The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-12
LEGISLATORS OF
 GEORGIA ADJOURN Many Laws Are Enacted But Many Others Fail ts Pass FREAK BILLS TAKE LEAD Among Useful Bills Is One Increas- ing Appropriations for Common
 Schools - High License
 Taxes Near Beer.
FREAK BILLS TAKE LEAD


 pressed by it's members. The legislators regretted that the constitutional limit of the session had been reached; the gen. eral public rejoiced that the end had come. The session just terminated will probably go down in history as the one in which less real work for the public was accomplished, and more freak legis- lation threatened. than any other session in the memory of the oldest inhabitant.
 That much of the menace was defeated was due to the disposition the assembly, men early displayed to dispute every bill introduced
 Two of the measure which received the strongest support upon the part of the most advanced people never reached a hearing in either house. One measure was the compulsory education bill. It provided that each child in the state un- der the age of IA years must attend school at least three months a year. The bill was fought strongly by certain influences. There are over 10000 illiterates in the state it was disclosed. The most effective argu- ment used against the bill was this sub 1ect, and was the one which kept 1t from obtaining a hearing on account of the color line. The opponents of the bill charged that it will force the negro into the schools, give them a better education than whites and make them more useless than ever.
 Biennial Sessions.
 The other or second measure strongly lndorsed was the one to submit constitu- tional amendment to the people to decide whether or not the legislature instead of meeting each year should meet only upon each alternate year. This was advocated by business organizations all over the state but was effectively thrown aside by the politicians.
 Resolutions favoring constitutional amendments, permitting the popular cleo ton or United States senators, and the Imposition of an income tax met a sim liar fate. Neither of the measures meant more than submission of all propositions to the people at the next popular elec- tion.
 A bill which would have placed a heavy tax upon all foreign corporations doing business in the state was killed by narrow majority.
 Another bill to protect game and to provide for a game warden was killed because the members declared they did not know enough about the necessity of game protection to legislate intelligently. It pas the Introduction of freak bills that the legislators showed best There was one bill which would prevent females over the age of 12, not circus riders. from riding astride. Another would prohibit drunkenness in public places. " bill tofpermit the carrying of pistols if worn 1 outside the outer clother was favorablv reported as was one to prohibit the cary ing of any deadly weapon less than two | feet long.
 Measures That Failed. Neither of the measures was passed Among other measures which failed to even to get a vote: To require hotel sub keepers and keepers to supply mosouito bars over each bed; to require the hotel men to furnish nine feet of sheeting on each bed; to forbid the supply of prisoners with malt, vinous or spirituous liquors; to make unlawful the playing of football or baseball in any school in the state or by the students of any school; to make all railroads stop all trains at every sta- ton in the state; to make it a penal of fense to sell goods of any kind to any male under H years, or any female under IS years; to charge s200 license in each of the IA counties for each merchant who peddled clocks; to forbid the move ment of freight trains on Sundays; to ask Congress to raise the pay of rural car- riers, and to limit all speeches in the as- sembly to five minutes.
 Dogs were assessed a state tax of S1 for males and g for females, but a mo- tion to tax automobiles was voted down. Many Useful Bills.
 Among the useful bills passed was one increasing the appropriations for common schools from $2,250,o0o to $2,5OO,Oo0 appro- priating money for terminals at Chatta- nooga, Tenn, for the Western and At lantic railway, owned by the state: to keep supply of anttoxin on hand in each county in the state; to provide fe- male attendants for the female insane: to require the daily disinfection of railway coaches, and to make the use of defama- tory language about woman a peniten- tiary offense.
 In it's late hours the senate agreed upon the secret society bill, which originated in the house. and it became a law. It makes it penitentiary offense for any man not member of a regularly or ganized society to adopt or wear the en- blems of regalia of said societies. It is aimed at negro imitators, and was passed at the request of Pythians and Elks. whose societies the negroes were pretend ing to have joined
 The high license bill imposes state tax
  lecturers of near-beer and a tax of s3OO on retailers. Confederate veterans are not exempted from payment of the tax
 The house passed the bill only after an intermittent contest lasting 12 hours Early in the evening the house defeated the bill by 79 to IT, later reversing itself thus terminating the most important con test of the present session.
 Insane Asylum Charges.
 joint resolution providing commit tee, composed of four senators and seven representatives. to investigate the charges made against the State Asylum for the Insane by the special committee appointed by former Governor Smith, was passed by the legislature shortly before final adjournment. The resolution provides that the committee do its work during va cation and report next year.
 That one-seventh of the patients of the institution had died during the last five years of tuberculosis, and that nearly all who died were infected after they reached the asylum; that patients have been mis- treated physically; that some of the fe- male patients were assisted in escaping and afterward used for immoral pure poses; that the class of attendants is un- satisfactory and that the asylum is lit- tie better than death trap are some of the charges made by the commission. | The legislature continued to enact bills after midnight, the constitutional hour for adjournment with newspapers hid ing the faces of the clocks.
 An employers liability act was passed permitting the recovery of damages up to slO0O0 in case of death of an employe whan confrfhutorv paolfpapca iv yro,,a,,