The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-28
The Measure Was Passed as Reported.
 --s-- Prohibits state and County omcials from Using Influence to Defeat Legislation-Mr. London
 Makes Disclosures.

short but interesting deba<e In the House
 of Representatives yesterday which re-
 suited in the passage of a Dill making 1t an offense punishable by a heavy fine. The bill was apparently not acceptable | to large part of the House and many of l the members were a bit restive at it's pas | sage but the friends of the measure point ed out that 1t contained nothing more l than one of the provisions of the Consti-
 tution. It was carefully explained that | the bill only harmonized the statutes with the Constitution and made practical | and operative a coas1.utional provision. The bill was finally passed, with a few 1 votes registered against it. It declares | that lobbying for or against bill on the part of State or county official in the hope of defeating 1t, the receiving of | any reward, either as an increase in sal- | ary or in other employment or a fee is
 an offense against the law and 1t is to 1 be punishable by fine of not less than l s100 or more than 800. The bill further | declared that any person who informs I upon State or county official who should be convicted of lobbying should receive l half of the fine. This paragraph in the l bill was made tine point of attack by some of the legislators who deprecated that method of administering justice. The measure had been favorably re- | yesterday for third reading and final passage.
 DuBose Found Fault. MT DuBose of Jefferson found fault I with the wording of the biilJ He declared | that the statement In the bill that an offi- cial should be punished both for lobby I ing for a bill and for withholding his in- auence for or against the bill was con- l tradictory. He pointed out that the state ment was ambiguous and did not leave l the meaning of the bill clear. Mir Callahan of Morgan submitted that the bill contained the exact wording of the Constitution. He read the paragraph ! from the Constitution and compared it with the verbiage of the bill.
 | Mir. Maner of Montgomery said frankly | that he did not like the bill. He declar- | cd that 1t robbed a man of his constitu- | tional rights. No man, he said, ought to | be deprived of the right to object to any measure which he deemed iniquitous. He admitted that the bill would be unjust to | State and county officials. Mir. Foster of Tuscaloosa did not agree with Mir. Maner. The bilI he said, for bade a State or county official from iob- bying for fee. He said that he did not see that it any way deprived the officials of their constitutional rights. Mir Bogart of Jackson found a new l objection to the measure. He said that as he understood the bill it proposed to 1 give the informer one-half of the fine. He was he said, opposed to any such l legislation He was opposed, he declared, | to the policy of paying an informer for l his questionable work.
 ''The biIl," declared MT. Callahan, makes no assault upon State and Coun- | ty officials. It seeks only to carry out | the provisions of the Constitution against | lobbying"
 London Makes Disclosures. Mfr. London of Jefferson, read the Con- | stitutional provision under discussion and read the bill to show that they were iden- 1 t!cal. He said that the bill sought only
 to remove the evil of lobbying by offl- l cials.
 | ''Why," he asked, 'twere the terms of all the Sheriffs in Alabama extended two years by the Constitution? It is an open
 secret that lobbying was done for that part of the Constitution and that the | sheriffs were pIacated so that they would | not antagonize the new Constitution in | the election for its adoption" The bill was finally adopted but that there was some opposition to 1t was evil
 denced by a number Of noes" registered
 during the vote.
 The House was in session from 10:S0 a. D.
 the days session for some time to come or rather until the House by Q formal
 vote changes those hours which are fixed
 by a resolution adopted by a unanimous vote The hour for adjournment ar-
 rived yesterday long before the end of
 the days calendar was in sight. Seven
 bills were on the calendar for a third reading and for fnal passage when the
 House adjourned. It is not probable that
 the House win again catch mp with it's
 calendar until tEe end of the session.
 Each day the reports of the Committees
 lengthen the calendar.
 The Byars anti-cigarette bill Is on rne
 calendar of today for final passage. It
 will in all probability be put upon it's passage during today's session, A hard | fight at some legislative stage is expect 1 cd on the bill and 1t may be sprung to- | day or the fight against the measure may | not be made until it reaches the Senate The bill Is a sweeping one. It forbids
 the sale or giving away of cigarettes or cigarette material in Alabama. Routine of House. The House met at l0:3O o'clock. It was called to order by Speaker Tunstail. The call of the roll showed that ninety
 one members were present.
 Prayer was offered by Rev. J. A. Rice
 of the Court Street Methodist Church.
 The House at the conclusion of the pre-
 liminaries of organization. took up the business left unfinished at the close of
 Mondays session. This was the consid-
 eration of House bill 9S with substi- tute) amending Section 54l6. 5447 and 544S of the Code, raising the age of consent from 10 to 1A The bill was passed
 The regular order was then taken up and the roll was called for the introduce ton of bills. The harvest of new bills was rather large. Before the end was
 reached twenty-one had been introduced.
 To Raise Poll Tax Age.
 An important bill introduced by Rep- resentative Gloucester of Chambers seeks to have the poll tax age limit raised from i5 to 50 years. The measure is gen eral, affecting all parts of Alabama alike. It is expected that warm fight will cen ter about the bill before it becomes a law.
 MT. Blackburn of Jefferson. presented bill which provides a punishment for any person who changes his name eN- cept in the manner prescribed by law or turning in his time frofn work and labor done in the name of another. with intent to defraud or to evade the payment of a debt or to conceal Identity.
 The result of the recent meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Girls Industrial School at MOntevallo was seen in the House yesterday in the introduction of four bills affecting the school
 Result of Committee Work.