The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-14
Birmingham Bills

TWO DlllS or eSpeCldl interest lO tiS city of Birmingham will be given hearing in the legislature this week. when the mining bill will come up in both houses. and when the Morrow dis pensary measure will be thrashed out in the senate Both bills have been re- ported favorably In the upper cham
 Der and are expected to prove of more than local interest.
 Senator Morrow liquor measure Is declared by many to be one of the best solutions of the liquor problem In Jeff ferson county inasmuch as 1t provides
 for dispensary and beer buffets. The mining bill Is of interest throughout
 northern Alabama where the greatest mining industries of the south throw out their commercial throbs.
 The education bills are to be given consideration this week, also, as well as a number of appropriation measures.
 Local Liquor Bills
 There are from eight to twelve local liquor bills on the house calendar to come up for consideration between now | and the time of adjournment. During I the present week, or the next, it Is probable that other local measures of
 this nature will be introduced in the l two houses. At present there are only two general bills pending in the legis-
 lature that have to do with liquor, one of which is the measure of MT. Butt of Montgomery 10 make the public drinking of intoxicating liquors or bev- erages on railway cars or street cars, or | in railway waiting room, misde-
 meanor, and to provide for the punish ment therefor.
 The majority of the local liquor meas ures have to do with the establish : | ment of dispensaries. or saloons. in 1 certain towns of the various counties which they affect. while several of the bills are designed to prohibit the sale of liquor altogether in certain coun- ties.
 In this latter class there are two bills pending in the house by Senator Sprott
 one intended to prohibit the sale of in- | tcXicating beverages in Sumter county
 and the other providing against the sale
 of liquor in Pickens county. These bills have both passed the senate. and are now
 on the house calendar for consideration. The other general liquor bill is by Mir Walden of Morgan county This bill is designed to prohibit the sale or giving away, or otherwise disposing of vinous, spurious or malt liquors or other intoxi- cants in cities or towns of less than ten | thousand inhabitants, and to prescribe a penalty for the violation of the act. It is quite likely that this bill will meet with considerable opposition when it comes up for passage, and 1t Is not | believed that it will pass. The operation of the Walden measure would serve to eliminate the sale of liquor from a large
 number of counties in the state that wish ! to establish dispensares and 1t is highly improbable that the bill will receive fa- vorable consideration in the house.
 Mir. Horton of Limestone has a bill to
 authorize the town of Athens, Limestone
 county, to establish and operate a dis pensary, and there is similar bill by Mir. Whatley of Houston which is in- tended to authorize each incorporated city or town in that county to establish a dispensary.
 In addition to these local bills, there are two measures by Senator Spragins
 on the house calendar. one to establish
 dispensary in the city of Huntsville,
 Madison county. and the other to pro- hibit the sale of liquor in any other place in that county except in Huntsville. Another local measure on the house calendar Is the Smith bill. which has | more significance attached to it than the
 other measures. This bill is designed 10 | authorize and regulate the sale of liquor
 within a certain area of the city of Montgomery, and to prescribe the meth cd by which 8 license for such purpose
 may be obtained. the appointment of an excise commission and to provide the
 payment of the expenses of this com mission
 
 to Senator Screws measure which pa ssed the senate last Friday. Each of these bills seeks to authorize the sale of liquor
 in Montgomery without an election, and | 1t Is believed that when they come up for passage in the house they will ca ch
 encounter most serious opposition. Whether or not the house will pass the various local liquor bills Is purely
 matter of conjecture. though there is a strong probability that some of these
 measures will be defeated. There Is strong sentiment in the house against the passage of any local liquor meas
 ure that does not carry with 1t election
 provisions. and there Is every probability that an attempt to pass such measures
 will bring about one of the closest fights
 that has taken place on the floor of the house during the present session