The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-24
BILLS IN
 VERY BAD SHAPE
Three More of the Recent Acts
 Declared Invalid
EXTRA SESSION CERTAIN
Governor Conner Says Middle of Sum- mer Is Safe Guess, Although Much Depends on Action of Courts
 In Railroad Cases.
By HERVEY w. LAIRD.

By. HERVEY w. LAIRD.
 Montgomery, April 23.-(Speclal With three more senate bills, all of them in- cidental to railroad laws, found to be invalid the people of the state are losing what confidence they had in the safety of any of the laws that passed the upper house of the last legislature. Capitol of- fcials did not hesitate to say that they fear that many more not yet known are freighted with fatal constitutional weak ness, and an investigation is to be made that will bring to light as much as pos sible any other inefficiencies that are found to exist.
 The bills known to be bad though they have not yet been declared so by the courts, are these. Senate 1S so take away from the attorney general and the railroad commission the right to en- force railroad rate and regulation acts; senate p, to repeal the original 11o com modities act, and senate 69, providing means by which the railroads may ap- peal from any ruling of the railroad com mission rates. They are said to be in conflict with section 62 of the constitution, in that the first two were referred to the Judiciary committee and reported by the carries committee, and So was re- ferred to the judiciary committee and re- ported by the committee on local legisla- ton. This is the record in the office of the secretary of state.
 Not Important.
 It is not thought that either of the three bills is important and neither Gov ernor Conner nor Attorney General G>r- Der anticipates that any effort will be made to get court ruling on them The repeal of the act to keep the commits sion or attorney general from bringing suits is in many respects a good thing for the state It was passed with the hope that 1t would head off injunctions by having no state officer to enjoin, leav- ing the matter of prosecution to some citizen. It will, if declared illegal, give the commission more leeway in the en- forcement of the laws, it having been shown that 1t has little effect in head ing off restraining orders.
 If the repeal of the original 110 com modities act is bad, 1t returns the law to the original act. which Is better for the state in that 1t gives a range of rates 0 per cent higher than the eight group acts- However there is actual and specific repeal of this measure in every one of the group acts, so that 1t is of little con- sequence one way or the other.
 Was First Enjoined.
 An interesting feature of the case is that the act thought not to have been repealed by the repeating act is the orig ino ta ,I-i,, n,I Other acts were enjoined by making bills supplemental to the old injunctions ex- tend to cover. However, as stated above there Is no need to take this case seri- ously for the reason that it has a caption exactly like the eight group bills, and in each one of these there is specifically and definitely stated that "all laws in conflict or inconsistent are repealed
 Attorney General Garber and Governor Conner feel free to say that they attach no importance to either IS or 22, any they bot hthink that there Is on reason to fear any trouble in the third. Difficulties of the third would fall to the railroads as 1t takes away the machinery for ap- peal from rulings of the commission and the case is all the more complicated by the fact that the predecessor of 69, sen- ate r, providing for the same sort of lit- igation, was repealed by specific act prior to the passage of 69
 What of Extra Session?
 It may be stated with accuracy that a special session of the legislature will be called for the midst of the summer, July no doubt. as matters now appear to stand. Governor Conner said Thurs day that 1t looked to him that this might be a safe guess. But this de- bends upon the outcome of the suits In the courts. If the supreme court of the United States should take over the rate cases and review the action of the court of appeals inwhich the state has won it might be that no session would be called until it gave its decision, in which case the session would no doubt run over to next fall
 When asked about the outlook Gov ernor Conner said that there had been laws passed that the people had asked for and that the legislature thought good. If by any means they were found to be of such construction as not to avail for the duties assigned them he took 1t as only reasonable that the legi stature be given chance to make them sound.
 We are only waiting to get at the outcome, said the governor. Just when this is brought out I cannot say It ought not, as I see now, be long
 
 sion will be held later than midsum- mer."
 Is Much Feeling.
 There is much feeling in and about the capitol about the continuous trou- ble with senate bills. There has not come up a single controversy over any house bill, to this time the record of Clerk c. B. Brown being clear. But the senate has been prolific of every Legislative difficulty that any law has been subjected to since the session adjourned. And it is an open secret that but for the care of some officers of the capitol after the day of ad- journment many others now thought to be safe, would be in the same dis credited class
 The bills in question were referred, the record shows, to the committee on udiciary, of which Senator John A. Lusk, now a member of the railroad com mission, was chairman. It Is hard oth CT committees, and the belief is that through neglect of carelessness in copying the name of the reporting com mittee was put down wrong. There is bare possibility that the first two might have in some way gotten to the com nerce and carriers committee, as tn ey were railroad measures and could have inadvertently been switched with out the record being kept, but there was no sort of reason, 1t is said, to have the court bill come out of local S1atinn