The age-herald., 1901-08-15

out the consent Of the people in an cleo tion held for that purpose.
 MT. Ledbetter of Talladega introduced an ordinance to establish a court house in some part of Talladega county within precincts g, 10, Il, 12 and 13. The point to be determined by an election of the quail flied voters in said precincts.
 Tnree-Mill School Tax.
 The convention then took up the pend ing question, which was the consideration | of section 5 of the article on education
 MT. ONeal of Lauderdale secured the floor and spoke against the section. We could not afford, he said to put a perma- nent provision like this in the constitu- l ton. 1t would to a certain extent pro- 1 hibit the reduction of taxation Suppose | tax values should double or quadruple. l We would always have this iron-clad pro- vision to prevent us from reducing the tax rate. Pennsylvania levies no tax on real estate and Texas but 30 cents A time may come when a tax of 10 cents will be sufficient for the schools. We are fixing a constitution for twenty-five or thirty years to come.
 He offered an amendment to strike out the three-mill tax and to provide for an annual appropriation for the public schools of not less than the amount now appropriated by law, and provided that DOlUtii6 LHtTcl0 bildI Dt SO COTSLTueQ as to prevent the payment of the interes. on the public debt.
 MT Browne of Talladega favored MT. O'Neals amendment. He gave some sta tistics of the increased taxable values and revenues of the State in the future, and said that in 1907 there would be an increase of at least $100, 100000 over our present taxable values. This would be sufficient to always insure an ample ap- Co.,. No IT1 .~w1.k the three-mill constitutional tax unwise.
 MT. Malone of Henry supported the section reported by the committee He said that what the common schools need ed was something that was certain and sure. They. should not be made to bear the brunt of deficits in times of depres- sion. He wanted better schools than there were now. He endorsed the propo- sition of the committee because 1t was the best thing offered.
 Governor Oates Speaks. Governor Oates said some of the dele gates were like cotton speculators; they were always looking for higher prices and better times. and never expected set backs. which were sure to come. It was an unwise thing to put this 3-mill tax In the constitution He preferred the pro- visions In the present constitution, and said the history of the Legislature showed they could always be trusted to give the schools as liberal an appro- priation as possible.
 MT Bulger Of Tallapoosa spoke In favor of the committees report. The commit tee had spent sixty days in considering the matter, were from different parts of the state, and were unanimous In their opinion. He had faith in the Legislature, and this body was only superior to the
 
 all agreed on the amount to be given the schools, the only difference among us is whether to put it in the constitution or not. The people are as much interested In the schools as the suffrage matter. It Is an unnecessary alarm that these gentle men sound to this convention believe taxable values will increase more in the next twenty-five years than in the past.
 Mir Sanders of Rhinestone, General Harrison of Lee and Mir. White of Jeffer- son then stated that under a misappre- hension they. had voted aye on the pas sage of the, article on representation when they had intended to vote mo- Their objection being to that part of the article which provided that representation should be based on population and could not be changed by constitutional amendment.
 MT Graham of Talladega, the chairman of the committee. then replied to MT. O'Neal and others who opposed the sec tion as reported. He made an earnest plea for the adoption of the section and appealed to- the convention to provide better schools and longer school terms for the children of the State. He said that the section could safely be adopted and that the school interests demanded 1t.
 "Iie moved to- table the Dent and O'Neai amendments. which was done. An amendment offered by him that noth- ing in the section shall impair the credit of the State was adopted and the section as thus amended was adopted by vote of seventy nine to fourteen. The convention then adjourned.