The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-10
Constitutional Experts May Re-
 view Legislation
GOOD PROHIBITION START
Only Five Arrests Are Made in Mont gomery During First Week Un- der New Law-Sheehan Gets
 Deserved Promotion,
By HERVEY w. LAIRD.

Montgomery, January 9.-(Special )-- There Is growing feeling for some sort of commission or board to revise all laws and records before they are finally passed upon by the legislature. It is argued that this sort of plan would mean an enormous saving to the state and the counties, as well as make it more cer- tain that laws passed and signed will be able to stand the test of the court. Not legislature has been able to make all the laws stand under the present consti- tuition, no matter how careful those in au- thority were to see them legally passed
 After the session of 1903, there were number of important measures invali- dated by the courts, among them the gen. eral Judiciary revision act. The failure of this brought about most unfortunate con- fusion and its cost in necessity of retry ing cases ran into many thousands of dollars. It might have been established if some one had been well enough ac- quainted with the constitution and dil- gent enough to have caught the errors Some states have the laws vised before passage and Alabama is going to have the opportunity to do the same thing at the next session.
 Suggested Plans.
 It has been suggested by John A. Ilusk and others that commission should be appointed and the report of such be made. before final adjournment of the legisla- ture. Others have thought that an ap- pelate court might take it up, going carefully over the bills and the records to see if there is any hitch. Those who say this would be expensive are met with the argument that it would not cost near ly so much as the failure of some of the laws have
 In the case of the Greater Birming- ham bill, 1t is thought that the citizens would have been willing to pay any reasonable amount to have been certain the law was good; certain 1t is that many might have been willing to have paid to keep 1t off the books. It be- comes, therefore, a matter of money any way 1t is taken, and the men who have felt the effects of the failures think the results have been far more costly than any one had any idea of. And the money loss at times is far the least serious.
 Week of Prohibition.
 The first week of prohibition showed five arrests for all sorts of crimes and offenses at the police station, a record that has rarely ever been equaled for a town the size of Montgomery. 1t is also fact that the order in general and in all parts of the city has been on par with the new record made. Prohibition men say that this is a proof of the eff cacy of the methods of hquor restrictions Others contend that 1t is only the lull that follows the getting used to any rad ical change.
 There are a dozen or two near beer places and the report is always current that a man with the right sort of "a wink can find a place where the bottle flows. Be this as 1t may, the city has not re- covered from the shock it was given by the elimination of the fire water places. and the tax payer is finding that he Is having to pay lot of bills heretofore met by the man who drank the liquors. That he is kicking is another. evidence that reform is fine thng-for the other fellow.
 Sheehan's New Duties.
 Alabama statesmen, politicians and leading men generally will be interested to know that Will T. Sheehan, for many years the travelling writer of the Mont gomery Advertiser. is now associate ed itor, with much of the editorial writing his hands, The paper took this method of expressing it's qualification for the very excellent work he carried on for so many years. Prior to his going on the road for the paper Captain Sheehan was capitol reporter, and 1t is said that he went to the state house six times a week for five years.
 Captain Sheehan has established a rep utation for knowledge of Alabama and Alabama men. It is said that he has an aran fn yrif a Stn nft hA cfo to and will utilize the great amount of mat ter gathered in his travels for this pur- pose. Whether he does or not, he knows enough to make a success of such ven ture if he decided to go into 1t. In the meantime, however, he is entertaining the first son of his household, reputed to be a fine enough young fellow to satisfy even the fastidious tastes of the parents, both of whom are not unknown in the literary history of the state.
 Cyrus B. Brown.
 It is a pleasing thing to the many friends of Cyrus B. Brown that no criti- cism has come up of the way and man ner in which he kept the journal and the records of the last house. Men who know how hard he worked, many times late in the night and early in the morning, un- derstand it, but there are others who have been surprised at the absence or dlscoV- cred error up to this time. It goes with out saying that of all the mass of work turned out there will certainly be some trouble, possibly serious in a few in stances, but so far the record is clear
 House Clerk Brown saw personally to every part of his book. He had the min utes made up each night and saw that they checked, and in making pp his jour nal he checked every one of them over himself, driving carefully for any sort of omission that would have a tendency to make the laws faulty The result is that so far not a single law has been inval- dated or put out of business as result of any trouble in his office. On the other hand it is common Knowledge that he caught a number of errors in important