The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-04
NAME OF HOUSTON GIVEN
 TO NEW COUNTY BY THE HOUSE

|
 MT. Mills asked the House not to pass
 the bill. His County, he declared. was
 affected by the bill and he said his peo- | pie did not want to have the County cut. | up. He had, he said, petition from 7s3 | citizens of Geneva County protesting
 against the new County. Geneva Coun- | ty, he said, only asked to be let alone. as
 1t had now started on the road to prog | ress and would continue to go forward.
 eMr. Espy of Henry. explained succinct- l ly and forcibly the reasons for the new | County. He made clear exposition or | the new County question in a ten minutes | speech. He explained that Henry. Dale | and Geneva were all territorially long i counties. In each of the counties he | said the people, many of them. had to | travel from thirty to forty miles to the | court house. In each of these counties | he said the question of branch court | houses had been an issue in contests for .. the Legislature from the earliest days or I Southeast Alabama down to the present | time. These internal dissensions. he said. | on account of branch court houses, would | be put to rest for once and all 1T the
 new County was created. He explained
 that most of the territory would be talk | en from Henry with a strip from Dale l and a six miles strip from Geneva
 
 The territory of the new County. he de- clared would be approximately 5B square miles and he declared that there would l not be more than ten square miles differ
 ence between the territory of the small
 est and the largest of the four counties. He quoted census reports to show that l each of the counties would fulfil all con-
 stitutional requirements as to population. Mr. Mills offered an amendment ex- cluding any part of Geneva from the new County, but the amendment was
 overwhelmingly voted down.
 The bill was then passed by vote Of
 s5 to 1. MT. Mills protested unavailingly | to the last.
 In the Senate some opposition is ex- | pected as Senator Acree of Dale has de- | clared war to the knife on the bill. | The session was begun at 10:30 o'clock with prayer by Rev. J. P. Morgan at | 0:30 o'clock.
 l The call of the roll showed that ninety members were present.
 Fees of Probate Judges. The consideration of the House bill 129 allowing compensation to Probate Judges | for clerical work in making out the reg | istration lists under Section 1S Of the Constitution, came up as unfinished bus mess. The speaker announced that the
  Representative Simpson of Lauderdale. fixing the compensation at 1 cent for each name on the list was the question. This amendment was on motion of MT. | Hoffman, tabled without debate. The amendment by the committee fixing | the compensation at 1-2 cents name
 was adopted by a vote of S2 to Z. The | bill was then read third time ana was | passed as amended.
 1 Speaker Tunstall announced that he had received from the Alabama Railroad | Commission the response to House Reso- | lution No B. introduced by MT. Lusk of | Marshall. The resolution requested that the Commission furnish the House with
 all information 1t had concerning the
 management of railroad lines in Ala bama and the contracts made by the
 railroads with sleeping car and express 1 companies The second section of the resolution sought to secure information concerning the issuance of free passes in | Alabama.
 Railroad Commission Answers. The Commissions answer to the reso- | lution, which was submitted to the House | by President John V. Smith. stated that all information desired in the first section | of the resolution was contained in the annual report of the Commission. which was in the hands of the State printer. The communication stated further that | all blanks relating to management of | railroads, as furnished by the Interstate | Commerce Commission had been filled | out by the managers of all railroads in | Alabama and returned to the Commis- | sion. This information was embodied | in the report of the Commission. the com munication stated. The report. 1t was said, had been delayed, because in the printing of it the reports of all other State officers. were by law. given precedence, The communication further stated that
 no law or statute imposed upon the Commission the duty of securing infor-
 nation concerning the issuance of passes. On the contrary it was pointed out that the law laid no restrictions on the right | of railroads to carry freight and pas sengers free of charge.
 The communication was ordered spread | upon the journal of the House. The Commitet on Rules favorably re- ported the Senate joint resolution provd- ing for a joint committee of nine to con- slider and report if necessary bill for the rearranging of the judicial circuits Of the State The resolution declares that
 four members of the Committee shall be
 named from the Senate and five from the House. The resolution was adopted. Committee on Recess. A message from the Senate conveyed the
 information that the upper body had
 adopted the accompanying resolution ere ating a joint committee to consider and
 report to the Legislature the advisabilty
 of taking a recess and to report upon
 the time deemed best for the taking of the
 recess. The joint resolution went to the
 Committee on Rules.
 The General Appropriation bill came up
 for consideration as the special order at
 Il o'clock. The bill which was introduced
 by Hon. William A. Handley of Ran dolph had been favorably reported by the
 Committee on Appropriations The bill carried the ordinary expenses of the
 State government for the next four years.
 Amending Appropriation Bill.
 When the bill had been read. Represen- tative Minge of Marengo a member of
 the Appropriation Committee, offered an amendment which he said was only for
 the purpose of remedying an omission in
 the bill The amendment provided for the
 payment of the annual salary of s1 800 to
 ries of $1, GOO each to his two assistants. The amendment was adopted without | discussion.
 MT. Rankhead presented an amendment making the item in the bill relative to the salary of the Governor conform with the
 snecial bill passed by the House. The | hill named the Governors salary at 5000 and Mir. Bankheads amendment raised 1t | to s5 GOO. the amount named in the special bill.
 The amendment was adopted. Mir. Minge offered another amendment