Is that the purpose of 1t?
 MT. Boone-By munie' palities for . longer period than thirty years.
 MT. O'Neal-They cannot grant ire vocable franchises now.
 Mir. Boone-If the gentleman excepts to the phrase I will reframe it. and say grant any franchise for a longer pe- riod than thirty years.
 Mir. ONeal-I did not want anything in the Constitution to sanction the granting of irreyocable privileges.
 Mir. Boone-If you will read 1t on the first page. It does not say anything about being irrevocable at all. 1t pro- hibits the grant of franchise for lon ger than thirty years.
 move to expunge that much of my argument. Laughter.)
 SN0Ws dCoiEG bO EE1Q lO IuG COHReu- tion an extract from a paper by MT. Bird S. Coler. Comptroller of the city of New York. addressed to the League of American Municipalities. held at Charleston. s. C.. last December, In which he said:
 Here lies the problem then. On the one hand not to discourage entering capital and on the other hand, to place some limit on its profits. Now. if the city makes a poor bargain, but that bargain has only, say twenty-five years to run. there is no great harm done; for twenty-five years is as nothing in the life of a great city. but if the fran chise be granted In perpetuity, or a very long period. like that of the New York and Harlem Company, which runs until the year 2SS9, no matter how ad- the bargain may seem to- day. it is likely to appear quite ridic- uious one hundred years from now. Short terms for franchises are. theFe- fore. the most important thing. If that principle be strictly adhered to, more than half the fight Is won.'
 Now. gentlemen, in the city which have the honor to represent at the present time there is a corporation which has a franchise good until l942. and an effort is being made to extend that franchise fifty years from that date. 1 say to you that 1t is the unan- lmous opinion of those who have the most intimate knowledge of the princi- pies of the government of the cities of this county, that 1t is not in the inter- est of the people to let 1t be in their power to grant to these corporations charters for period longer than thir- ty years. This proposition has been indorsed by the entire Committee on Order. Consistency and Harmony, after consideration of 1t. and l move its adoption.
 MT. Smith s(Mobile)-The purpose of the length of franchises is not always thoroughly understood. Whatever may be the conditions in the wealthier com munities. where people can construct | their own improvements. the feet is | that in the South at any rate. all im- | are constructed by the sys- seTn of selling mortgage bonds; in oth- | er words the plant itself is mortgaged, and the money with whichNto construct t is raised by sale of those bonds. Of course 1t is advisable and necessary, md to the interest of the people. too. hat those bonds should sell at a fair market value. and the tendency in his age. at any rate is to issue long md not short term bonds. Bonds is- ued for a period of ten years will not ring anything like as much as onds issued for twenty years. the endency being to long investments. l. Now if the franchise is to expire at- I nost immediately after the expiration r maturity of the bonds, then the roperty upon which the bonds are iven as security. does not amount 9 any security at all. For instance.