The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-03

l the greatest neeQS or the HouI anu one that should be immediately considered by the present session of the legislature is a compulsory school law.
 An alleged case of peonage has cropped out in Houston county, the youngest in the state. If t..is condition of affairs con tinues we may expect to see revival of the agitation of few months ago.
 The report of the Montgomery fire de- partment for the month of August shows that losses for the month amounted to only s4oO This Is not large sum when the size of the town is considered. In the recent state encampments of the Alabama National Guard the Second in- fantry led the expense account with an expenditure of s2,S1112. The First in- fantry came next with an expenditure of s2, 651.6S
 The Huntsville Democrat says: "There is more in Judge Grays presiding over the | arbitration board in Birmingham than a mere settling of differences between the miners and operators. It means the sup port of every workingman in the United States should he be nominated for Pres ident"
 company has been organized at Gads- den which will, it is reported, erect a forty-room hotel at Lay Springs and con- vert the place into a summer resort, A number of cottages have already been erected. The springs are on Lookout mountain. The water is considered to pos sess fine medicinal and mineral proper ties.
 At the suggestion of the saloon men themselves some /vigorous restrictions have been placed on saloons by the Talla- dega city council Bars will be required to close promptly at 9 o'clock and all Instructions will have to be removed. No games, pool tables, or similar fixtures will be permitted. The liquor dealers hope by this means to stem the tide in favor of a dispensary.
 Hon. Thomas M. Owen, director of the state department of archives and history,
  having a portrait painted of Dr. Basil Manley, Sr., who was president of the University of Alabama for eighteen years and was one of the south's greatest edu- cators. The department already possesses quite number of paintings of distin- gmshed Alabamiansand any addition to the number is gladly received.
 
 The whtecappers of Barbour county have become so daring in their operations that the state of affairs is said to have become alarming. Armed bodies of men are making numbers of the negroes leave their homes by force, and farmers of the county are beginning to suffer for labor CTS Federal authorities have begun an in vestigation and expect to stamp out the present lawlessness in short order.
 All eyes in Alabama are turned toward the legislature now in session at Mont gomery. On account of the vast amount of local legislation that will have to be finished every town is interested in the proceedings to marked degree. The capital Is crowded with lawmakers, visi- tors and members of the third house. Whether the present session will be long enough to complete all the work before the body remains to be seen, but both branches have started off as if determined to do everything possible in order to fin- ish on time.
 The Trustees of the Alabama Bryce h. sane hospital at Tuscaloosa are consid- ering a petition of the Tuscaloosa city council and board of trade for right of way through the hospital grounds for the Tuscaloosa Belt railway, which is now extending It's lines to the new furnace town of Holton on the upper Warrior. Holton is distant about seven miles from Tuscaloosa and the proposed line will give the most direct communication in addition to furnishing a scenic route up the bank of the river.