The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-08
ID ABOLISH COTTON STATISTICS BUREAU O'Neal Is Expected to Veto
 the Measure DEBATE IN THE SENATE Senator MouIthrop Explains at Length His Bill for the Employment of
 COnvicts Upon Public
 Highways
DEBATE IN THE SENATE
BY BERRyMAN G. BETTY

Montgomery, February 7.-(Special )-In pursuance to the retrenchment policy which the Alabama legislature has adopt
 ed, the senate of that body today passed
 by a vote of 13 to z, the measure of State
 Senator E. B. +Fite, which abolishes the
 bureau of cotton statistics. strenuous fight was made on .effecting defeat of the repeating sections, but it was without avail.
 Should the measure meet with the same .action.in the house. of representa- | lives, and indications are that 1t will, the bill will be turned over to Gov. .Emmet O'Neal for his consideration It is ex-
 pected by many that the measure will be vetoed should it go as far as the chief executiye's office. thereby furnish ing the first veto instance of the pres ent session.
 At the present time the bureau costs the state about 5000 per year, half of which
 goes to paying the salary of the director. Last week Col. E. M. Ragand, editor of
 the Sheffield Standard and close friend
 of his excellency was named for the of-
 flee.
 Useless Expenditure | Opinion of Senator Ffte and Senators | Norman, Sprott, Nance and Espy was l that the annual expenditure of S3000 for
 tho purpose of keeping the farmers ad- l vsed on the cotton statistics was a use- | less one, in view of the fact that the | government made regular statistical re- ports which are considered authoritative. They attempted to show that the Ala
 bama bureau could do nothing to this
 end save when the government had first
 made the announcement.
 Senators Atkins, Allen and Sherrod
 championed the cause of the bureau, stat | ing that 1t was an institution which could be put to good work. They stated that such enabling clauses could be added to the sections as to make the work in valuable.
 Upon vote on the question, ballots were cast as follows:
 | In favor of abolition-Senators Beasley,
 Crumpton, Curry, Espy. Fite, Folmar,
 Justice, Merrill Moody, Nance, Norman, | Plowman, Sprott and Stokes. | Opposed-Senators Allen, Atkins, c. w..
 Brown, Lovelace, Rogers, Sherrod, Stew ems, Tunstall and Walden.
 Other Bills Passed 1 Only two other bills were passed by
 the senate. The first of these was the
 measure of Senator Sherrod to amend sec
 ton 3910 of the code relating to the lia- bility of the master or employer to ser
 want or employer. It was passed by a vote of "A to 2.
 Senate bill No 125, the last measure to
 be passed for the day, was introduced l by Senator Morrow of Jefferson county, | and provides an amendment to section 3394 1. of the code relating to the contract for | conditional sale of personal property. The | bill applies merely to Jefferson, Mobile and Montgomery counties.
 Senator Moulthrops good roads meas ure, which provides for the employment | of felony and misdemeanor convicts upon | the public roads of the several counties, and which prevents hiring. of such con | yicts to public corporations, was discussed at length by the author in a paper which was enthusiastically received. On &C., count of doubt as to the constitutionality of the matter however, it was re-com- | mitted to the committee on revision of | laws, despite->the belated objections of Senator Moulthrop
 Session in Detail | The senate was called 10 order at 12:10
 o'clock with prayer by Senator Norman of Chambers county. Twenty-eight sen | ators answered to their names upon roll call Reading of the journal was dis
 pensed with. A | President Seed affixed his signature to the following bills: House bill No. 22, providing for an increase of $500 in the | salary of the adjutant general house bill 30, regulating the sale of junk; house bill S7, relating to suits by wife; house bill 8, extending leases to 99 years; house bill 118, further regulating coroner's in quests; house bill 119 providing that a physician can be called to preside at coroners inquests not more that four l times year, When signed by Governor O'Neal the measures will become laws. | Senator Justice, rising to point of | personal privilege, objected to unfavorable criticism which has been given to his | bill provide methods of punishing physi- 1 of the code, relating to right of appeal on the part of a,physcian from the yer dict of the state board of medical ex- aIniners. The senator stated that his measure was a wise one. and that the senate had made no mistake in ordering l # passed The various sections of the hill provide methpds of furnishing physi- clans who are guilty of violation of the ethics of the profession. and permit no
 right of appeal from the decision of the | medical board.
 Bills Introduced Bills were introduced in the senate as | follows By MT. Allen: To amend sections 695s
 ard ,6964 of the code of 1907, changing the time of killing doves and squirrels and fixing the time for killing robins. | By Mr Kilby: To provide and create
 a commission form of government and to ,ermit the adoption of the same in all cities in the state of Alacama which now -------.----f-------- -- -