The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-21

| indefinite length. for any length, in- deed. and were only limited by the cost of constructing an underground passage. It would be possible, and likely as the law stands at present. that by the condemnation of a right of way under the lands of another, to strike through the middle, of q forty acres of land. and dig a tunnel without. reference to the mineral that might be, on the lands they had condemned. It. could be constructed with reference to the coal or other mineral that was de- sired to be reached by the person or corporation offering to condemn, and | it is very likely very probable, that it would leave the forty acres of land cut | in two. where it could not be used by | the owner. and the damages that would | be assessed by a jury in the condemna- | ton proceedings. would be entirely in- | adequate to meet the damages that would naturally follow to the adjacent l land. My amendment does not in any sense prevent condemnation. It mere | ly limits it. While it may be conven- tent for a mining company to condemn l through the center of forty acres of | land it will be seen that 1t will be very easy matter to do 1t along the section or quarter section line until | they strike down the line.
 It could result in no considerable in-
  ! and would result in a great deal of saw l ing to the land owner. It requires | them to go down the line and not | strike through the middle of the land. As to the practical effect of this, the 1 only land that have personal knowl- edge of, that I know would be likely affected by the provisions of this sec- tion in the future. are the lands of the University. In my county. the lands of the University are composed almost | exclusively of detached forties, in l themselves practically worthless, but by reason of their position. they might | te worth a great deal more. This. as say, does not, and will not hinder de- velopment.
 playing three envelopes, and illustrat- | ing the relative position of quarter sec | tions) represents three forties of land | and a mining company owns this and | that, and an individual owns this one 1 and the one corresponding down here; l then I provide that they should have the right to condemn distance of five 1 hundred feet across there, which you could easily ascertain by a simple l mathematical calculation would be 250 l feet from the forty each way, making 1 a distance of five hundred feet in width and five hundred in length, sim | ply describing a square. aslen the l other provision is they may follow down a section line. Therefore. it could work no hardship. It could not prevent the development of any mineral region, and would likely result in great l saving to the owner of forty acres of I land.
 1 can see no valid objection to this. I | think it would be a good provision, and
 I hope the Convention will adopt it
 and that the Committee on Corpora
 tions will not offer objections, but tbat
 they will accept this amendment as | separate section to their article; there
 fore I move that it be adopted.
 Mr. Pillans-I will ask the gentleman l if he really thinks the State of Alaba- | ma can give to any private person the ,' right tc take the lands of another, for ! private use, by any constitutional pro- vision, and if it cannot, what is the Need of limiting the amount of land | that it can take?
 MT. Thompson-I think if the gentle man will refer to Section 1145 of the | Cc\1e-
 Mr. Pillans-I am aware that we have such a provision in our Code, but I 1 think the Supreme Court of the United 1 Statea mas distinctly declared that the takine of private property for private 1 use is violation of the 14th amend ment CA the Constitution, as being a de- pri:at,on of property without due pro- cess of law. This is my recollection ! at the pt esent time, and 1 ask the gen. 1 tleman because he has probably had l the matter under consideration. Mr. LoAg (Walker)-I want to call the atteniAon of the delegates on this l floor to thts amendment. which I think 1 would do a great injustice to the large coal compa nies operating in this State. It does not allow them to go on the land of ano aher. if the coal seams run | in a certain direction. It would force a great many mining companies to go 1 out of business. This is for under ground rights of way and the section should be amenoed So as to allow them l to go along the lines of sections or quarter sections or subdivision lines. | Now, if the author of the section will do thai, I do not see any harm in it.
 The amendment reads as follows:
 No person, firm or corporation engag
 ed in mining shall have the right or
 authority to secure passage or right | of way under lands of another more
 than 800 feet in length, except immedi- | ately along the section or quarter sec
 tion line.
 MT. Thompson-Repea your objec-
 tion What is your suggestion?
 MT. Long-My objecr1on to it is be-
 cause it would not allow any provision to follow the line of a twenty acre tract | of land, and a great deal ot land is | divided by twenty acre lines. and you | have to go to a forty acre line or the quarter section line of a section of land means 160 acres of land. and it is | all divided into 40's and sos. and it
 means that man with 40 acres of land | could block a corporations with 10000
 acres of land. move to lay the sec
 tion upon the table.
 The President-It is moved that the I section be laid upon the table. Mir Thompsou-I want to ask the
 gentleman a question. You state that
 land is divided into sections and quar- l ter sections?
 Mr Long-Yes.
 Mir Thompson-Don't that authorize
 any company to condemn along quar-
 ter section? .. *....
 Mir Long-A quarter section is 160
 acres.
 Mir. Thompson-Tsn't it divided by
 40s?
 Mir. Long-The seam may run 800 feet
 from this line and the whole thing IS a
 legislative matter ,and l move to lay
 it upon the table.
 Upon d vote being taken, the motion
 to table prevailed.
 MT. Sanford (Montgoniery)-I wish
 to offer an amendment.
 The Secretary read the amendment
 as follows: Amend the report of the