The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-25

what they should do. think this Con- stitutional Convention ought to be great and brave enough. if they think 1t Is right that the farming class should be relieved of an iniqui .ous tax, to put 1t in the organic law and limit the right of the Legislature to place 6 license tax on this class of merchandise.
 MT. Waddell-It is strange to me that this cry has come up against this tax from a lawyer who resides in a city which has few manufactures of fertilizer. No cry has come up from the farmer of Alabama against this tax. In every Legislature which has attempted to amend this law or repeal it. the measure has been voted down by the farmers Of that body.
 think I can read between the lines. This tax, as I understand 1t, goes to establish a department which inspects this fertilizer and prevents the manu- lecturers of the article from palming off a spurious article on the market. The farmers have never complained or objected to paying this tax. The analysis is given on each sack of the fertilizer and Is, to a certain extent, a guaranty of the contents thereof.
 Mir. Reynolds-Why is 1t that the State Chemist would not analyze fer tilizer without knowing first what kind 1t is. and who put 1t up and wAat the analysis on the sack is?
 MT. Waddell-I did not know that was a fact. I do not see. MT. Presi- dent, why this section should be amended in this regard. If the farmer don't object to pay the tax, certainly nobody else Is affected by 1t. The gem tieman says that the farmers of Pike County pay $10.00o tax a year. I ex- pect 1t is the fertilizer company that Is in operation that pays that tax, and not the farmer.
 Mir. SamfordAI will state for the in- formation of the gentleman that if you add the amount paid by the merchants and by tho fertilizer companies in my county. 1t will amount to something like s2o.0oo
 MT. waddell-I see no just reason for putting this amendment in the Consti- tuition, and I hope 1t will not be done.
 MT. White-I do not know, since hearing the gentleman from Russell. whether I ought to say anything on this subject, because he seems to think that a lawyer ought not Speak for a farmer.
 But think we are all interested in having taxation fair and equal, and I can see no difference between imposing a tax of fifty cents ton on fertilizers that are used by farmers. and levylns fifty cents a ton tax on iron ore and coal that 90 to make up pig iron.
 MT. Samford-They have no such tax.
 MT. White-No; and we wouldn't stand such a tax as that. Men engaged in the pig iron business are too en- frightened and lave too much at stake to submit to any such unequal taxation as that. It Is the farmer, the indi- vidual farmer, who only pays few dollars and has not enough involved to make up a lobby to come to the leg islative palls and prevent the imposi- tion of such a tax as that. Who pays this tax? If Democratic doctrine and Democratic theories mean anything, 1t is the man who consumes the fertilizer. The fertilizer factories at Troy don't pay the tax. The farmers of Alabama who use the fertilizer do 1t. If the fac tory did pay 1t. 1t is wrong because we have no right to tax the fertilizer fac tory any more than we have a right to tax an iron furnace.
 Mir. Samford-Will the gentleman permit me to ask question: Is 1t not a fact that the coal and iron miners have inspectors appointed for them?
 MT. White--of course they have.
 Mir. Samford--And paid by the State2
 Mr. White-Yes; and their wages are regulated by the price of iron.
 Mr. Graham CTalladega)-Do those inspectors inspect the products or the condition of the mines with reference to health and safety?
 Mir. wh4te-What difference aoes it make whether they inspect one or the other?
 MT. Burnett-Don't you think 1t nec- essary to have some expert to inspect the fertilizer to determine the value of the fertilizer so as to protect the farmer7
 MT. White-Possibly 80. Do you think there ought to be an inspector to tell the value of coal and iron?
 MT. Burnett-But you can't see the value of a fertilizer like you can of iron or coal.
 Mir. white-I expect the man who uses 1t would be the one who could tell about 1t.
 MT. Burnett-But if defective, 1t could only be discovered after the crop was ruined.
 Mir. White--But he would have a next crop still ahead of that. But if the gentleman Is right that fertilizer should be inspected, then it becomes the duty of the State of Alabama to make the inspection and not the man. to uO IIs 1NGTy LhItItGE HI Alabama pays this unjust tax imposed on him in the same proportion and am informed by the gentleman from Troy that we can get all the inspec- ton they need at 10 cents a ton, but they pay 50 cents.
 Mir. Long CButler)-If the farmer, as you say, pays this 50 cents tax because the manufacturer adds 1t to the cost of manufacturing the article, why don't the farmer put 1t in on his price for his cotton?
 MT. Whlte-Because the price of cot ton Is fixed at Liverpool and New York. Applause. )--I wish the farmer had the opportunity to fix the price of his cotton, but the difficulty is that the price of the farmers products is fixed in the great marts of the world and he has to sell at what he can get, and when he comes to buy anything, he has to pay the price at which the ether man offers to sell.
 They tell us, however, that they need it for the Agricultural and Mechanical College. Is 1t any more incumbent upon the farmers of Alabams to sup port that institution than 1t ls on the other people e Alabama to support the University?
 Mir. Harrison--wlI the gentleman permit a question?
 Mir. Wh.te-Yes sir.
 MT. HarriSon--He says that this is to support the Agricultural College. Doesn't my friend know that institu- ton only receives one-sixth of 1t, and It takes about that to pay the ex- penses?
 Mir. White-Perhaps so.
 MT. Harrlson-Yoa will find that 1t