The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-19
OILY REFORM.

coached along that line. go around the State. parading his love for the common masses of the common people" No Gov ernor ever loved the poor as much as he, If we take their statements He set out early to be the tribune of the people" and the friend of the poor. but fierce and relentless in dealing with the wicked and the strong. But all the while, under the cover of this loud acclaim of great and surpassing love for the people, offices were to be created, whose occupants should revolve as satellites around the political throne of the Governor. It would not do to approach this object too direct ly in the first instance. So the first batch Of nine new offceholders was matched out by Johnston's inspiration on the pretense that Alabama was used as dumping ground for dangerous oils rejected under the inspection of Tennessee and Georgia" :" great chatter was made by those who were to be appointed, about the necessity for this inspection. Then the people be- gan to remonstrate. They had long ago | seen the uselessness of the inspection of | oils and had abandoned it. A plain clause in the Constitution was by the newspa- pers of the State repeatedly pressed on | the attention of the Governor and Legis- lature. which conclusively forbade the creation of State inspectors for that pur- l pose. Under the Constitution local au- thorities could appointAocal inspectrs; but if that was done the fees would have to be divided among too many, and the Johnston administration could not put its favorites in office. The Constitution must go and State inspectors must be had at all hazards Why should little defect in the Constitution prevent great reform, which vas intended to save the poor people of Alabama from the danger of bad oils?
 To keep up the pretense of a great re- gard for the welfare of the people, the bill as first introduced fixed the test of safety for oils so high as to keep out re- | jected oils from Tennessee, Georgia and neighboring States. The large oil com- panies did not take kindly to the measure
 
 form went into partnership with the oil | companies to get a bill which suited the necessities of each side These companies were persuaded to support the bill by a slight change which made the test of safety so much lower in Alabama, than elsewhere, that all the rejected oils in other States would be safe under the Alabama standard of safety. Large deal CTS in oil were not troubled by competi- | tion, except from some pestiferous per- Sons and companies who sold oil by the barrel, but not by the tank. The large companies were further induced to aid in the reform and to save the people from the danger of bad oil by fixing the in spection fee for oil in tanks at one-half the amount required to be paid per gal lon when the oil was in barrels. This helped the larger companies to crowd out the smaller ones. It enabled the larger companies who sold by the tank to sell cheaper than the smaller companies who sold by the barrel; and this advantage was given by the Alabama law When the philanthropic plan had been thus agreed upon, the bill was amended &C., cordingly and it went through like a flash. The large companies at once took advantage of the situation, and increased the price sometimes beyond the amount of the inspection fee. Every housekeep- CT who used lamps, was made to pay about 1 cent more per gallon for oil, and at the same time received no protection, as the Alabama test was far below that of other States. Nine inspectors, one for each Congressional District, were ap- pointed. and some $45OOO or $50,0OO were taken out of the peoples pockets and put tors. Not a cent went to the State. The burden did not fall upon the people of the towns who used gas and electricity. but upon the people in the country" whose special friend the Governor claims to be- Vigorous efforts were made to de- feat this scheme. and the public press warned the Governor and Legislature of its evil features, but the Governor un- hesitatingly approved the bill. It suited his philanthropic purposes. Fortunately. test case was made and it was carried before the Supreme Court of the State It decided that the law was unconstitu- tional. And this is the administration which so unceasingly boasts of it's efforts at reform and it's efforts to tighten the burdens of the masses,