The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-10-13

| thing in commissions, and denounces l the other as a spurious imitation. l The Governor is going to let the Leg
 islarure try to bring quiet out of Bir- mingham's muddled municipal affairs. | The Legislature will alsoshave the chance to further amend the Muni-
 cipal Code. All of which will give the Birmingham citizens who will troop down here an opportunity of | taking the legislators aside and telling
 them what set of grafters that other 1 crowd is. It is safe to say that the Legislature will not relish the idea of mixing up with Birmingham's dirty | line again. >t Important legislation Is forecasted In Section 23 of the call, which allows the Legislature to enact new laws in l reference to trials and reversals in 1 criminal cases. The new laws will embrace efforts to exclude technical pleadings as a basis of reversals in | criminal cases.
 |. The Governor indicates in Section I A of the call a purpose to protect the forests of Alabama. This will un- doubtedly interest especially the lum- | bermen of Alabama. The yellow pine forests of Alabama have furnished hundreds of fortunes to various lum- Der men, but at present the large areas | of virgin timber are held by copora- | tions. most of which are of a foreign nature The proposed legislation will | undoubtedly attempt to restrict the cutting and destruction of the remain | ing forests of the State.
 Two bills which died on the calen- | dar are given new lease in the Gov ernor's call. the one regulating the sale of cocaine and morphine and the other establishing hospital for epi- | ieptics. The Legislature. is expected l to go after the drug fiends like it has 1 gone after the whiskey fiends Then Senator McWhorter, a practic- tng physician and backed by the State Medical Association, will try to get his epileptic colony bill passed. which has already gone through the Senate.
 And. finally. the Legislature is di- rected to make an appropriation to cover legislative pay and mileage. This duty will hardly be overlooked. Eiesh of One and Fowl of Another. To recur to the main question of the extra--what will the Governor do? Nobody but the Governor and his legal advisers know. One thing only Is cer- tain-that he proposes to repeal the railway code that was adopted by the Legislature at the winter session. What will he propose as substitute? That is the mystery.
 The Goverior and his advisers have been on a still hunt for an injunction proof railroad law.
 They have had d wide field to look over. Alabama is not the only State that has been after the raiiroads-not by a good deal. Southern and West ern States have exercised the ingen- uity of their ablest law makers to find laws which carry out reforms prom lsed to the people in exciting political campaigns. Alabama got its most valuable idea in making the railroads come to time from North Carolina.
 North Carolina, Minnesota, Texas, Arkansas. all have tried their hand at making railroad laws, ana the Gov ernor and his advisers have been look ing over the field to pick out some thing that would help their side of the case in Alabama. They have been
 looking for the inJunction.proof law like Ponce de Leon sought the Foun- tain of Youth. The extra session will show whether they have or have not been successful in the search.
 There Is an idea abroad that they are going to try the Arkansas plan. The Arkansas plan is to make a vio- lation of the railroad law a misde- meanor for any agent or officer and not to make it incumbent upon any particular officer to enforce the law. This, it Is claimed. gives any peace ot- ficer the right to make arrests and re- moves some chances for an injunction. But it does not completely eliminate all chances for an injunction, 1t is claimed.
 The problem which the Governor has sought to work out according to his own idea has been 8 difficult one. Ac- cording to the Governors classificati 1n the bad roads in Alabama are those roads which have not accepted the acts of the Legislature fixing rates the Louisville and Nashville. the Gen. tral of Georgia and the Western of Alabama.
 Now how are the bad roads to be punished without hurt to the good roads? The Governor may have way, but nobody on the outside knows what it is. It has been suggested that the Legislature would make laws according to the classification of the roads of the State-that on the big roads of the first class the laws would be made to bear heavily. This would reach the Louisville and Nashville but 1t would also hurt the Southern, which has behaved itself according to the idea of the Governor. Then this law would not reach the Western and the Central, for they are in still lower classes. Besides there is no assurance that such an act would be injunction proof.
 Only one thing is certain and that is that the railroad laws passed at the winter session which were thought to be so perfect have proved inadeuuate, according to the Governors idea He Is going to shuttle the cards and have new deal.
 Will the SOlOns Be GOOds
 What will be the attitude of the Legislature to the Governors wishes? In the two previous sessions any of the Governors railroad measures had the right of way and slid over the leg lslative track as easily as the Presi- dents special on one of the trunk lines. The floor leader would rise and say: This is an administration meas dre. It comes from the hand of the Governor. l move the previous ques- tion." And the bill was passed
 Now and then some member of tn. minority would have the temerity to suggest an amendment. but the amendment was invariably put tc death. The minority lawmakers be- fore the session was over had the sat isfactiou O. saying: T told you so'' on several occasions when several bills. after passing both houses. had to be brought back and corrected with the amendment that had been refused pre- viously.
 Even the minority did not oppose the railroad legislation at the two sessions already had. They might oppose the Governor on other policies, but like the majority they took whatever he sent in the way of railroad legisIatio There was no explanation and no dis cussion of the measures.
 The nearest to an explanation was that given by Senator Reynolds on the no commodities bill in which he ex- plained how the new rates would af-