The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-29
5 surplus ana 2 aeflcIt. | haye ne2sr

made and revealed about the Treasury was, that there was no surplus for them, and 1t was necessary for the Legislature to call a halt. Thera was no abuse of the taxing powers or ap- propriations during the administration of Governor Johnston that can be se- verely criticised.
 MT. Harrison-Do you believe that the Influences brought to bear oTs>the iast Legislature to pass that Sl0o'0O0> that If 1t had not been for the 1-2 cent. limitation that they would have voted Ii anyhow?
 MT. Grahanl--T think they would. there is no doubt about 1t. said while ago that the men of Alanama appreciate tke services of the men or 1861 and 1895 and |. was only tneir business serse that said they must not 70 any further. MT. Harrison-Do you not believe that 65 cents is enough for the people oi Alabama to pay?
 MT. Gra ham-I will answer that ques- tion with the condition 1t IS enough for the people of Alabama to pay they believe 1t right to take away tne present one mill for Confederate soi . diers and one mill for the puphc schools.
 MT. Browne--Wnl the gentleman al- low me to ask a question?
 The President-Will the gentleman permit an interruption:
 Ir Graham-Certainly.
 MT. Browne-Has the gentleman ex- amined into the figures in this matter sufficiently to say that in his oplpion The rate cannot be reduced to 6S cents without taking away that one mill?
 MT. Graham-I will say most ern- phatically from the report of the Att ditOr of 1900-
 MT. Browne-Have you gone to the Auditors office an1 had that report corrected to show what the actual re- ceipts were and that they were $Soo'- 900 over this estimate?
 MT. Graham-I have not. but nave gone to the State Treasurer who sald if you reduce this to 1-2 mills either the soldiers will lose one mill or the public schools of the State will lose one mill. and I believe from his experience in that office he knows something Of the finances of the State of Alabama. MT Browne-NVill the gentleman al low me to remark right there. Judge Cook has been the Chief Clerk for twelve years-without going into the matter as deeply as have--he exam ineG it before the committee. spent an hour and a half before the committee. and gave his opinion that they could
  not touch the one mill for the soldiers or for the schools, nor touch the $550,- 900.
 MT. Graham-One question. Did not Judge Cook make this very table for 1900?
 MT. Browne-That was an estimate for the future, and the Auditors of- fee will tell you that they are always conservative and make them less than they really are.
 MT. Graham-I am pleading for con- 1ervatism. I appreciate the conserva- tism of this estimate l have here more than the conservatism of the estimate which has been read by the commit tee.
 MT. deGraffenreid-In the estimate Mir. Browne refers to, there was S75,- GOO estimated to be collected from the tax on Suano2
 Mr. Graham-Yes.
 MT. deGraffenreid-And $20.000 from the sale of school lands?
 Mr. Graham-Yes, we have every possible estimate in the world in that including the drastic revenue law made for the express purpose of meeting d deficit. The Chairman of the commit tee who made the report informs me taat they tax things that had never been taxed before and increased the taxes on other things that had never been increased before. refer to MT. Whitson of Talladega, and that this revenue law was made for the express pnurpose of forestalling a deficit, and now we can -fihdl these figures that go into fairy lands within less than nine months after the Legislature has ad- burned. 1 cannot understand. unless under the theory 1 expressed q while Rgo the financial optimism that has sei.ei us. 1 tell you that the people of Alabama would better appreciate that you leave the taxe5 at seventy-hve cents and thus assure the maintenance of the credit of Alabama rather than they would if you >we"e to pitch at their feet the morsel of siXty-five cents and discredit the credit of the State within less than ten years or before NC can call another Constitutional Mir. Kirk-Will the gentleman allow Ine to ask a question?
 Mr. Graham-Certainly.
 Mir. Kirk-Have you examined the figures and the statement made by the Chairman j of the Taxation Commit tee2
 Mir. Graham-No sir, not very closely, Mir. Kirk-Can you show this Con- Venttor that that statement is incor- rect?
  say that the committee cannot show that it is correct until the time has expired for which they made the csti- mate
 MT. Kirk-What do you understand will be the surplus in the Treasury i! 1t be correct?
 MT. Graham-I don't know what they claim.
 MT. Kirk-What is it. Mr. Browne? Mir. Browne-At the end of this fisca year, $659. .000-the Auditor will not dis nut it, and nobody will dispute it il he knows anything about figures.
 MT. G -aham-What will be the lia- bilities?
 Mr. Browne-In round figures, about that much, bookkeepers figures, and tht receipts for October, November and December will be more than sufficient to pay them, and they won't be due un' til then.
 MT. GGaham-Don't the liabilities be gin at once in it's interest on the debt and amounts due monthly and quar- terly?
 Mr. Browne-They are bookkeeping liabilities. but not payable until Oc. tober, November and December, and the tax receipts will largely more thar pay them.
 MT. Graham--They are estimated? MT. Browne No; figures. --... ..-- MT. G-aham-HuW are they actua when you ate dealing with the future MT. Browne--We are not going or estimates alone. Go into the Auditors oaioa and 1-n,I ,N-iIl find for October