The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-11
Railroad and Prohibition
 Measures. TEST VOTES WILL BE
 TAKEN IN BOTH HOUSES Temperance People to Have Innings in Popular Branch. Anti. Pian To Contest Passage Of Measures By Two-Thirds Vote, Though That Was once
 Conceded As To The
 House.

The coming week ts tHe o.s wv of the extra session of the Alabama Legislature As the record of this week Is written so will be written the record of the extra session.
 The Legislature in the first two days will indicate what it proposes to do. The Governors railroad bills and such prohibition legislation as the temper ance people want will go In tomorro" under a favorable report.
 Then the Legislature will set user for the big light on Tuesday. on Iues. day the bills in one of the houses VIII be up for final passage ana the ooh tending orators will have their cnahce'
 Before the week is out two Q, ,nte M votes on the big measures VIII nave been taken and the purpose or the Legislature will have been dmonstra-
 Tn the House the fight on Tuesday will be over the bill declaring Tor constitutional amendment to secure pro hibition in Alabama This IS the. Dlis nresentad by Representative Ballard of Autaura. It has the support of the Anti-Saloon League. 1t will go into 4ha TTause tomorrow on 8 favorable re- mort from the Temperance Committee The final action of the House VIII in- dicate what the position Of the House
 
 The State Democratic platform de- clares for local option. but beyond doubt any prohibition bill could get A majority Of the members or the House.
 Under existing conditions. however, to win it's passage prohibition oilI of any sort must have two-thtrds vote in each house. It was conceded bv ail sides before the Legislature met that prohibition bills would pass tt nugh the House by that vote and 4 teAht would be made In the senate.
 Rnk tlfe antisprohi tionists say they have been surprised at the number sof men who have come back standing by the declaration of the platform for local option. in spite of the prohibition wave Now they say they are confident the prohibitionists can not get the ne- cessary vote In the House. At any rate the first prohibition light will De In the House 2=-
 senate On Railroads.
 Tn the meanwhile the Senate will be dehting 1t out over the railroad ques- tion. At the winter session the Senate quickly passed every bill that was in- troduced by the Governor. At the July session the Senate passed all the princi- nal bills. but turned down two or three that the administration endorsed but which the leaders did not consider of prime importance.
 Predictions as to the attitude of the Senate just now are entirely specula- tive If any changes have been made in the attitude of the different mem- hers. no outward indications of the changes have been apparent. The first votes are therefore awaited with | special interest The report of the Committees upon the Governors railroad bills was ex- | nected. Nobody expected anything | ha nlxt ph the fight that would be made when | the bills came up for final passage, A | resourceful and intelligent minority | will oppose the bills. but whether 1t | will affect the course of the legisla- tion of the coming week remains to be seen. I
 The early decision of the committees 10 report the Governors anti-railroad bills was not especially surprising These bills number something like a score. They vitally effect every rail- road operating in Alabama and more Alabama.
 Rut the Governor in his message told the legislators that his attorneys had prepared the bills. They were therefore all right and should be auicklv passed. The Committees have taken the Governor at his word. They heard addresses Saturday from ex- Congressman Sidney J. Bowie and President J. F. Hanson of the Central of Georgia. The public hearing was taken up with addresses from these two gentlemen.
 Then the Committees in the after noon held a brief executive meeting and decided to report favorably all the bills, just as they came from the hands of the Governors attorneys.
 Entire Railroad Code.
 The bills comprise an entire railroad Alabama l portant as all the bills passed at the January session.
 The temporary halt in their consid- eration will be when the bills are up for third reading and final passage. They will then be discussed at some length A number of SeRators have declared that this time they would in- sist on knowing what was in the bills on which they were called to vote. The administration Senators will undoubt- edly. wish to get the bills through as quickly as they can. Under joint resolution 500 copies of each railroad bill will be printed.
 When this resolution was offered Senator King said:
 "Can not ws pass those bills like we did the others-without knowing what is in them?"
 Only the importance of the work for the coming week will keep the law makers in Montgomery. A number of them will in spite of all this, be com pelied to go home. This particular season is the busiest season for the lawyer member. the merchant mem Der and the farmer member. All of them are in Montgomery at a personal sacrifice. Several of them have de- clared that 1t is absolutely necessary for them to go home to keep abreast with their business.
 It is expected that large number of other bills will be introduced during the week. The bars have been let down so that any bill on any subject can be introduced.
 This action was undoubtedly due to the prevalence of the prohibition sen ttinent and the anxiety of the prohibit tonists Co be in position to get their