The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-11
JOHN WRITES ON
 JOURNAL RECORDS
SAYS RED TAPE PROVISIONS OF
 STATE CONSTITUTION ARE ANTI oUATED-No DEFECTS SHOWN
 IN THE HOUSE RECORD.
To the Editor of The Age-Herald.

To the Editor of The Age Herald.
 I have been surprised to know how many intelligent men do not know that each house of the legislature keeps its own journal, and that the secretary of , the senate has nothing whatever to do with the journal of the house, and the clerk of the house has nothing to do with the journal of the senate.
 There are several requirements of the constitution of Alabama in refer ence to the passage of acts by the leg islature that are peculiar to our con- stitution, and nothing like them is to be found in any other constitution that I know of. Such as section 64: No amendment to bills shall be adopted except by majority of the house wherein the same is offered nor unless the amendent, with the names of those voting for and against the same. shall be entered at length on the journal of the house in which the same is adopted" etc.
 Section 66. The presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of the house over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the legislature, after the same shall have been publicly read at length, immediate ly before signing; and the fact of read ing and signing shall be entered upon the journal; but the reading at length may be dispensed with by a two-thirds vote of a quorum present, which fact sha all also be entered on the journal"
 These two sections serve no good pur- pose, and the author of them was eith- CT very ignorant of the operation of them, or designedly proposed them, that they might be used by a factious minor ity to delay legislation.
 have been told that section GA was prepared and offered by an attorney who attacked acts upon the ground that they had not been passed in ac- cordance with the requirements of the constitution but failed in the supreme court.
 The requirement of section 66, that a bill shall be publicly read at length" before signing, is a dead letter" and could not have originated with any one who is at all familiar with the orderly, ~proper legislature practice.
 They are in the constitution and must be observed, no matter at what cost of labor and painstaking on the part of the officers and clerks of the legislature.
 That they can be observed is very apparent, from the fact that not an act has been successfully assailed for any alleged defect in the house journal, kept under the direction of Cyrus B. Brown Esq, and who, within the time allowed by law, checked every bill and every constitutional entry in reference thereto before the journal was signed by the speaker.
 do not know who is responsible for the neglect to make proper entries on the senate journal. IS I have not seen one line of 1t, but it Is obvious that the same care and skill that was shown by Clerk Brown would have saved the state an immense amount, and saved the courts much labor and doubt, and the people much veXation, annoyance and expense.
 I was severely reproved by one of my constituents because l did not see that every entry on both journals was properly made. It is needless to say that no legislator can do this.
 They have done all that Is required when they appoint the appropriate standing committees on the revision of the journal, on engrossed bills and on enrolled bills, and provided enough clerks Very respectfully
 SAM WILL JOHN.
 Birmingham, Feb. 10, 1909.