Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-08-13
Session Is Prolonged to / a. M,
With the Usual Scenes Of Hilar-
ity at the Last Hour Of Their
Work.
CLOSE VOTE ON THE
PRICE SUBSTITUTE
A DRAMATIC INCIDENT
It Is Carried by Only Four Votes,
Alexander Losing by Two-Ab-
sent Members Corraled at AID
journing Time.

With the observation of the dial Of the
clocks in house and senate when the
hands approached the hour of u o'clock
last night, Georgia's two deliberate bodies
plodded along for another weary hour in
the usual effort to settle moated points
Of difference and at O'Clock. all points
having been agreed upon. the general as
sembly adjourned.
Closing hours presented the same scenes
of former years, Singing. story telling.
buffoonry and horse play of various kinds
enlivened the house. In the senate the
humor was more studied and sedate. as
becomes the dignity of that body When
it was finally announced that the last
point of difference had been agreed upon,
sigh of relief wen, up from every mem
Der and one and all congratulated them
selves that the general assembly OF 1905
had passed into history.
FIGHT BEGINS ON NEAR-BEER.
When senate and house adjourned We'd
nesday afternoon TO meet again at
o'clock at night interest conferred on the
prospect OF an agreement on the SEN
ates action in adopting the Price substi-
tute to the Alexander section of the gen.
eral tax act All other matters we're
relegated to the rear for the time being
as OF minor Importance. When the house
adjourned for dinner a pretty Situation
presented itself. The house by the slen-
der margin of 70 to II had refused to
concur in the Price substitute 1t was
manifest on the other hand, that the SEN
ate would not recede from its position,
Three votes were needed to make the
OTf nn-rNW
Alexander section from being placed on
the statute books. Friends of the Price
substitute got busy as soon as the house
mad adjourned. At no time did they give
up the fight. They knew that several
representatives had absented themselves
during the vote. and these men saw no
peace until they had come from cover. II
was a question of stand and deliver one
way or another.
Long before the hour for reconvenina
al 8 O'Clock. the house was a huge mag
net which attracted all Kinds and con-
ditions Of people. with the avowed urohs-
bitionists and the friends OF near beer
greatly in the majority. These latter were
feverishly button-holing members and
talking to them in stage whispers. AS
the hands of the clock neared O'Clock
the situation was tense. Hooper Alex
ander, clad in a linen suit palm leaf in
ndiut was mere NlitIc anu everywhere. u.
Randolph Anderson, similarly dressed,
was nervously inhaling cigarette smoke
and exhaling IL in great white clouds as
he tagged the doubtful ones and mar
shaled them TO his rescue. Senator Price,
smiling, took things easy but forgot ior
once to crack jokes. He talked earnestly.
Near-beer proprietors and owners OF
brewery stock hung over the rails and
chewed on the ends of cigars until they
resembled small umbrellas.
TENSE MOMENT FOR MEMBERS.
Finally, various routine matters dis
posed of, the house got TO the Price
amendment after it was amended that the
senate could not be budged. The roll cali
was long and tedious. Representative
after representative rose to explain his
vote. Tabloid eloquence 1t was-speeches
being limited to three mlnutes-but to
those anxious to learn the result these
three minutes seemed so many hours
The house was hot as a pepper mill ana
the forensic display did not tend to COO.
things. At last the VS. we're reached and
scores of men who had been keeping the
vote began to forecast the result.
A DRIVING FINIsH.
1t was a driving finish The Price
amendment hiL won by the vote Of 81 to
n. The Alexander section had lost two
votes and the Price substitute had gained
four.
Thus passed into history a feature or
the ordinarily prosaic tax act which was
UNIQUE in the history of Georgia lawmak-
ing. Near-beer in the larger towns OF
Georgia was insured possible life OF
two years while in approximately one-haif
of the state 1t was wiped out.
OTHER THINGS DONE.
During the last days of the session the
near beer fight obscured all other issues.
However, it was by no means the most
important thing done nor was IT. half
so important as many of the things left
undone. The anomaly of an avowed pro.
hibition measure finding its way into the
tax act lent to 1t a peculiar interest
OF secondary interest in the general
tax act from a local standpoint was the
tax on syrups for soft drinks. While tho
name of the company was at no time
mentioned in the various sections a de-
termined effort was made to get fat
slice of revenue out of the Coca-Cola
company. All purposed schemes for tax
alton were directed at that one company.
The house originally passed a section
calling fer tax of cents on every gal
lon of syrup. The senate finance commit-
tee changed this to a graduated tax or
from s25 to 5000 on the amount of busi-
ness done Senator Rutherford fought
hard for a tax of . cents per gallon. The
house refused to agree to the graduated
tax and a tax of one-fourth OF per cent
was finally adopted.
1t was not until well along toward
the tail-end of the session that house
and senate got down to real business
I'm to that time the McLendon inves-
tigation had taken Up so much time
that little was left for other matters.
One Of the bills which passed the SEN
ate during the closing days was the
biennial sessions bill. 1t came as a
fulfllment of the Macon platform and
had been advocated by Governor Brown
The house failed to act upon it. how
ever. and it goes over to the next ses-
sion as unfinished business
The game law bill providing for a
game warden and the better protection
Of game also went over after it had
passed the senate.
The income tax ratification resolution
introduced some days ago by Senator