The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-15
THE MAYORS REASONS.

for this action. The interview was
 asked of him and furnished by him in
 type written copy, carefully revised. It
 is, therefore, just as authoritative, as
 statement over his signature.
 The Mayor in the very first para
 graph confesses that he does not heart
 fly approve the grant of this franchise
 at this time. He says that if he had
 been in the Council. he would not have
 favored its consideration now. He has
 waived his judgment In this respect
 in deference to the Councils three sep-
 certainly that the Mayor should act as
 a check on the Council. If he could not
 have approved the grant of the fran
 chise as an Alderman at this time. in
 his position as Mayor he should have
 advised the Council to that effect. and
 if necessary used the veto to enforce
 his judgment as far as possible. His
 admission Is a confession of subordi-
 nation to the Council. when the law
 has placed him at the head of the l government.
 The Mayor devotes large part ot
 his effort to demonstrating that the amendments put in at his suggestion are of the greatest importance. Grant ing that they were, would they not have been just as timely some months. | or a year hence. when according to the best judgment of the Mayor the | ordinance should have been considered. | instead of at present? As we under | stand it, however. the Montgomery
 Light and Power Company made no objection to these amendments. That Company evidently considered them of much less importance than the Mayor does. for it subordinated them to l getting the franchise renewed now for fifty years.
 | Next the Mayor takes up the question of a franchise tax. He argues that as a Democrat he could not favor such a | thing. We have never seen any Dem ocrs tic platform with a declaration against a franchise tax. Privilege taxes are very common in all cities. If we mistake not, both as Alderman and Mayor he has approved ordinances to add to the city's revenue by increasing | the amount and widening the applica- tion of such taxes. He is very late in discovering that his idea of Democracy Is antagonistic to them.
 Next he argues that the consumer would have to pay gas franchise tax. and alludes to his knowledge of the effect of insurance taxes. Of course If a privilege tax was made very hgh it would add to the cost of the article to the consumer. But privilege tax is rarely so onerous. A small percentage on the gross income from the sale of gas would not have been oner- ous. It would not have added one cent to the cost of gas to the consumer, es- pecially when the price in future is so | carefully guarded as the Mayor insists he has arranged. An effective answer to this pant of the Mayors labored ar gument is the action of the Democratic Party in Alabama for years past in collecting fertilizer tax. The fertili- ger manufacturers have tried very hard to get this removed, in the interest of the consumers, but the Constitutional Convention, which the Mayor has such confidence in, has declined several times to be convinced that fertilizers would be any cheaper without that tax.
 The objection offered by the Mayor to putting up the franchise to the highest bidder, in order to secure a lump sum, is the danger of a combination to de- feat such an undertaking. What about the renewal of the street car franchises in New Orleans? There the Company paid a very largeF sum, i'll the millions, for the renewal. The conditions did not admit of a combina- tion there. Nor would they here. This franchise was most important to the Company, to control the price of light in this city. A fatal combination would have been extremely improbable here: the local company could and would Aave one else.
 As to the length of the period of the franchise, the Mayor again admits that he has not lived up to his own convic- tion. He avows his belief in the prin- ciple of short7time franchises. But in practice he yields to the judgment of the Council, and pleads the failure of the Constitutional Convention to establish his principle as State policy as justi- fication. This Convention has been ex- tremely conservative, and has avoided any provision that would arouse an tagonism to the new instrument. It is reliably asserted that the corporation influences of the whole country fought Section 4 of the Municipal Committees report with special vigor. The result, at any. rate, is that the Convention failed to enact needed reform in this matter; the majority seems to have waived its principle in favor of short time franchises, on account of expedi- encies. just as the Mayor admits he has.
 The Mayor closes with a parting shaft at the Press. He regards any de- terioration of municipal legislative bodies as largely due to the tendency of Press and people to impugn the mo- tives of aldermen. The argument is