The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-21
Hoffman Objects to the
 Program.
 -s- SENATE AMENDMENTS
 ARE CONQUERED IN Two Auxiliary Measures Passed by
 the Hsuse. Funds ts Be Given the Governor to nasoses the Law ana Convict- ! ssn Of vioIators Made Essier Than in orain-
 ary Cases.

Those who expected the Carmichael prohibition bill amendments. as made by the Senate in pursuance of the 2 agreement of Tuesday to so through the House of Representatives without protest were disappointed.
 :, The entire Mobile delegation was on hand, and although they realized that not propose that the agreement made by the Senators Tuesday should go out to the world as the expression of their sentiments.
 The amendments. as made by the Senators, whereby the bill is to go into effect in cities that have not voted to be dry before December 12, next. had hardly been read before Mr. Hoffman was on his feet. By pre-arranged program, Mir Ballard. of Autauga, was first recognized by the chair. He moved that the House concur in the Senate amendment.
 This done, MT. Hoffman had his inc nings and before he was through he 1. had made 1t plainly evident that if the i, Mobile people had accepted any sort of compromise at all, it was because they believed that the majority of the legise latcrs had made up their minds to go back on all the promises made that city, and also on the local option plat form on which they were elected
 
 show that while other counties might be able to raise money for their schools fin some other way, Mobile was, by the very provisions of the contracts that had been made with Der by the State. prevented from appealing to these same sources.
 He offered an amendment to the bin and urged that the House decline to concur in the Senate amendment, but after Mir John of Jefferson had talked on the subject. he withdrew his mo- tion.
 Lookang to the GOvernoF,
 This action was brought apont py fh1 fact that in the course of his re- marks Col. John had intimated that the bill had not yet passed the court of last resort. and that the Govern or. he was sure, would take care or Mobiles interests before he signed it
 This gave to the Mobile delegation some hope and therefore all oppost- ton to the terms of the agreement was immediately withdrawn. They are now looking to the States Chief Execu- tive to make some change in the pro- visions of the bill.
 Two of the auxiliary prohibition bills, one looking to the enforcement of the general prohibition act, and the other aimed at the threatened cpl demic of blind tigers" occupied the attention of the House nearly the en- tire day,
 The first provides a fund of s5.O0O annually to be placed at the Govern or's disposal, to detect and secure convicting proof of violations of the prohibition law
 The other permits violators to be tried and punished without the inter- vention of a grand jury. Trial by petit jury may be had, if the defen- dant so elects. but tine usual proceed ing of securing an indictment by a grand jury is dispensed with.
 Provisions of the Bills.
 The first of the auxiliary prohibition bills was the one that had been ad- versed by the temperance commit tee, but which found a strong fol- lowing after the agreement of Tues uay. By its provisions the Governor will be able to establish a detective force to see to 1t that the prohibit tion law is enforced. For this pur- pose he is to have an annual appro- priation of $5,000.
 This bill was taken from the ad- verse calendar and after a great deal of discussion was passed
 The other bill is designed to see to it that keepers of blind tigers" will have a harder time of it escaping the law than would ordinary offenders.
 The bill has been passed by the House and If it becomes a law, a man who will have the hardihood to defy the provisions of the prohibition law must take his chances with the courts, not in the ordinary way, by being ar- rested after grand jury has found a true bill against him, but on an af- fidavit of some person that he knows there have been such violations.
 When so arrested he may be convict ed in preliminary court. If he wants a trial by a jury of his peers. he may have 1t on making the required appli- cations. If unable to furnish bond, he must stay in jail until the time ar rives for him to have such trial by jury. If he can furnish ball. he can be re- leased pending trial.
 Protest from Mobile.
 When the Senate amendment to the Carmichael general prohibition bill was read. shortly after the House was called to order yesterday morning, em- bracing the proposition for the law to go into effect January 1, 1909. and other amendments of minor character, Mr. Ballard, of Autauga, moved to concur. { MT. Hoffman opposed 1t and called the attention of the House to what he termed one of the most serious propo- sitions which a has ever confronted a city of Alabama. He did not propose, he said. to talk prohibition or non, prohibition. He had quit that figure.
 He offered an amendment and asked the House to non-concur In order that the measure might go to committee on conference.
 His amendment provided a new sec- tion to be known as Section 14, as fol- lows:
 'The provisions of this act shall not apply to any county in this State which has heretofore under constitutional enactment and statutory law. levied and collected license taxes and devoted same exclusively to educational pur- poses"
 This would apply. of course, only to' Mobile county.
 The suggestion, MT. Hoffman ex- plained. was not an amendment but one which he hoped to get adopted by a conference committee.
 Constitutional PrOVisiOns.
 He read Section 270 of the Constitu-