The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-22

were tHeSo-
 An injunction temporarily re-
 strnining Governor Roberts, Sec
 rcstnry of State Stevens and Speak
 CTS Andrew Todd and Seth Walker
 of the senate and house, respec-
 lively, iron, certifying ratification
 to Washington or from taking any
 other action with regard to the
 amendment on the ground that this
 legislature had no legal right to act upon 1t, wns issued by Judge E. F.
 Iangford ofsthe chancery court of Davidson county. The injunction is returnabIe within five days on agreement.
 The suffrage majority in the house called from the journal the Walker motion thnt the house consider It's action in ratffyIng the amendment and killed it.
 Twenty-Five members of the house opposed to suffrage left in . body shortly after last midnight for Decatur. Ala, in an effort to break
 the quorum md prevent notion the Walker action, their absence 1 resulting in what character ized of the most unique ! parliamentary tnngies in the his- | tory of American legislative ! bodies.
 | Suffrage leaders tonight declared they were "on top of the world" and l that the only obstacle now to certifica- l tion to Secretary of State Colby was the restraining order issued by Judge Langford This they expected to over- come. with little difficulty.
 SAY SUITS RUIN CAUSE On the other hand Speaker Walker. leader of the opposition, and scores of his lieutenants said the suffragists mad ruined their cause because of their tactics and that even should the courts eventually hold ratification legal the Mitigation would so delay a final de-
 cislon that the amendment would not
 figure in the November elections unless Connecticut or Vermont ratified 1t be-
 fore that time.
 The situation was the result of Mir. Walkers motion that the house recon
 sider it's action. When the house last Wednesday concurred in the actio of the senate in ratifying the amendrl Nt Speaker Walker, in order to entsr , motion on the Journal that the h9ase D recopsider the natter changed nis sts from nay to aye" By this step aa , reserved to himself alone for two oays 1 the privilege of moving reconsideration. } After that period any member who voted in the affirmative was privileged to call the motion from the journal and , request action upon 1t.
 Walker failed to muster a majority Thursday and Friday and did not dare to act for he would have been de- feated by the suffragists and the fight against ratification, so far as the leg islature was concerned, would have been ended When Walker realized yesterday that he did not have ma , jority he attempted to carry motion
 to adjourn until Monday afternoon for
 uct
 ton was defeated and the suffragis for the first time took the offensive e and forced adjournment overnight. HOPED TO KILL MOTION v The object of the suffrage forces in ]. holding the House in session today t was to get at the Walker motion for
 reconsideration and kill 1t. It had been : held that since the motion was a mat s ter of record, ratification could not : properly be certified until it had been e disposed of.
 r The opposition minority realizing : that the battle was lost if a session s was held and they were not in ma- !. jority. rounded up enough of their I members late last night to break a n quorum. boarded early morning d train and left the state, to remain until - the twenty Legislative days of the spe- II ciai session of the assembly had ex- : pired. The motion to reconsider was IS On the JOuTndl ana IL remained auve 2 as long as 1t was not taken therefrom : and acted upon. or until the legislature
 had adjourned sine die. The bolters
 acted in the knowledge that if a
 quorum of the house was not present
 at any time during the remaining days
 of the session, adjournment sine de
 would be impossible. They might be } forced to attend the session were they
 in Tennessee before the expiration of
 the twenty legislative days. but after
 that period the state had no power to i- compeL<their attendance because their r. compen Sation as members ceased. This , would leave the legislature In d state
 of being irisssssion with no members III of the house present and without the il power to enforce their attendance. The l., governor could not call another special
 l session. because the present session " would not have adjourned sine die His " only resource would have been to wait
 until after the election of the legisla- 'e ture in November. and this would have to been too late for the amendment to be- r. come effective before the general cleo 10 tions this year.
 d ONLY 5g PRESENT
 When thelhouse met this morning all Id the suffragists and sprinkling of the Iy opposition members were In their seats. l. The roll call showed fifty-nine mcm-
 bers present. or seven short of a
 quorum Speaker Walker declared a =, recess for one hour and ordered the
 sergeant at-arms to arrest and bring before the bar of the house such ab-
 sentees as can be found"
 The sergeant-at-arms could not make
 round trip to Alabama in hour |. and in addition had authority to T arrest anyone outside the state. so all |. he could do was to report that none of T the missing members appeared to be in . the city. 's T. K Rddick. suffragist floor leader.
 declaring that action on the sufrrag ge As amer ment was not a state but fed
 ers' alter. and that the state laws as Fs strasss quorum of the house did not
 apply moved that the Walker motion "a teF reconsideration be called from .A
 laafnal and acted upon. Speaker Walker ,a re5au ssted him to put the motion In
 et ing that it might be spread on the rs l4rnal X recess of few minutes
 fclowed while Riddick was transcribing
 motion. and in the meantime the ss le3unction prohibiting certifcatlon was sefved on the speaker.
 ,s siddick finally. offered the motion in 3iting. but so amended as to provided Ia. at the house reconsider It's ratification
 o. the suffrage measure. At the same
 sme he declared that the attorney gen.
 sral of the state had ruled that action
 ,n the amendment was political and not '~ legislative: that since 1t was federal
 and not state matter the state con stitutforal nuorur, was not necexnarv