The age-herald., 1898-07-31
Pays More Than 0ne-Eighth of
 All Taxes
INTO THE STATE TREASURY
Of the Total Receipts From Licenses, Jefferson County Paid in Nearly One Fourth of Entire Amount-One-
 Ninth of Railroad Assessment.
BY CHAPPELL CORY

Among other things about Birmingham, the county of which she is the center and the development which she represents, bear very important relation to the state trS ury.
 During the fiscal year ending September S0 1897, the total receipts into the treasury from general taxes amounted to $1,23s, ,7SS.69. Jefferson county paid of this s163, ,23637 or. more than one-eighth of the whole, The receipts from the special tax for old soldiers were s1l4,S2425. Of this Jefferson paid $14,7O9.O3, about the same proportion.
 The total receipts from licenses were $14S ,920.S6. Of this Jefferson paid $35, ,Sl3.74, which is nearly one-fourth of the whole amount.
 The total receipts from poll taxes were $146,55216 Of this amount Jefferson paid $l67 79O10, or one-eighth of the who e a m 5unt. The total assessment of railroad property in the state is $45,26l ,1539l. Of this amount Jefferson furnishes S5,291 ,323.S5, which is more than one-ninth of the whole
 It is curious to note that in 1880, before the mineral devolpment had fairly begun, the total receipts into the state treasury from general taxes were $52l 346, 1920, and Jefferson paid $14,6S704, or about one-thirty- fifth of the whole
 Of total license receipts of $S7 ,2365s, she then paid $36H7O, or about one-twenty- fourth.
 Birmingham was then city of less than 5000 people, but had already raised the county from very low position to about the average.
 In 1880, the total railroad assessment of the state was $16553, ,9O5.15, of which s82S,-. 0S7.S7 was in Jefferson, being just one-' twentieth of the whole.
 The following comparisons of Jefferson'ss taxation will interest the, curhous
 General Railroads
 Taxes. License. Polls. Values :. 1880 ..$ 14,6S704 3,64f 70 1,S61.07 s2S, ,0S7S7 1896 .. 163 ,23637 35,S1S.74 16,79O10 5291 323 S5
 Her general taxes have multiplied more than eleven times, her licenses nearly ten times, her poll taxes more than nine times and her railroad values morethan six timess
 Since 1880 the receipts in the treasurys from general taxes have increased by $17, 7,-< 442.37 To this increase Jefferson has cons tributed $14S549.33, or more than one-fifths of the whole. ;
 Licenses have increased by $61 ,6S4.27. ofa which Jefferson has contributed $32. .1690l;, or more than half
 Railroad values have increased BPS, ,707,-. 44S.76, Jefferson contributing 4463, ,235 9S of it, or between one-sixth and one-seventh of the whole. ss=ass 5.e.-. ,ts .sss =.sssx ss--s
 These figures show the contributions' ISfs the mineral development which 'Birming- ham represents, so far Jefferson county is concerned. But it will occur to every reader that this is only small part of it. To the same influence must be credited the building of the South and North railroad and of the Alabama Great Southern, which were the real founders of Birmingham, which in its turn brought the Georgia Pa elfic, Kansas City, Central, North Alabama, and so on and so on.
 The contention is sometimes made that if the mineral development had not attracted the money and enterprise of the state, these would have gone into sundry other channels into other towns, and the general result would not be far from what 1t is today so far as tax values and population are concerned; that South Carolina and North Carolina and Georgia have also prospered. However this may be, the facts are that one county whose wealth is nearly all de- rived from it's minerals pays about one eighth of the states revenues. If to Jeff ferson's contribution should be added all the railroads and the growth in counties like Bibb Walker, Colbert Lauderdale, Calhoun, Talladega, Blount, Etowah, Tus- caoosa and some others which owe their existence directly and indirectly to the pulsations of the great throbbing heart of Birmingham, it would not be hard to es- tablish that Alabama derives at least one- fifth of all her revenues from her mines and the outcome from their development.