Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1897-01-17
THAT CONVENTION QUESTION.


The Montgomery Advertiser in reply
to the statement of the State Herald
wherein Representative Troup. of Nor
gan county. was quoted as saying that
the cities of Montgomery and Mobile are
exempt from the restrictions of the con-
stitution relative to assessing and col
lecting rgher rat of tax than is general
ly provided for, says:
There was special reason for exempt
ing the city-an county of Mobile from
the operation of certain provisions of
these two articles of the constitution
With respect to the county, the sixteenth
section fund, as is we'll known, was
granted by congress to the inha bitants of
the townships, respectively, for the use
of schools, and the interest upon the fund
arising out of the sale of these sections
of land, Is paid to the townships in pro-
portion to the amount for which the Sec
ton in each township was sold The
amount of the principal in Mobile county
is only $73119, while in Madison county 1t
is STAG, 493.13 With respect TO the city it
was largely in debt at the time. 1t was
for these special reasons that Mobile city
and county alone We're exempted from
the general restrictions put upon the tax
rate In otherrcounties and cities.
Referring to the calling of a constitu-
tional convention, the Advertiser con-
cludes it's article as follows:
In regard to calling a convention, our
contemporary in it's zeal for local bene-
fit. is making great mistake. There
will be few people found who favor the
calling of convention for the main pur-
pose of con ferring additional power of
taxation upon certain localities, counties
or municipalities. Upon that issue alone
we do not Believe II could carry. The
people are already bearing about all the
burdens from taxation that they care to
bear, TO say nothing of our Willingness
to do so under contingency. We do not
believe that these extreme conditions are
likely to arise: hence we will not stop TO
enumerate them now.
There are other ques tons of far more
Importance and which effect the vital in
terests of our people. that are much more
likely to cut a figure in our future than
that of comforting the dangerous power
of taxation upon local boards. That the
real necessity. for local taxation may ex-
list. we will not deny. 1t is more than
probable that in many instances there
is a good reason for 1t. Yet that for this
purpose alone a constitutional conven-
ton is not demanded nor would one be
held on that account.
While it may be true that majority
of the people are opposed to the calling
of a convention for the specific purpose
of comforting additional power of taxa
ton" this opposition is based upon the
mistaken lutd tndl SUN q ppWCi WOulu
be conferred on the whole state, when, in
fact, it is only asked for by the localities
that need and. must, in some way, in
crease their taxation in order to protect
their property and their credit
AS was the case with Mobile when the
present constitution was adopted, other
cities in the state are now largely in
debt, and under the present rate Of taxa
ton cannot even pay the interest on their
Indebtedness, much less reduce the prin-
cipal
Take for instance, Birmingham, Shelf
field, Fort Payne and a number of other
North Alabama cities. Money was Law
ishly spent in establishing enterprises,
and as a natural consequence all things
coming their way, bonds were floated to
improve these new cities and equip them
with modern oonveniences. BY this
means they hoped to continue to attract
capital and to grow great in popula.
tion and wealth. The depression came