The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-28
snMr rrauREs.

SOME FIGURES. The Mobile Item one of the few news parsrs in Alabama which Is fighting the ratification of the Constitution, prints these figures:
 The State Auditor has footed up the cost of the recent Constitution Conven.
 To on this @ is stiIl to @ come si ceo for circaIat- ing the new Constitution and S00 for
 printing the journal. About $500 more will
 go to indexing and binding the stenog-
 round numbers sa2.0o0 The election on
 the call last April cost $30.0O0. paid by the counties. and election next November on
 ratification will cost 800 more Thus the whole cost to the State and County treasuries amounts to n52ooo.
 For the purpose of comparison. we take The Items figures as correct, because they only add emphasis to the arguments in favor of ratifying the Constitution. If there Is any one argument which should appeal with irresistible force to the tax payers of Alabama, 1t is the question of saving money. If the above figures are correct, the new Constitution has cost and will cost the State and the counties sls2, 900 in round numbers. Admitting that to be correct. the defeat of that instru- ment will not bring back a dollar of the amount It has been and will be spent whether the Constitution is adopted or not, SO no one can claim that any of it will be saved by defeating the move ment.
 But let us look at the other side of the
 ledger. Under our present Constitution,
 we have two elections every other year,
 and If The Item is correct, each of these elections cost the counties So.0O0 or soo,- GOO for the two. which amounts to Sl2o0Oo in four years. We have a session of the
 Legislature every two years and these sessions cost an average of $5O,0oO each,
 or S100.0oo in four years. Under the new Constitution. we are compelled to have
 ns tional el action every second year.
 which cost $300oO. and a combined State and national election every fourth year. which will cost $sO,OOo. Thus one-half the
 cost to counties. or s6o,0Oo. Is saved every four years under the new Constitution. Then we are to have one session of the Legislature in four years which is a
 saving to the State of $5o.ooo. Thus taking The Items figures as to the cost to the counties of holding an cleo ton, 1t is seen that in each four years there Is saved $6O.0o0 to the counties and
 s5O0oo to the State, or $110,000 in four years These are the arguments which appeal to taxpayers. and they are argu-
 ments which cannot be controverted. It
 is impossible at this moment to ascertain exactly how much each election costs the
 various counties. so we have adopted the estimate of The Item. Whether they are
 correct or not. does not change the com parison between the expenses to the peo-
 ple under the two Constitutions, and the
 people who pay taxes should study and see for themselves the economy of the new instrument.
 There Is positively nothing to be gained
 by rejecting the Constitution now offered the people. There may be objections to
 some of its features. but that is no req
 son for throwing away all the money
 that has been and will be spent on 1t
 and going back to the old one.
 If a man is living in an old. badly con
 structed and unsuitable house, and spends
 considerable sum of money to build
 new one, and that new one does not suit him in every respect. would he not he called silly if he burned 1t down and con | tinued to live in the out-of-date and
 leaky old building? That is fair ex- ample of the way the opponents of the \ new Constitution are acting. They admit | the defects of the old instruments but be- cause the new one is not exactly in ac-
 cord with their ideas, they propose to de-
 stroy it. throw away all the money spent on it and continue to live under Con stitution which is admittedly defective in many respects.
 This is not a sensible, business-like or l patriotic way to do, and we do not be-
 lieve any large number of the white peo- pie of Alabama will join in such a course.
 They will refuse to be led astray by the
 small coterie of disappointed politicians who are working in their own interests. The arguments, the figures and the best
 interests of Alabama and the people of
 Alabama are all on the side of ratifica- | ton.