The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-20

mortgages to be taxed as other personal property. Tn my judgment, the provision is wise and will far outweigh the rev enue acquired under the former law Properly administered. there is no escape from this tax in the filing of large cor porate mortgages, which have hereto fore, in many instances, avoided the law. as being nontaxable. It is not clear that this law will admit of gey successful It. isation by foreign trustees or mortgages.
 Corporation Acts.
 'The amendatory corporation act af- lords very essential relief. The Consti- tution of 1901, forbidding private legisla- ton. left a corporation chartered by tine General Assembly prior to 1867. without any possible opportunity to alter or amend it's charter. The limitations of Section l23S of the Code were evidently accidental; and happily. this difficulty has been removed by an amendment
 "The volume of the coufftrys business is now accomplished through corporate organizations. Indeed. the magnitude of the business could not other wise be maintained. The co-opera- ton of men and industries consti- tutes the power in the development Of the resources of the country and the inter ests of the business public. Under the Code, the merger of incorporated bodies pending the meeting of the joint share holders left the constituent companies in an unanchored condition, with no rem edy save an unsatisfactory and douotIui contract covering the interregnum. The act of March 20, 1908. endeavors to sup ply the needs of this case, but 1t unfor- tunately excludes all corporations having the right of eminent domain. As manu- featuring corporations possess the right of eminent domain, they are excluded. Very manifestly. this Is an oversight in the Legislature, which should be correct ed.
 'The amendments relative to the re- newal and extension of the charter of corporations is timely. providing clear and simple procedure. The organization of corporations remains unnecessarily complex. We should have general in corporation law, constructed upon lines easily comprehended and free from difi- culty in execution.
 Text-Book Commission.
 ''The Act to create a Text Book Com mission, and to provide a uniform series of text books in the public free schools, is of much consequence. The advisability of such measures has occasioned much debate and some litigation has ensued In other States. It is wise to leave to those engaged in educational pursuits the pow CT to determine the best sources of edu- cation and the administration of school affairs, although we may not quite agree as to detail matter. The requirement as to branches of study. concludes with the proviso, that none of said text books shall contain anything of a partisan or sectarian character This exception is dangerous in the extreme, as limitation upon the power, as we'll as the judgment of the Commission. A few words could not have been better coined for the ere ation of litigation. We may hope. how ever, that the sting of the hornet will not be found In it.
 ''We have now an elective Railroad Commission. mere mention of this bill may suffice. as its provisions are familiar to every one. Having tried an appointive Commission. an elective Commission may satisfy us that we do not need any Com mission. If the State were engaged in the banking business, men versed in banking would doubtless be employed. Lawyers would be retained to defend the State 3 affairs in matters of litigation. State employees hurriedly send for a physician to attend the personal injuries of a help less convict Al confiagration at the Cap ital would be announced over the phone to the Fire Departments: Reverse the simile: We see the New York Limited approaching; the engine is the latest i'm proved Baldwin pattern; the train is electric lighted, consisting of twelve yes tibule sleepers. with 800 passengers aboard, and at the throttle of this costly and magnificent equipment We find. not an experienced engineer, but our familiar friend, the hack driver. Does this over draw the picture presented by the act. when the State, in taking sem-control of railroad, its vast interests and difficult problems in finance, labor and commerce, changes the order of things and says; No person owning any stock in any rail- road corporation or any person owning or operating railroad in this State shall be eligible to the office of Railroad Com missioner
 Other Legislation.
 'The act to regulate the employment of minors in factories and manufacturing es- tablishments ordinarily known as the 'Child's Labor Bill after many ineffee- tual efforts on the part of its votaries, has become law. The measure seems entirely satisfactory to the factories, as well as the promoters of this legisla- ton.
 "Osteopathy cannot hereafter flourish in Alabama. The certificate of the Med ical Association cannot be easily obtained by Its practitioners, and 1t may be said that by force of law, it's practice will not hereafter be followed in the State.
 "A general act authorizing any muni- cipallty to refund it's obligations Is time ly. Many of our cities and towns are financially involved. owing to the consti- tutiona limitations upon taxation here tofore existing. Relief may now be at tained through the broad and ample terms of the recent act.
 '"The Exemption Law needs serious at- tention. It is designed to help the needy, The present procedure is difficult and only the skilled lawyer can follow it. The practice should be simplihed, so that the citizen can readily protect his rights under the Statute There Is an evil pre- vailing whereby the creditor through systematic garnishments indirectly de- prives the debtor of his exemption right. The employer. rather than be subjected to repeated darnishments, discharges the defendant-debtor. and in dread of this result the debtor makes the sacrifice of his wages or creates a mortgage. A con test of the claim of exemption Is fnau- gurated. although 1t may be well known that the debtor does not own property of the exemption value, the assigned ground being that the statutory schedule is not full and com plete The plaintiff through the aid of the magistrate. usually meets with success on the issue. and the garnished fund Is condemned The debtors poverty is a barrier to an appeal. This condition has supernduced the vast number of vol- untary petitions in bankruptcy filed on the part of wage-earners.
 subdivision of land, under the pro- visions of Chapter 1O9, Article II of the Code. when acknowledged and recorded, operates as a conveyance Tn fee of any street or alleyway, to be held in trust for the uses and purposes intended as set forth in the plat. If this plated land lies without the territory of q municipal government who s the trustee, and by