(AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS)

OF THE

LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA

PASSED AT THE

SESSION OF 1919

HELD AT THE CAPITOL, IN THE CITY OF MONTGOMERY,

I, Wm. P. Cobb, Secretary of State, in and for the State of Alabama, do hereby certify that this volume is published by the authority of the State of Alabama, and in accordance with law.

WM. P. COBB, Secretary of State.

Montgomery, Alabama.

The Brown Printing Company,
State Printers and Binders,

1919.

276336

MESSAGE
OF

GOVERNOR CHARLES HENDERSON

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

The past four years have been truly an epoch-making period. Many glorious pages have been added to the history of our nation since the close of the deliberations of your predecessors. Never before have the people of our common country been more closely united with a single purpose and possessed with such an earnest desire to be of service to their country and to their fellowman, as they were during the twenty months in which we were at war with European enemies. This unified co-operation and wholesome spirit of self-sacrifice, will make up the brightest pages in the annals of democracy. The spirit displayed has shown that the nation's prosperity had not made of its citizenship a sordid people, but has been, it seems, rather an inspiration to higher ideals and better fellowship. The actions of the people of America will receive the acclaim of the other nations of the world, and it should be an assurance to them, that the beacon of democracy will continue to shine as an example to other peoples, and as an exemplification of the truth, that "governments should only derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."

In the making of this record, our nation has depended and relied upon the co-operation and support of the forty-eight states of the Union. Alabama has participated in this support equally with all the other states, and now with the return of peace, we can look with pride upon the score that has been made in each of the activities concerning the war, that have gone far towards aiding and strengthening our government in the performance of its tasks.

Alabama answered the nation's call by the tender of volunteers. She answered it through the stoical acceptance upon the part of her people of the duties assigned to them, by reason of citizenship. She answered the call of the nation by the tender of her best young manhood and of her treasure, without evasion. This was all done with the unfaltering determination, that the honor and integrity of the nation should be preserved and that the best traditions of a noble ancestry should be upheld and glorified. How well that faith has been nurtured, is best told in the daily reports that have come from the battlefields of ChateauThierry, on the Marne, before Verdun, in the Argonne Forest and from the sectors from Flanders to Loraine. It is told in the golden hue of the stars in the home service flags. And now when the advance guards of our heroes, flushed with victory, are returning to their native land, we can rejoice as Americans and as

Alabamians, over the records which they have made during the world conflict and which records they now bring and present to us, as fresh laurels for the graves of our heroes of the past and of the present.

While rejoicing over the return of our soldiers, our happiness is tempered with a touch of sorrow, for, there are many of those heroes who met the supreme test of duty, by giving up their lives as a sacrifice to their country, that others might live. We should remember, however, that while the bodies of these heroes may lie in the sacred soil of France, that usefulness and service to one's country and to his fellowman, is not to be measured by the span of years in which he may be permitted to live this life. The influence of a hero does not cease with his physical existence here, but his spirit continues to abide with his fellowman and to incite him to deeds of valor and to the higher ideals of life, for centuries to come.

Alabama's soldiers from the illustrious corps commander down to the unherald private have all made good; her people at home have stood as a reserve force and imbibed fully the spirit of those who were at the front. The State's record is clear, and we can, with confidence and with sincerity exclaim, I am proud that I am an American. I am proud that I am an Alabamian.

The achievements of our heroes should be ever perpetuated in our minds and in the memories of those who come after us. There is no more suitable way of commemorating their deeds than by the erection, in public places, of enduring monuments. The capitol grounds are the most suitable location for such a tribute. It would lend a touch of beautiful sentiment to this act of remembrance for it to be erected from popular offerings accepted from an admiring and devoted people. The Legislature, however, should father the movement by the creation of a commission to receive subscriptions and to take such other action as may be necessary for the consummation of the plan. The counties will then likely follow the example set by the State and erect monuments in the public places of their several localities. It is something more than sentiment-it is an inspiration to have the acts of noble lives constantly before our view.

You are to be congratulated upon the opportunities presented to you by reason of the responsibilities which you have accepted and which you assume at this time, just in the dawn of a new era. With new occasions come new duties and with the many new problems with which you are now faced come new opportunities and additional obligations. The world has been torn asunder by more than four years of war, and now, with the restoration of peace, the time has come for rebuilding and restoring the waste. that has taken place during these years of turmoil and strife. The readjustment that must take place in our economic life, must be guided by conservative minds and aided by efficient and will