Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-07
LIVING TRUTH "A MISSIONER Governor Advises Whitehead to
 Change the Name. REPLY TO THOSE CHARGES Is Full and Frauk-Search light Turned on Three Democratic Administrations
 Whitening Sarcasm by the Way

Montomery, June 6.-(Special.) )-Gov- ernor Oates tonight handed to the press the following very interesting reply to the reckless charges which have been made against the last three democratic state administrations by MT. White heads paper, the Living Truth, which charges have been reproduced in all of the populist papers in the state
 The Governors Open Letter.
 The populisl newspapers are publish ing over the state an article which MT W hitehead produced in his Living Truth touching financial expenditures during the administrations of Governor Jones and myself. He starts out with the as- sertion that when Governor Seay went out of office there was $200,O00 of sur plus revenue in the treasury. He says that Governor Jones held the office for four years by virtue of ballot box stuff ing" This is the first time l have ever heard of anyone making the charge that he was thus elected the first time-in 1890. Whitehead had better change the name of his paper unless he can get nearer to the living truth" than that part of his statement. I have frequently heard 1t charged that there was ballot box Stum- ing in Jones' second election, about which I have no personal knowledge whatever.
 He says that Jones "squandered' the
 
 received from taxation and increased
 the state debt by borrowing an amount
 approximating $500000'
 In Governor Seay's retiring message
 to the general assembly, November F,
 1890, he used the following language:
 All the money of the people of Ala
 bama is with them except that which Is
 in the state treasury, and the amount in
 the treasury is sufficient to meet the de-
 mands of the government, economically
 administered There is no surplus
 Now what becomes of the statement
 that when Governor Seay went out of
 office he left about $200, 900 in the treas
 ury after having paid all running and
 incidental expenses of the state govern
 ment during his term of office?" That
 Is utterly false, or Governor Seay lied in
 his message to the general assembly.
 Another good reason why the name of
 the paper should be changed.
 Jones Began With No Surplus.
 Owing to the great increase in the vol
 ume of taxable property the rate of tax
 ation at the beginning of Governor Seays
 last term was reduced by the general as-
 sembly to mills on the dollar There
 was just sufficient revenue to pay the ~current expenses of the government
 when Jones' administration began in
 December, 1890, and would have so con-
 tinued during 1891 but for the fact that
 the general assembly which reduced the
 tax rate added $100,000 per annum to the
 expenditure for public schools, and the
 first general assembly of Jones' admin
 istration provided for an increased ex-
 penditure for the insane asylum and for
 the deaf dumb and blind schools, adding
 an institution of the kind for unfortunate
 negroes With the beginning of the year
 1892 the taxable value of the property
 of the state began to shrink, and during
 that year and the next fell off $50, O,0O0,000,
 and, with the increased expenditure, ere
 ated a considerable deficiency in the rev
 enues, and it continued to grow until
 when Governor Jones turned over the
 administration to me he had borrowed
 $500, 900, which I repaid in the
 early part of 1895, with about
 $15OOO interest and expenses of transmitting the money back and forth to New York. In addition to this there were at my inauguration other debts due by the state which accrued during the preceding fiscal year and may be con- sidered deficiencies, to-wit: $55,000 to pay sheriffs for feeding and removal of pris- oners during the years 1893 and 1894; about $36 900 to be refunded to the coun- ties on account of solicitors fees, and about $30, 900 of costs due in felony cases, to say nothing of many smaller amounts, approximating $700,000. All these were paid in 1895, which so far encroached upon the revenues received for that year that I found in July that there was no money with which to pay school claims. It then became necessary to make two trips to New York to secure a loan to the state, which did at different times, and it aggregated $510,000. l obtained 1t at D per cent interest which was considered
 a remarkably low rate-less than the
 state had heretofore paid. It enabled the state officials to meet every demand with reasonable promptness, and out of the revenue received in December and January last repaid every dollar of the nd "a mi thereon day of February of this year. By the increase of the rate of taxation 1a mill the aggregate amount of revenues re- ceived has been increased about $l20,000 With this and the economy I have em- ployed, which has been of the most rigid character, the deficiency in the revenues by the end of my term will, I think, be less than $500,000.
 Judged by His Own Record.
 Then his article proceeds to say "Gov- ernor Oates took possession as Jones' successor. in like manner and by virtue of the same obnoxious methods, and con- tinued to administer the state finances in the same brilliant and masterful man. ner as that practiced by his illustrious predecessor. These statesmen seem to have but two ideas of government on their great absorbing intellect: Get all you can, and spend all you get" That is just what Whitehead has always done in his own affairs.
 That Cry of Fraud.
 In regard to my election, have to say, if there were fraud and ballot box stuff ing on my side there were some of the same acts performed upon the populist side. But conceding, for the sake of ar gument only. that all the votes returned for Kolb were legal, and that 15,000 or 1s,000 of those returned for me were fraudulent, which is an overestimate on any reasonable hypothesis. still I was elected by about 10000 majority. The legislature counted the votes, as it had right to do, which showed that I was elected. On the same day the late Colonel Troy, who was about the best informed and most intelligent man on the pcpulist side. told me that while gross frauds were practiced in several of the counties, that he was satisfied beyond doubt that was legally elected governor. Had l not honestly believed that I re- ceived a decided majority of the legal votes cast in that election I would not have accepted the office. Reese, Kolb and others furnished the populist sena- tor, Allen of Nebraska, with material, and he made a speech and his commit tee report, claiming that Kolb was |