The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-09
LAWYERS PREPARE !, FOR S25,OO0,OO0 E ROAD BOND CASE
Hest Action Pending In Su-
 preme Court Affects Highway 1 System ot Entire State. Briefs to Exhaust Tones
By FRED ". GORNLEy Montrlemery EssIre0u The Age-H Herald. zzi~s First National Bank Building.


 i. Montgomery January s.-(speciaI)-- lSsAfter working night and day for some time, Judge James J. Mayfield, former Memper of the supreme court and now special counsel for the state in various AHigatlons, has convinced himself that the legislature had the right to delegate 10 Governor Kilby the power of fixing the date for the special election held Feb ruary 16 192a which resulted in the ap- proval of a bond issue for S15 0Gaoe0 tor the construction of a permanent system nf roads in Alabama
 Judge Mayfeld is preuarine brief which will be filed with the supreme court with another being written by Henry P. White, assistant attorney gem eral, which. they hope, will counteract the various propositions raised by Judge r. Lloyd Tate. member of the law firm of Steiner. Crum Well. which is at tacking the constitutional amendment in friendly suit the value of the bonds rsaast he established heyond all doubt
 WHY IT'S LEGAL
 One of the most serious questions raised in the friendly contest concerned the right of the legislature to delegate the authority to call the special election on a date not named. when the constitution speciflca lly says that amendments pro- posed shall be voted at an election to . he held on date to be named by the Legislature. Iudrge Mayfield's conclusion ' iSs that the legislature had a right. to delegate this authority even with the limitation of the section, and in his brief will set forth the fact that every Constitution Alabama has had since the state was admitted into the Imion has said that the legislature shan provide for special elections for the filing of va cancies in public offices. lpstead of pro- vding for special elections the brief sets nfh inc more than tell the governor that he shall provide for the elections as they may be needed. Judge Iavfeld's contention Is that it would be virtually impossible for the legislature to determine when a spe- Eial election would be necessary.
 ! An instance: The Alabama legislature fR6journed sine die in September. 1919. ESenator John H. Bankhead died in 1920 HkIthough the constitution said the legis- fature should provide for the special elec- tion for filling the vacancy thus created it was not possible for tho legislature to do SO, because it was in adjournment and an extra Session would have cost the state HhouSazdS of dollars. But the speciai Eeection was held, as Governor Kilby. Acting under the power shifted to him by Enc legislature. set a date for it.
 ON OTHER HAND
 Attorneys are still far from an agree xnent on the case. and Judge Tate who has made exhaustive investigation of similar cases. is convinced that the amendment not submitted in accord H1rce with the constitution, and therefore Is not operative. Of ccSlrse personally Judge Tate is not opposed to the high way improvement p'An, but he was asked to take the case and attempt to raise every point possible aeanst the validity 4Fof the amendpfent in order that the posi- tioH1 Of the bond issue as an investment ! rof all persons may be established be- z yond any shadow of doubt
 Tn bringing the suit or rather in arr ranging ifor the, test, the state held the view that the bond issue could not be disposed of unless it's validity had been established. In fact. if is the practice of many bond companies to refuse to invest in any bond issue until the supreme court of the state of issue has validated them, even though question of their value may have been raised up to that time. This has been practice in the exercise of a sound discretion in business. The state decided to go to the limit in this case because of the importance and the amount of the proposed bond issue.
 If the supreme court sustains the valid 'fty of the amendment and establishes the value of the bond issue in this case, there will never again be any doubt of the standing of the issue An effort will be made to complete the preparation of briefs and the writing of the transcript early in the week, in order that the case may be submitted on appeal from the Montgomery circuit court Tues day or Thursday the first call since the supreme court recessed for the Christ mas holidays.