The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-14
RAILWAY MEN ID BE
 NABBED IN ENSLEY Town Wants License Fee from
 B. R, L. & P. Co. SEEK DECISION OF COURTS Motormen on Each of the Four Lines Operating in the City and Mana
 gers of Local Office Will
 be Arrested Today.
SEEK DECISION OF COURTS

Ensley, February s.-fspecial)-chef of Police D. F. 8uggs was this afternoon in- structed by Mayor N. W. Scott to ar rest motormen on each of the four lines of the Birmingham Railway Light and Power company operating in this city on the charge of operating business with out license.
 The instruction of the mayor also ex- tends to the managers of the local office of the railway and light company. The arrest will be made tomorrow morning and may be repeated every morning until some adjustment has been made of the matter
 Under the provisions of the city code every days operation of the business of the company will constitute a separate of fense, and though 1t has not yet been de- cided definitely 1t is supposed that arrests will be made every day until the matter is arranged or the license paid.
 Amount of License.
 It will be remembered that the license schedule for 1906 carried an increase in the license tax against the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company of S225O, or in other words, was raised from s75o to ssOoO.
 The Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company protested against this in- crease and asked that the matter be re- considered The matter was referred to the miscellaneous and judiciary commit tees in joint session, and at the time these committees met about two weeks ago rep resentative of the road appeared and ar gued that the increase was in excess of the percentage of increase made on other concerns and was unreasonable.
 The license was reduced from 5000 to $2375, and so reported to the council by the joint committee. with the agreement that half the amount of the assessment would be taken in additional street lights. However, before the meeting of the council in regular session and the report of the joint committee was reported the Birmingham Railway Light and Power company notified the Mayor and members of the joint committee that the license was still too high and would not be paid without protest. The council after reeeiv- ing the report of the joint committee, again reduced the license to 5000 and though 1t had to be collected in the courts.
 Refuses to Pay. The Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company has so far refused to pay the license of $2000 and 1t is under stood that the company desires the mat ter to be thrown Into the courts for the purpose of making some final adjustment of the amount of license to be paid.
 It Is understood here that the railway company has refused to pay the license assessed in a majority of the incorporated towns through which it operates in the Birmingham district, most of which were considerably increased over the license paid last year. It is said that the com pany desires the courts to decide upon what basis these assessments shall be made, so that the matter will be forever settled thereby obviating the annual em- barrassment and trouble of readjusting assessments in the various municipalities touched by the company's lines.
 Ensley Takes Lead.
 It Is understood here that none of the other towns and cities in the district have yet made move toward the collec- tion of the taxes, and while the officials of this city did not like to take the ini- tiative fin the matter they were forced to do so by the delay of the other places which seem to be waiting for Ensley or some other place to take the lead
 It is not known just what steps will be taken after the arrest of the employees of the company, but 1t is believed that a petition for injunction will follow which will bring the matter In the state courts and thence to the supreme court for a final decision.
 Chief of Police Suggs was instructed to accept bond of s25 in each case of arrest.
 Liberal Donations.
 Mayor N w. Scott, chairman of the Carnegie library committee, received q communication from Capt. J. ". Baker of the Ensley Land company fin which he offers the donation of a handsome collec- ton of books valued at about $6O0 to the library.
 Besides the books, Captain Baker of. fers the following subscriptions to leading publications:
 Scientific American, four years
 The Iron Age, five years. North American Review four years
 Review of Reviews, three years
 Century Magazine, four years.
 Munsey's Magazine, one year. Harper's Weekly. five years.
 Scribners Magazine, three years New Orleans Times-D Democrat, six years.
 St. Louis Globe Democrat. six years Chicago Record-Herald, six years New York Herald. six years.
 New York Times, Six years.
 Fixtures Arrive.
 The fixtures for the new postofhce build. ing which is nearing completion have ar. rived and will be placed in position al once.
 when placed in position will make very handsome appearance, besides rendering the local office one of the best appointed and most conveniently arranged in the state.
 It is expected that the office will bc finished by the middle of next week and Postmaster Clayton is making arrange ments to move into it about February 25.
 Notes and Personals.
 Dr. T. T. Wheeler of Attalla has pl,r chased half interest in the Osceola Drug company at Osceola station on the south Ensley car line from pr. w H. Holli- day and arrived today to take active