The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-29
ATTORNEYS MUST PAY FEE PRIOR TO OCT. l
License Is Mandatory, Says Attor- ney Generals Opinion
 STATE CAPITAL BUREAU)
 THE AGE-HERALD

d ACV C4 PAV ACA0AAI0 " NtAS NsNN N- the present legislature before October l, 1923, in order to be In good stand ing, according to an opinion of At torney General Harwell G. Davis, furnished to State Treasurer George w. Ellis today. Other information as to the effect of the recent act reg ulating the state bar is found in the opinion.
 The attorney general stated:
 Section Il of said act is mandatory in its provisions, and requires tha; every member of the state bar shal pay this license fee of S10 prior to the first day of October, 1923, in order to be recognized in the voting ol transaction of business in the State bar as being in good standing" we expect to continue to support him in everything.
 T am speaking now of the personal reference. It was further insinuated that MT. Thompson, at one time or another, had been chased out of somewhere for some reason or other 1 want to tell you it was unfair to say that because you know, deep down in your hearts, that cannot be true; that considering the position he holds today in the national capital in
  been chased out of anywhere and if you ever looked in his face, as have, and had seen him when he was determined to do what was right, yor' would know that Frederick l. Thompson cannot be chased out of anywhere or bluffed down from any thing, any time,
 "As for Mir. Long, I have the great est personal respect and regard for tho from RntlDr. h1t cannot understand to save my life MT. Longs arimosity to anything that seems to come from Mobile, to anything that would tend to help or benefit Mobile in any way.
 T heard MT. Long stand up in this hall and say that the legislature of Alabama had come to a pretty pass when any man would stand up and oppose the passage of a local bill .ad vanced and advocated by a member of this house, affecting his county and his county only. The other night there was @ bill passed here and with it a companion measure affecting the oyster industry of Mobile. The com panion measure. providing for an appropriation. was defeated in the senate; it was killed in committee, but the other bill increasing the tax on oysters from two to five cents per barrel was passed; and we sought this morning, and Mobile was the only one affected by this bill, we sought to recall it from the senate, and with this gentleman from But Ter leading the opposition, there was movement to keep up from recall ing the bill that he had opposed the passage of. l cannot explain his at- titude. l don't know what we have done to him. I don't know what any member from Mobile has done to him. ( probably some one of you can an- swer that better than 1 can.
 T hate at this time to take up this matter. when everyone wants to be happy, and 1 have made some good friends here; I would like to take all of them to Mobile with me; but I cannot resist at this time what feel 10 be a call to stand up and defend a man I think has been un- fairly attacked.
 T have taken just about all the dime I am going to take. There is just one other thing here. Written in the journal of this house is the notice from the gentleman from But Ter that he will attack the constitu- tionality of the port enabling act. It is a well know fact here, how the gentleman from Butler stands on the several matters affecting the inter ests of the people. We know for instance of the burden of proof mat ter. His position on that is well known.
 What He Had In Mind.
 'I am wondering if he has in his mind. contemplating to fight the constitutionality of the act and op- pose the port of Mobile. I am won dering if he has in mind that by putting on the people the burden of showing whether or not rates are fair in this state. He hopes to en- able the railroads to drive business from Mobile to New Orleans or Pen sacola, or other rival ports.
 "Gentlemen, I leave it to you: Thompson, the man and Thompson, the publisher. I ask you if it is fair if it is right, to attack a man, when he is not allowed under the rules of this house to defend himself in a personal matter. I tell you now, the representatives from Mobile in the house and the representatives from Mobile in the senate resent It."
 MT. Long replied:
 'Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the house:
 'The gentleman has insinuated that I took a position on the ques- tion of the burden of proof. I deny that I have taken any position on the burden of proof, and l will say to this house, it is false. I did not take any such position at any time, and any such charge as that is un- true.
 (After this address MT. Holcombe pointed to the official record of the house which showed that MT. Long cast negative vote when the ef- fort was made to make the burden of proof bill special order and stated nf ha'd Dill as 1t prevented consideration by the house, although two-thirds of that this negative vote with the those voting, favored the passage of the bill)
 MT. Speaker and gentlemen of tho house, he has undertaken to defend fellow townsman. l had occassior to call attention to his public utter ances in public newspaper, He said the gentleman was not run out oi anywhere. l want to submit to this house: If half the mean things have been said about him are true, I sub init to this house that he should have been run out, whether he was or not. l have here report of the grand jury of the county of Mobile which shows the opinion-and wher l say opinion, the unanimous opin- ion--of the fellow townsmen of tn, gentleman from Mobile. (An eX cerpt from a report was read.)
 Gentlemen of the house, l submit to you that when a grand jury takes up the record of a man that owns all the daily papers in Mobile both morning and afternoon and puts upon the record such an indict ment as that, that shows the opinion in which the gentleman from Mobile stands in the community in whicl he lives. I was in hope gentlemen ot \ FIX1ll