The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-09
MANSION BILL IS CAUSE OF L|vEST
 DEBATE OF TIE DAY Measure Passes Finally By
 the Decisive Vote
 72 to 26 PERCY OPPOSES TT IN VIGOROUS FASHION Tilt Between Him and Lee Long Brings Out Cheers From Both Factions of
 of House-The Vote in
BY HUH W. ROBERTS

Nii cNoi "i'Siiiiih6 NOtc tit llOuSt u Iep-
 resentatives this afternoon passed the bill providing for an appropriation of s5O,000 for the construction of a mansion for the governor.
 The opposition of the anti-administra- l tionists was exceedingly bitter. Led by Walker Percy of Birmingham they fought
 10 the last ditch, yielding nothing. The debate, at times, waxed exceedingly
 warm and a large gallery followed every
 angle taken by the conflicting forces with
 never Tagging interest.
 The bill, before Its final passage, was | amended by the friends-not the op- ponents-of the measure. reducing che ap-
 propriation for maintenance from sS60O to
 S2O00 per annum. The vote on the passage
 Of the bill was 72 to 26. Here is the ballot:
 Nay-Prewer, Burton, Cranford, Flane- gan, Fuquay, Gewin, Hollis of Walker, James, Johnson of Clarke, Lee, Letson, | Lumpkin, Matthews, Merrill, Milner,
 Mulkey, McCurdy, Page, Pegram, Percy,
 Powell, Richeson, Sanders, Strickland. Walden-26.
 Aye-Speaker. Acker, Arnold, Avery, l Barnard, Bell of Autauga, Brown of Pike, Brown of Tuscaloosa, Bush, Butts, Capps, Carroll, Chamberlain. Darden, Dennis, Boswell. Easts, Edmonds, Fletcher, Fowlkes, Greene, Griffith, Hood, Horton, Huddleston, Jackson, Jenkins of Baldwin, Jenkins of Bullock, Johnson of Elmore, Johnson of Marshall, Jones, Judge. Kill
 burn. Knight, Lane, Lavender, Lawson,
 Long, Lloyd, Martin of Calhoun. Martin Of Jackson, Mastin, Merritt, Molten, Me-
 Donald, McGowen, McLendon, O'Neill, Overton Parks, Pharr, Pittman, Pitts, Preston, Pruett, Qun. Ramsey, Rice,
 Roberson, Smith, Stollenwerck, Sullivan.
 Thomas Twombly, Waddell, Waites,
 Walker Whatley, Wheeles, Wilhite, Will Hams, Wright-72.
 MT. Percy's Speech The governors mansion bill was on the
 calender of the day because at the in
 stance of Walker Percy several days ago it was postponed until February 8. When the bill was announced as ready for passage Representative Rice of Tus- caloosa offered a resolution that this question be carried over until the morn Ing of the fortieth working day of the legislature.
 The a1ministrationists concluded that this was shrewd attempt to kill the bill, or to lose it in the confusion attending the moments of final adjournment. They prepared to fight. t7s =e7sftea Representative Pitts of Dallas op- posed the postponement and in ref erence to the statement of MT. Rice that the money in the treasury was running low, stated that the governor had declared that until the treasury was in better condition he would not
 authorize the appropriation. MT. Percy then made his speech of the day. He was vehement in the
 expression of his opposition. His chief point was that an appropria tfon of $3600 for the maintenance of the man. sion of the governor would be an eva sion of the spirit of the constitution
 which prohibits any official from profit ing from an increase in salary during his term of office.
 "The governor" stated he, "sh hould not be the one to lay a precedent in
 the regard of evading the spirit of the constitution"
 He argued, too that the question ot all other appropriations had been postponed, and he could not see why the appropriation for the mansion of the governor should have precedence over the appropriation for the Univer- sity of Alabama. for Auburn, the Boys
  l MT. Percy professed to be in favor of constructing a mansion for the gov ernor But he was opposed to acting | at the present time.
 Mir. Arnold's Reply Representative Arnold of Calhoun made the principal speech in favor ol | the immediate passage of the bill. He spoke of the shame of Alabama l in that it had no home for it's chief executive He scoffed at the idea ot postponement. declaring that the rea- | son for advocating that tactics was based on the hore of having the bill defeated in the confusion of final ad- journment.
 There is no intelligent reason," he sadi, fin postponing this matter. If there are objectionable features to the bill as it stands today, those objec- tionable features can be remedied by amendments"
 MT. Percy at that moment requested l permission to ask MT. Arnold ques- tion. The question concerned the statue of the state treasury. MT. Ar
 hold replied; When we have got bill through which will make the corpora tions of this state pay the amount of taxes which they should pay then the condition of the treasury will be good This retort brought forth wild cheer ing from the house and the. gallery. Following MT. Arnold were Captain Mastin of Montgomery and Dr. Huddle- ston of Fillmore. both In favor of the bill Captain Mastin charged that the oppo- sition of the Jefferson representative | Percy) was due to the fact that he wanted to carry the capitol to Birming- | ham. This remark created considerable | amusement, especially as five members ol l the Jefferson delegation were favorable fo of the pnUarnOr'S m ci icu l bill.
 1 Dr. Huddleston made a Fourth of July oration. in which he referred to 'the historic grounds of Montgomery, bathed 1 i'll the tears of the fairest women of the southland. and the blood of the patriotic I sons of the state.' He declared himself astonished that the corporations when ir l trouble called upon the soldiers of the state at the expense of the state, and l would oppose a paltry appropriation oi | SEQ, ,OOO for the purpose of erecting man. sion for the governor. MT. Percy and | other members of the anti-administratior faction continually interrupted Dr. Hud l dleston but he got through his speech
 and received considerable applause from the gallery.
 Bush's Calm Discussion l Representative Smith of Montgomery followed pr. Huddleston in favor of tht
 immediate action on the bill. He declared l that 60 per cent of the time of the legisla- l ture had been given to Jefferson county l and that he was willing that such should have been the case
 But I am surprised" stated he, "tha1
 a representative of Jefferson should op pose a bill in which Montgomery more than any other county was interested
 especially as Montgomery had been ex ceedingly modest sn its demands of th' l legislature.
 Tt is ridiculous to postpone this mat