The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-02
SENATE TAKES FIRM STAND
 FOR HONOR OF C0NFEDERATES

ing of its history Alabama did more than the adoption of this policy in the Senate. For the Senate passed the bill to erect statue of Jefferson Davis on the plaza in front of the Capitol. The Senate passed the bill to put . statue of John Tyler Morgan in Ala bama's niche in the National Statuary Hall at the Capitol at Washington. The Senate passed the bill creating a com mission to plan the celebration of the battle of Horse Shoe Bend on the Tal- lapoosa River. although the celebration will not take place until 1914.
 But the main part of the work of the Senate was the passage of the two monument commission bills, drawn by Director Thomas M. owen of the State Historical Department One was 6 House measure creating a commission to be named by the Governor and or which, under the bill, he is to-. name eight Confederate veterans The Gov ernor and the Director of the Depart ment of Archives and History will also serve as members of the commission. :
 The duties of the body will be the general supervision of the selection 01 sites for and the erection of monu- ments
 A companion measure provided the means and the plan for the work oi the commission. As 1t left the Senate amended to go over to the House, tho commission could expend $25,000 eacf year in the erection of monuments. ir honor of distinguished Alabamians. The monuments can be erected on any oi the National Military Parks. such ai Il, ;olx, I-lx .I,, or Shiloh.
 When the commission is engaged ir its work of erecting a monument or a big battle field, 1t Is authorized un der the bill to spend $25,00O for eacl of those monuments. When it is build ing monuments at points other thar these national parks it can spend or each monument the sum of $1O.000. l, The bill contains a provision, how ever, which declares that the appro priation carried by the biiis should no be available unless the Governor & decides, from his knowledge of the con dition of the Treasury.
 Improving Approach to Capitol.
 The Jefferson Davis monument wiI be erected on a piazza directly in iron of the entrance to the Capitol. Th' committee was so much in favor of thii bill that it made the appropriation s15,000 so that the approach to th' Capitol could be widened and made i'm posing for the building of plaza or which the monument is to be erected.
 The commission which will nave charge of the duty of erecting tht statue of Senator Morgan In statuar! Hall will be composed of Governor B. Conner, Miss Mary Morgan. Con. gressman C. w. Taylor and Congress man William richardson.
 All in all, more was done for the preservation of Alabama history in the single afternoon than has been done since the war. The Commission bills were gotten through by Senator Thomas, after a neat fight.
 The Senate had been engaged in passing local bills all the afternoon A general bill could be gotten up only by unanimous consent There was considerable opposition to the Commits sion bill, which carried the approprfa- tion, for when it was on its passage ten votes were cast against It. Yet by an appeal to his fellow Senators senator Thomas got the bill before the Senate for it's ultimate passage.
 He made an eloquent speech in favor of the passage of the bill and in oppo- sition to the argument by Senators Lusk and McWhorter, that the State could not at this time afford any mon' uments, when it was not adequatel. providing for the living Confederate soldiers and when 1t was not adequate ly educating the descendants of ~the Confederate soldiers.
 Living Would Honor Dead.
 Senator Thomas told his fellow Sen ators that there were no strongere sd yocates of the commemoration of the dead of the Confederacy than their liv- ing comrades. They. as much as any patriotic citizens could do. were urging that the memory of the dead be pre- served.
 He spoke feelingly of the shame an old soldier felt when he told him on his return to Eufaula' of his visit to the battlefield of Chickamauga, where the other States. North and South. had honored their dead-all but Alabama He recalled the splendid speech that General Stephen D. Lee had made \be- fore a Senate committee in advocacy of monument work.
 Senator Thomas took up, too. the question of education, which had oee1 projected into the discussion. There could be no finer way no greater way of teaching history than in the stately and handsome monuments which car ried their own stories of heroism and greatneess
 The Senate worked quite oddly yes terday. It all but wasted the mornin2 session. Not single bill was passed The Leith fertilizer bill was up and 1t was talked about all during the morn