The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-15
Mir Handley-1 do. It is the grand

MT. Handley-I do. It is the grand est thing, in my mind, that has hap pened here. I am in favor of 3 mills | for school purposes. It will be a grand thing to increase the popularity of the Constitution and secure It's ratification | all over Alabama; the white people ev- erywhere will endorse it, especially in l the hill counties in Alabama. Now, we have been told that in 1901-and we
 have very good authority, the Judges | of Probate in the counties-that we Will | have an increased valuation this year | of from twelve millions to fifteen mil lions of dollars over last year. That is not all. We estimate that these cotton
 mills that have been built; we estimate the cost of forty millions of dollars, ana
 they will gradually come in for taxa tion by degrees. That is not all. Here we are about to refund the debt of the State eight or nine millions of dollars, and, gentlemen of the Convention, l give it as my opinion that we can re- fund the debt at fifty years at three per cent; I give that as my opinion. know something about the condition Of
 affairs in the financial world. and give 1t as my opinion that we can re-
 fund that debt at three per cent, or at three and one-half per cent. any how. | Now if this be so, there will be sav- | two hundred thousand dollars year for the State of Alabama. Then we have a saving of a half million dollars from appropria tions by the Legislature;
 then we have a saving of great deal l from increased valuation. This Will
 give us a big margin, a grand margin,
 to perform with and I regard it as be-
 ing a certainty that the State of Ala
 bama will be able to meet all her ob- | | 4f nd this obligation, too. Now, think about the cotton mills, forty millions of dollars will soon come in. Now. up here in Walker County the other day a Pittsburg syndicate came forward and bought $3,000,00O l worth of coal lands, and that will bring in taxes and there will be a grand in crease throughout the whole country, l in my opinion.
 MT. Sanford (Pike)-Permit me to ask a question. Was not that $3,0 900 worth of land here all the time before the Pittsburg syndicate bought it? MT. Handley-Its valuation was not there before. and now they have a val
 uation on it that amounts to good deal. There is another thing, if we are
 only going to have legislative sessions | once in four years, that will be sav- ing to the State of Alabama of from $50. 900 to $100,000, and many other things
 that could mention. Why. I tell you that the time will come when Birming-
 ham, and that mineral district sur
 rounding 1t. will pay almost half of the taxes of the State of Alabama. When
 first went to Birmingham, I got me a | turnout and went and looked at Red | Mountain, and I saw a crop that never could be gathered that was matured
 and inexhaustble; I saw a crop that all | the men that Generals Lee and Grant | commanded in the war could not gather | in thousand years: I saw the lime, ore, and then the lime and the sand, and
 the coal-all that surrounding country
 there. The truth is in going up this grand Red Mountain, which is said to
 be seventy miles long, and half a mile high, in going up this grand mountain | the veins of iron ore protruded out | twenty-two feet to the front, and went | In the direction or China at about an angle of forty-five degrees, and then went up the mountain at about forty five degrees. and 1t was 200 or 300 feet to the top of the mountain, 1t was just simply immense. Dr. Caldwell, Presi- dent of the Elyton Land Company, bored well about a mile beyond that mountain, and bored it about 1000 feet deep, and on the route he went through that vein of ore, 100 feet. How can you estimate the value of such property as exists there? It is just wonderful. 1 lived in a cotton country, I thought to myself if 1 had B, 900 square miles here in cotton, and 1t was about six feet high and open to the top and had 25,000 hands to pick it and another lot doing the ginning, and another lot do- ing the selling, that that would be something in comparison to the min- district n oh
 Mir. Sanford (Pike)-Will the gentle man permit question I would like him to tell the Convention how he will ever get that property assessed for tax ation at it's true value?
 MT. Handley-It never has been and never will be in my opinion. It is simply grand to think about 1t, the value of that property, and that sur rounding district. No one can imagine its value. Men that have been living on 1t and about it do not know any thing about it's value, they just guess at it and do the best they can, but when they come to value it for taxa tion they do about like other people in the State fully as well
 The President pro tem-The gentle mans time has expired.
 Mr. O'Neal-I move that the gentle mans time be extended. He does not OlleH lTOuDle us.
 MT. Sanford (Pike)-After consulta- tion 1 desire to ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment that I just sert up.
 Unanimous consent was accorded. and the amendment withdrawn.
 MT. O'Neal-l move that the gentle mans time be extended ten minutes.
 The motion was adopted.
 Mr. Handley-Mr. President, I want to state that I feel great interest in the public schools of Alabama, and l will state the Committee on Educa- tion has done its duty, and I shall vote for Section 5, I shall vote for it, heartily knowing that the State is well provided for and can pay it and every other debt she may owe al the time, and hope that the members of this Convention will favor the report of this Committee.
 Mir. Samford-I just want to ask one question. and 1t is friendly, I assure you. l have great respect for the gen. tleman's financial ability, and I want to ask hIm if he has made personal ex- animation in this State, and if he states 1t to this Convention that the State can safely do this after an investigation of its finances?
 Mir. Handley-Certainly, it was the business of our Committee to look into the matter thoroughly.
 MT. SamfOrd-Did you do it?
 Mir. Handley-MCst emphatically, We did-of course We did not do anything with our eyes closed. (Applause.)
 Mr. ONeal-WaS not YOur estimate