The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-24
An Adjournment Comes Without Ceremony NO, MESSAGE RECEIVED
 FROM THE GOVERNOR Little to Be Done on Closing Day,
 But Enroll Few Bills. Trend and Purpose of All the Railroad LegisIation Was te Keep Roads Out of Courts and Punish
 Those That Went In.

ter evening, as the lights of Montgom- cry flashed into being, one by one, the extraordinary session of the Legisla' ture of Alabama came to close.
 Only a handful of lawmakers were present either in the House or the Sen. ate to witness the informal ending oi the session called to punish the rail roads who carried the fight into the courts against the legislation adopted at the two previous sessions.
 In the House number of ladies, in- terested In temperance work, joined with the Representatives in singing God Be With You Till We Meet Again." They had come to the Capitol to witness the signing of the prohibit tion bill by the Governor. And having witnessed this, they went into the Cap itol rotunda from which they were in- vited to places on the floor of the House.
 The Senate adjourned sine die. abso- lutely without ceremony. There were not dozen Senators present for the last act. The business of the day had been completed at the morning session. The Senate would not have met during the afternoon, except to hear the re- port of the Committee that all the bills had been properly enrolled.
 "Orders" from Brooks Lawrence.
 During one of the recesses. while a
  Senator said:
 T move that a committee be named to wait upon Rev. Brooks Lawrence to see if he has any further communica- tions or orders for the Legislature"
 A South Alabama Senator said:S
 T dare you to make that motion while the Senate is in actual session." but the North Alabama joker smiled and shook his head.
 $ No message came from the Governor, The Legislature was not complimented in an official document as it was at the July session. The Governors compli- nlent to the Legislature was contained in his official Thanksgiving proclana- tion. and not in such a communication as he sent to the Legislature at the close of the July session when he said:
 You have carried out the pledges you made to the people,"
 This quotation from the Governors message was several times referred to ty minority Senators when they were discussing some of the bills repeating acts of the July session.
 Little Work to He Done.
 The Legislature had a very light day of it. But little work remained to be done on the last day and unlike pre- vious days of adjournment the Legis- lature did not have to remain in ses- sicn until midnight waiting upon the clerks. During the~morning session the two Houses ran through the call endar.
 In the Senate disposition was made of every bill. Nothing was left on the calendar. The bills were passed quick. ly There was fight in none of them. By noon the Senate had finished it's work. Only the enrolling clerks were to be heard from. So an adjournment was discussed.
 But Senator Thomas pointed out that there was only a bare quorum present and that a number of Senators would leave on afternoon trains. This being true, if an adjournment was taken the necessary roll call on convening would not show the presence of a quorum. On the other hand, if recess, instead of an adjournment, was ordered, no roll call would be necessary. This proved a wise precaution for when the Senate met for the concluding session at 4 o'clock not dozen Senators were present.
 Senator Barbour, wearing his over coat and with all his papers done up in big bundle on his desk, brought in the report of the Committee on En- rolled Bills. All the bills were proper ly enrolled. Senator Miller was named as a committee to confer with the Speaker of the House to ascertain If there were any further business to be transacted. There was none, he re- ported on his return to the Senate chamber.
 There being no further business" President Gray started to say, when half dozen Senators said:
 Move we adjourn sine die"
 At 4:40 D. m., President Gray let fall his gavel and the extra session had passed into history and the future was left to tell the tale of the merits or demerits of its work.
 As the Senators left the Senate Chamber the delegation of ladies was crowding into the Hall of Representa- tives. As they descended the steps the music of the singing fell upon their ears. And some returned to hear and take part in the singing.
 Devoted to Railroads.
 The session began on November 7 The legislature assembled at the call of Governor Conner. The Governor in the summer notified the roads which had brought suits in the court. that unless they surrendered their rights in court and accepted the new rates he would call the legislature into extra session. The roads refused and the Governor made good his threats.
 The trend and purport of all legis- latfon introduced was to keep the rail roads out of the courts. A dozen measures to this end were passed. The intent of these measures was to pro- vide means for lodging injunctions
 To this end the Railroad Commission and the Attorney General were de- prived of all power to enforce the new railroads laws. This was done to keep them from being enjoined and to re- move a target from any possible in junction
 Bills were passed authorizing any citizen to bring suits against the rail roads, If a ticket agent refused to sell a ticket at the statutory fare, or for the refusal of a conductor to permit passenger to ride on a train after be- ing offered the statutory fare, or for refusal to take freight at he statutory rate In addition to the possibility for intending damage suits embraced In