The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-10
HOUSE SPENT BUSY DAY; < RECOMMITTED HEALTH BILL

the direction of members of the State Medical Association and is said to have the endorsement of the Association. It increases the powers of State and County Health Boards and State and county health officers.
 bill. MT. Lusk of Marshall moved that the bill be recommitted to the Committee on Judiciary.
 Mir. Bankhead of Walker protested against such action, but the bill was re- committed to the Judiciary Committee by vote of ayes 45, nays 40. House bill 275 was the next bill on the calendar. The bill makes it a misde- meanor for any one to retail any poison in Alabama without plainly labelling the bottle and to require the seller to preserve a record of the poison sold and the name of the purchaser. The bill amended Sec
 tion 3254 of the Code, its only addition
 being the requirement of the retailer to
 keep the record.
 The bill was passed without opposition. Pharmacy Bill Postponed. The bill amending Sections 9 and of the Statute regulating the practice of pharmacy and the sale of poisonous drugs was indefinitely postponed upon the mo- ton of Its introducer, MT. Wilkinson of Autauga. He explained that he had be- come convinced that the bill would pre- vent country dealers from selling pare goric and similar preparations. This was not one of the purposes of the bill, and he would ask its indefinite postponement. Three bills amending the health code. which were introduced by the late pr. Joy of Conecuh County. next came up. The bills provided for the better keeping of the vital and mortuary records of the various counties. The bills requires each physician to report within five days of the end of each month to the county health officer all births and deaths with-- in his practice The bills wake his fail- ure to do so punishable by a fine of $5o The third bill placed midwives under the
 same regulations. All the measures were passed.
 The Sale of Cocaine. The oill regulating the sale of cocaine and its salts was passed without opposi. ton. The bill forbids its sale except by
 registered pharmacists, physicians or den- lists. Mir Goodwin of Montgomery endeavor-
 ed to get unanimous consent to call up
 his vagrancy bill, but MT. Kelly of Choc- taw objected. Mir. Haley of Jefferson
 moved that the rules be suspended and | the bill be taken up. The motion was adopted.
 The bill is founded on the Georgia vagrancy law.
 Callahan on Vagrancy. MT. Callahan of Morgan said that the bill was a good one, but there was one subdivision which he considered too | drastic He read the section defining vagrancy, one of the definitions of | vagrants being Persons who are able to work, but who hire out their minor chil-
 dren and live off the proceeds of their
 labor" This provision, MT. Callahan declared, would work a great injustice. A man might wear out his life working 1 for his family, rasing his children until they were able to work. Yet the law would make the man criminal. He ! submitted that the law gave a man the right to the labor if his children. The | bill was an invasion of the Constitutional rights of man. When a man has per- formed the duties of a father he Is en- | titled to the labor of his children. Mir. Goodwin, the author of the bill. | said that the committee was in doubt
 about this particular section: The com | mittee had decided to leave the section
 to the House for decision.
 Simpson and Maner Speak. MT. Simpson of Lauderdale was opposed
 to striking out the subdivision. It was little drastic, but 1t could be remedied by an amendment. There was class of
 men, he felt sure that all the members
 wanted to reach and they could be reach
 ed by the section properly amended. MT. Maner of Montgomery favored the section. It was what commended the
 bill to him. It reached out after that
 class of lazy, idle men who loafed around
 and lived upon the scanty earnings of
 their minor children who were often em- ployed in cotton mills.
 A similar view of the bill was taken by zR hot atth tuf fa- ion reached the worst class of vagrants.
 the able-bodied men who spent in idle
 ness the scanty earrings of their small children.
 MT. Rushton of Crenshaw said that he
 had been told that there were many strong and ablebodied men who put their children in the cotton factories that they
 might lie around barrooms and smoke up
 and drink up the pittances earned by
 their little children. The bill. he said,
 was practically the same as the Georgia
 most satisfactorily.
 The Callahan amendment was laid upon
 the table by a vote of 62 to 16. The Blackburn Amendment.
 MT. Blackburn of Jefferson proposed an
 amendment, declaring that the law should
 not apply to men who might be tempo rarily out of work by reason of a strike
 or lock out.
 The Blackburn amendment was adopted.
 MT. Simpson of Lauderdale offered an amendment to the subdivision which had
 previously been under fire. MT simp- sons amendment declared that all able
 bodied men who lived in idleness, from
 their children's earnings, should be class
 ed as vagrants. The amendment MT.
 Simpson said would reach the class which had been described
 MT. Fletcher of Madison heartily
 seconded the amendment of Mir Simpson.
 In his county. he said, there were some
 large cotton mills where ablebodfed men
 had hired out their wives and children,
 and collected their pay on pay day. So { evil had become this practice that the
 management of the mills had told some
 of these men that they would not employ
 the women and children unless they were
 given the benefit of their earnings. The amendment was adopted and the l bill was passed ayes 64 and nays e The House recessed to meet at 8 o'clock.