The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-07
LEGISLATIVE ACTS
 AGAIN DISCUSSED Caldwell Bradshaw Submits Ob- servations on Condition QUESTION OF MONEY RATES We'll Known Lawyer and Business Man Points Out Matters of Interest
 To People of Birmingham and
 Aabama-Extra Session.
QUESTION OF MONEY RATES
le Age-Herald:

1 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 It seems that, without inviting contro-
 versy, one should be permitted to express
 his opinions and conservative conclu-
 sions without restraint; and Jack" must
 "be q dull boy indeed if he has not some well defined idea of the situation
 in Alabama just at this time. It would
 seem also high time that radicalism be relegated to a back seat and that con servatism should meet with hearty fiota- tons at a premium
 i This is no time for croakers or calami- ty howlers. Neither is 1t time for the exploitation of venom or personal grudge,
 either in city or state affairs. We should
 meet issues like men built for turbulent 1 timse. Democratic radicalism is no bet l ter than republican radicalism! In fact, l it's worse, because better things are ex- l pected.
 i Now, what's the matter? Corporate ex-
 stence and finance on one side and poli-
 ties and preferment on the other, while
 the people and private interests hold the
 center fire, and are sure to come out
 of this conflict with firm grasp on the
 red-hot end of the poker, unless halt is called on this ceaseless agitation. Our bankers have acted wisely and well. and their policy now of force temporarily will meet all our requirements till some thing better can be obtained and req
 sonable indulgence on our part will en- able them to hold intact BrmlngnamS s financial integrity; and why should we complain of a little inconvenience when
 disasters might otherwise confront usE Here we need conservatism of the right l sort and let no one fail to contribute his full proportional part. There is noth- 1 ing shaky about Birmingham or her banks or bankers. They are simply meet ] ing conditions as they are, not as they l should be, and for which they are in | no sense responsible.
 l How about the state of Alabama? Since 1 January two sittings of our Legislature i have passed into history and we now ! have a third sitting booked and, for what l specific purpose? Ostensibly and generally ' for the purpose of corporate control and regulation of transportation of persons l and property: but specifically how to control and regulate, we are left to an | open guess. It seems that the governor,
 his legal advisers, and the representa- tives from all parts of the state should l have exhausted all their resources dur l ing their two former sittings of the leg
 islature and saved the state this extra 1 ordinary expense of an extra session and
 its consequential impairment of the finan- ] cial and business interests of the state.
 Moreover, it would appear from care | full reading of the recents acts that the | legislature actually did everything it pos i sibly could do under it's constitutional | limitation, possibly a little more, along
 the very lines indicated in the call for
 this extra session.
 It seems to me, an humble citizen in the l ,.ix fo ar,lyS fhnt our danaTt- | ment is being worked little bit overtime. l It Is one of the coordinate branches I of the state government and as such ! has no more judicial powers than the 1 writer has Drastic acts were passed
 at the first session-drastlc in that they i were arbitrary and uncondltionai-tor cor 1 porate control and rate regulation, AS 1 to corporate control, under these acts, l every dollar of cheap money has been 1 driven to points beyond our borders and ! today so far as I am adVlSed and 1 have sought for information on this sub 1 feet. not one of the companies lending
 money in this state at and per cent
 in March. 1907, are doing business here 1 at any raten of interest whatsoever. They | have simply been regulated, out of bus | mess in this state. It takes cheap money l to develop a great. growing community like this Will any one contend that this | adverse corporate control Legislation has | S-~-N' l or its citizens? If so I would like to have 1 1t explained to me. soft and slow.
 I am writing this from the 18th floor
 of a 15-story monument to cheap money. | Five per cent did it and there are a
 number of other monuments here of the l same fold, but the number would have
 been more than doubled in the next 12 | months except for this control Of which
 we have read and heard so much talk
 of late. Now, If we are to have another
 legislative dose of "contror' for one let
 me devoutly say, Good Lord, deliver us.'
 On the other hand. If this embargo on
 cheap money is to be removed and the
 business interest to proceed untrammelled'
 then the state in general and Jenerson
 county in particular will be greatly ben
 efited. and I know there will be many
 to join me in saying to the governor:
 '.Thank you sir; call again. The early
 repeal of all statutes on our books. which
 drives or tends to drive cheap money
 away will do more immediate good and
 be of more lasting benefit to the state
 than all the Polish and Scandinavian i'm
 migrants you could import in the next 100
 years and I understand that the state
 has at this time paid agents and rep resentatives in foreign ports soliciting bus | mess in this line. On the other hand,