The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-13
MONEY EN TO STAY
CULLMAN wHIsKEY MONEY prR-
 MANENTLY IN TREASURY.
The sfste Auditor Tn Recesvinx If was Acting Under The Advice Of The Attorney Gen.
 ePnl.

It now develops that State Auditor ". w. Brandon was not without the advice of Attorney General Alex M. Garoer before he received into the states accounts the s2.4oO from saloon licenses sent down by the probate judge of Cuilman county.
 Furthermore, the iicense fund has been credited by this amount and no discount has been allowed for what future claims certain saloon proprie- tors m Culinan county may push for recovering their money if they are prevented from selling Iiauor.
 S The incident of Cullman county vot- Ing liquor out of its bounds last De- cember will be recalled. It wiu also De remembered how, on January g Probate Judge Robert I. Burke issued with the sale of intoxicating drinks during the current calendar year, that officer relying on what he believed to be the certainty of the election being invalid by which drink was excluded from the county made famous by Ger man industriousness.
 When the licenses were issued they were paid for without hesitation by the applicants and the money was later forwarded to the State Auditor, the amount being s2,4o0. or the total
  and two at s20o per annum.
 At first Chief Clerk Brooks Smith was reluctant to take the money" thinking perhaps it might be "a shame" since he was aware of Gull man going into the dry column under the local option law which has never yet been declared unconstitutional or invalid by any court in the State. So the matter was laid before the Att torney General for advice. That offi- cial could see no harm in the State initiating an individual when it comes to "raking in" the coin, and he could not for the life of him find any statute or precedent for turning back tax stream of any kind which had coursed towards the state house.
 Under these circumstances the li- cense money is now safely lying in the States strong box. There ie but one way, it seems, for the recovery of this money by the present holders of the licenses in CullEnan in the event the Aiabama Supreme Court upholds the election in that county and the law under which 1t was held. This is the passage of a special act by the Leg islature restoring the money. As to whether the legislators will, in the dim future. look upon this proposition as a risk by the saloon proprietors who were aware of the law and the facts, 1t is of course impossible to tell. If that Is their attitude and the majority of the solons are for prohibition, it would seem the lien on the license sums might shrink considerably.
 But while the probate judge and H. cenee holders in Cullman county have distinguished themselves as being the only people who have resisted an cleo tion with dry results. they have two chances to be sustained. At first, Judge D. W. Speake made the follow ing comment before some thirty-eight indictments were found against al- legged violators of the local option law: Tt appears. therefore. that the probate judge has no authority to issue 6 license to sell liquor and were a license issued it would be no protec- tion to the one who might hereunder sell intoxicating liquors."
 But when 1t came to the trial of these indictments, & surprise was sprung by the defendants. They set up a defense that the election by which the county voted dry was yn- valid because 1t was held day ahead of the time prescribed by the law. The answer was also made that the law is unconstitutional, referring to the local option act. Judge Speake then declared the law invalid but in order to bring the whole controversy to a final settlement at the request of both State and defense the judge de- versed his own judgment in order for the Supreme Court to pass on the cases.