The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-17

already been denominated the Ninth
 ward, and will elect councilmen and aldermen in the forthcoming election to serve next year. The remaining
 portion of the new area becomes in- corporated in the city limits beginning
 January 1, 1910, and will not be called
 upon to pay taxes until that year. Chief opposition to the measure came from property interests which were op
 posed to paying city taxes. But the
 overwhelming sentiment of the people
 of the city was responsible for carrying the matter through at this time. It is now pretty well settled that the extra session of the general as- sembly which will meet probably on
 August 24, will deal solely with rhe convict question. It will have before it the report of the penitentiary in-
 vestigating committee to aid it in its
 work of framing new convict legisla
 tion, and the prospective outcome is
 the shortest possible continuance of
 the lease system, possibly for Is
 months, certainly not over two years, and a constitutional amendment to be submitted to the people prohibiting the leasing of convicts, either felony or
 misdemeanor, after certain date.
 The constitution provides for extra sessions of the general assembly only on extraordinary occasions" but it is left solely to the governor to determine what constitutes an extraordinary oc- casion." The convict question, of course, must come under that head, be-
 cause the present lease contracts ex-
 pire March 31, 1909, some three months
 before anoth her regular session of the
 general assembly is held.
 But it is serious question whether the governor would attempt to class as an extraordinary occasion" any othe CT legislation which the general assembly had opportunity to pass and did not, simply because he is of the opinion that 1t ought to be enacted. It is known that he is strongly in favor of new law against lobbying. The legislature
 had abundant opportunity to enact such law during it's two 50-day ses- sions, but it was apparent through out that the house and senate could not agree on the terms of the measure. It Is doubtful if they could agree were 1 they given longer time in which to con- slider it.
 Under the circumstances, 1t is difficult to see how such measure could be con- 1 strued into "an extraordinary occasion," and if it is not so construed, it cannot
  Still 1t is possible the governor might so
 hold it, and so far as is known there Is no appeal from his decision as to what it 1 takes to make an extraordinary oc- casion."
 All in all, however, the general belief Is the session will have to be limited to the convict question, in order to comply
 with the letter and spirit of the constitu- | ton.
 xx,fI1 hA l pointment to many interests which had hoped to have certain measures which were lost for lack of time to consider them revived in the extra session. Among these was the proposed new 1 banking act which was designed to throw l further restrictions around state banks in l order to protect both the people and the banking institutions. This measure pro- | vided a better and more thorough system l of bank inspection. It also required compliance with the theory of the present | law with regard to actual cash capital | being paid in before the bank is allowed | to begin business.
 | well-known Atlanta banker stated to- | day that there are men in Georgia not worth $5000 in cash>who have organized a | chain of 12 or 15 banks, with practically | no security back of them. The law | presumably, requires that GO per cent of
 the declared capital shall be paid in before l the bank can begin business; but in prac- | tice it is said to be often the case that l the incorporators simply put up their 1 notes for the amount and attach the stock | to it as security. These and other in- 1 terests are said to have had something ! to do with failure of enactment of the | bill which passed the senate but was al- | lowed to die in the house.
 | The banking interests of the state had i strong hopes of getting this measure | through at the extra session until 1t was | learned that such session can deal only 1 with matters constituting extraordinary 1 occasions" The banking bill does not l appear to be one of them.
 In the confusion incident to the close | of the legislative session. the fact was entirely overlooked that the general as- sembly had failed to take any action whatever regarding the suspension by Governor Smith of Railroad Commission CT Joseph M. Brown. recently nominated as Governor Smiths successor.
 This omission seemed to be intentional on the part of the general assembly, though there was at all times possi- bility that it might be brought up and lead to lively discussion. In the main,