The age-herald., 1899-02-22

these things as would Ike to nave dones so might expedite the time taken in the discussion of the subject. Mir. President, I desire before the senate to examine some of these facts concerning this question of taxation. I propose to try it by the square miles in the county, the population in the county, the assessment in the county and the raises.
 Now. let us look at some of these.
 The population according to the census Of 1890 is the basis Now we find the tax assessment of 1S9S as shown by the audi tors report for the year 1898, pages 52-53, of said report, and also the raises in valua- ton for 1898. shown by the auditors re- port for 1898, pages 56-57 of said report. The following are the assessments of the great counties of the state: Calhoun coun- ty, the assessment was $S. .497 774-notice that-raises, s534 SSS; Dallas, the tax assess ment, sS, ,728 750; Madison. assessment was $7, ,31S, ,39O, raises sS1S,se2; Mobile, the assess ment was s21 ,472 600, raises s6S1 ,s20; Mopt- gomery the total assessment was S20,- 75716. Now, I call the particular attention of the senate to this fact. the raise was S165, ,933. Not a solitary one of them went up to a million. Now let us turn to Jeffer- son, the assessment ss3 ,S51. Now the raises in that county were S5,S5,1SO
 Now, MT. President, the following IS the assessment per eouare mile in those coun- ties-I call attention to that: Dallas. $S,- 90i 80: Madison. S, 9,415.S8; Calhoun, $4,765l3; Mobile, S17173.60; Montgomery, $2S,2i45J; Jefferson, S40, ,79360. Now, dividing the raises in valuation by the number Of square miles, we have the following raises per square mile by counties, and l call atten- ton particularly of the senate to this fact: Raises per square mile, raises by the com- missioners court and boards Of revenue, if you please Montgomery, S2&00; Madi- son, s3S7OO; Mobile, s25S.G0; Calhoun, sS56O0; Jefferson, $5,57O.0o-that Is. raises per square mile Now, adding the assessments ana raises we find, dividing by populations: Dal- las. s176S3: Madison, s2O0.000; Calhoun, s266; Montgomery, sS7200; Mobile, $42soo, and Jefferson, $442O0 So that we find, MT President, whether we take JeIerson county by the number of square miles or by the inhabitants, that she Is out or pro portion from 50 per cent. to 1,O09 per cent. over the great counties that have enumer- ated
 MT President, the raises in the entire state of Alabama-I ask the attention Of the senator to this-was S454 ,6O260. Je1- ferson county contributed S5,S4SlS You will thus find MT. President, that the coun- ty of Jefferson has contributed nearly or quite two-ihirds of the entire amount. one county in the state of Alabama contribut- ing nearly two-thirds of the raises by the commissioners court. If these figures are true and they are taken from the auditors report, the proper thing would be Dill to abolish the commissioners courts and boards of revenue in the other counties in the state of Alabama-if figures mean any thing. Now, including the raises, Jeffer- son county is paying taxes on $40 503.80 per square mile, the balance of the state alto- gether excluding Jefferson county. pays on $4 ,459S9 thus the county of Jefferson is paying nearly ten times as much per square mile as are the other counties in the state of Alabama I call your attention to the fact, MT. President, that the raises upon the property in Jefferson county is s5,500 whereas the assessments and raises both in the balance of the counties of the state is only 4,459. The commissioners court of Jefferson county has raised the property, per square mile, more than as- sessment by the taxpayers and raises by the commissioners court and board of revenue altogether have In the balance of the state. The raises in the state of Ala bama outside of Jefferson by population is $2.18. In the county of Jefferson the raise per capita is $60.44. MT. President, do these figures impress anybody? Do these facts and figures taken from the auditors report weigh anything with the senate? Does the fact that Jefferson is paying over $40 1000 per square mile, the balance of the state $4,459.S9 per square mile-does it mean any thing? Does it mean anything that the raises in Jefferson is 900 more than the assessments and raises combined in the balance of the state? Does 1t mean any thing that the per capita average in the bal ance of the state without Jefferson Is $2.1S, whereas with Jefferson it is $60A?
 Now, MT. President, do not desire to be personal in this discussion, but I desire to enlighten some senators who favor this bill. They seem to take a wonderful in- terest in my county; there is an idea pre- vailing that Jefferson county somehow or other is getting the upper hand of the people of this state-getting the upper nuyhn av.6 Gfa ample with the county of Cullman. The county of Cullman raises per square mile S25.0S, per capita $1.10, $1.10 in Cullman county as compared to S60.44 in Jefferson per capita Clay county did not have any thingNt all, did not have any raise-I don't court over there. Neither did Cleburne county. Let us take for instance the coun- ty of Marengo I see no raise there of any description. Let us take the county of Crenshaw, the raise there amounts to $1. The county of Coosa, $1.36
 The county of Tallapoosa 49 cents per capita-that is the raise in that county. Let us take the county Marion-no raises at all in that county. Take the county of Etowah, the raise there is s. IS; in St, Clalr county it Is $851. Without consuming the time of the senate, you may read over the raises per capita in the various counties without my taking time to name them.
 
 county of Jefferson is s60A per capita. Now, MT. President, the argument is going to be heard here in answer to these figures that Jefferson county is a rich county. it IS iull or great and powerful corporations Ihat is correct. Are you sorry of it? I ask the senate of Alabama, are you sorry or 1t, or are you proud of it? On the floor of the senate the other day, a number of senators who favor this bill, not only voted absolutely to exempt certain corporal tions from taxation for ten years-actually voted to exempt them, some senators did. am glad to know that the senator from Jeffer- son did not. But here we are to turn out the court of county commissioners who have raised out of sight the property in Jefferson county-as compared with other counties. Mr. President, whatever can be said of the senator from Jefferson this cannot be said-that he has stood here in defense of the unjust claims of corpora tions. If the corporations are opposed to this bill, it is the first time that they and the senator from Jefferson have been in the same wagon since I have been in the senate. My record here upon the senate floor shows that I have fought for the