The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-22
WALLACE TALKS IF
 OYSTER DECISION lhree-Cent Tax on Foreign
 BivaIves Held Legal AN IMPORTANT RULING Error In Report That Supreme Court Has Passed on Validity of Old Titles to Swamp and Over
 flow Lands.
AN IMPORTANT RULING

Montgomery, January 21.-(Special.) This morning when the attention of John H. Wallace, Jr., state game and fish commissioner, was directed to the ruling of Judge Afford in the case of the Star Fish and Oyster company of Mobile, in which Judge Afford held that the state had the right to levy a. tax of cents per barrel on all oysters shipped into Alabama from other states MT. Wallace said:
 "The decision of Judge Afford of the inferior criminal court of Mobile, hold ing that tax of cents per barrel can be collected on all oysters shipped into Alabama. is undoubtedly the proper construction of the act for the preser- vation and protection of oysters, passed at the extra session of the legislature last year.
 Immediately upon delivery, even though they be shipped from another state into Alabama. oysters become subject to the same rules and regula- tions that govern and control oysters that are produced in this state.
 Game. fish and oysters come under an entirely different head from manu- factured goods or articles otherwise produced. Justice White, in the case of Greer vs. the state of Connecticut (161 U. S.) holds that the state in it's sovereign capacity. by virtue of it's police power. by legislative enactment, has the right to hold the game, birds and fish in trust for the benent of its people; and that the right to preserve these resources flows z from the un- doubted existence in the state of a police power, to that end which may be, none the less, efficiently called into play, though by doing SO interstate commerce may be remotely or indirectly affected.
 'The contention of the oyster com mission of Louisiana that the cents tax cannot be laid upon oysters shipepd into this state is bad, for the same question has already been passed upon by the superme court of the United States, and the rulings of that court are with the contentious of the oyster commission of Alabama"
 Report Is Erroneous.
 Officers of the Mobile and Ohio rail- road, and many others, will be inter ested to know that the report that the supreme court had finally passed upon the validity of the old time titles to swamp and overflow lands Is an error In three cases from Mobile this week the court held that titles made many years ago were established by adverse possession, which had run the stipu- lated 20 years before 1s03 when the bill was passed giving this lal to the insane asylum of the state.
 These Mobile cases were handed down by Justice Simpson who, because sane hospital, refused to sit in the hearing of the litigation before the su- preme court. The main eases in which the general question is involved will be passed upon later, Justice Sayre having replaced Justice Simpson for their Investigation The property at interest runs into many thousands of dollars and the agitation has kept the state at high pitch for number of years. The impression is that the whole matter may be settled soon.
 The trouble has grown up this way. Patents were given in the time of Governor Lindsey. signed Lindsey, by w. B. Chadaroyne, secretary of state. not having the signature of the execu- tive. These transfers were held by many to be illegal, so in 1908 the leg tslature passed bill giving what part of the lands not then held In legal title otherwise to the insane hospital. Hold CTS under old titles naturally fought and are fighting. Many of them have been in possession 20 years, wh hich gives them possession. Quit claim deeds have been made in many cases by the insane hospital, leaving the recipients to fight 1t out. It is one of the most interesting questions now before the state.
 New Standing Army.
 With the passage of Friday, January 20, the entire National Guard of the nation comes under the Dick bill, thus making 8 second standing army of 11S,926 men. Pennsylvania was slow so there was let up to get them in trim. Now all are in. Alabama has met the requirements long ago. It is eighth in the list, Georgia being ninth, of the number of men in service, this state having, at last inspection, 3314 men. Adjutant General Bibb Graves, who Is just back from Washington, where he attended a meeting of the national military board, says the state has fine standing and will be cared for handsomely in the matter of appro- priations.
 Tax Hearings
 The Alabama tax commission has made the following dates for hearings in the various questions that have to do with taxes:
 Troy. Pike county, January 31; Ozark, Dale county February 2; Columbia, Henry county, February A. Dothan, Houston county, February 2.