The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-06

the same there or worse. MT. WeAthefly--And by consent Mo bile fs added.
 Mir. Coleman tGreene,--wny not ex. cept your cities.
 Mir weatherly-There might be tod many of them.
 Mir. Coleman Greenc)-Pernaps Il you try you will find that the Con. vsntion Is willing to except your city. Mir. Weatherfy-I believe if there were only one or two, we might do it. but the Convention will c0ncede that 1t looks like a crude performance to put
 at the end of an ordinance like this
 a lot of exceptions. t
 The delegate from eL.e (Mr. Harrison)
 and the gentleman from Montgomery
 (Mr. Macdonald) each desired to in-
 terrupt the speaker.
 The President pro tem.--Does the
 gentleman yield for an interruptiony
 Mf. Weatherly-Certainly.
 The President pro tem.--The gentle
 man from Montgomery may put his
 question.
 MT. weatherly-I had recognized the
 gentleman from Lee.
 The President pro tem.-But the
 Chair had recognized the gentleman
 from Montgomery.
 |, MT. Macdonald-Is not Birmingham
 nv an exceptinal case, have there not
 been amendments adopted for her case
 alone?
 Mir. weatheriy--Yes 1 am willing to
 admit that Birmingham is an excep-
 tional case.
 The President pro tem.--rhe gentle
 man from Lee Is recognized to ask his question.
 MT Harrison--rhe gentleman from
 Montgomery asked the question that l desired to put.
 Mir. Lowe (Jefferson)--I suppose both
 the gentleman from Montgomery and
 the gentleman from Lee know that the
 tax rate in Montgomery under the Constitution is higher than the. tax rate in Birmingham?
 MT. Macdonald-To our sorrow. we know 1t.
 MT. weatherly-Now this ordinance. as reported, and the substitute of the gentleman from Madison fixing the linn 1t at per cent on taxable values for ordinary purposes. allows 3 per cent additional for certain other purposes. Birmingham at present has gone up to l4 per cent. Out debt is $2,124.00o. Our taxable values are something In excess of $15, 900, 900. She has gone beyond the hmit. As 1 construe this ordinapce and the proposed substitute, she will be de- prived of the per cent additional. She has already, by ordinance, proposed the construction of $5S6, 900 of street irn- provements, most of which will be as- sessed against the property owners. but for which her bonds will be outstand- ing, guaranteed by a lien upon the property. do not know that l state the figures accurately. but $270.O0o and odd have been contracted for, leaving S2S0, GOO and odd which have been au- thorized by ordinance but not contraet- ed for.
 The time of the gentleman here ex- pired, an1. on motion. was extended.
 Mr Weatherly-As I was saying, Bir- mingham has just started upon ca reer of street improvement. She has Started upon a system of general ini- proyement. She Is a city in c bcau- tiful valley called Jones valley, and anyone who stands upon the top of Red and looks down upon her as. she nestles in that beautiful valley, and sees her stretching her limits up and down the valley, almost growing while you look at her, would be an unworthy citizen of Alabama if his heart did not swell with pride ani enthusiasm at the sight, and if he would wish to do one thing that would check the onward movement of her citizens. Around and
 about her now are growing smaller towns which might be called her satel- Avondale. East Bir- mingham and a number of others might mention, all of which will sooner or later be incorporated into this great town. We hope in the future, under this Constitution. to have more than thousand population; indeed, her population will be only limited by the confines of that valley and the ab- sence of 6 water course through the valley. These little towns will be taken In, necessitating further street exten- sions and improvements of sewers and other sanitary improvement. We pro- pose that all of these shall be paid for Tn the manner in which the improve ments have already been made, as au- thorized by a recent act of the Le8isia- ture by assessment against the proper ty owner. Our citizens do not object. am proud to say to the gentleman rom Montgomery that the citizens of do not fear either death or taxation when they know it is not all ,f life to live, and when they know by he payment of taxes, under faithful they will get full bene- its therefrom.
 Now. as say, gentlemen of the Con ,ention, we have authorized $5SS,O0O Of ,treet improvements for the immediate 'uture. SIS, ,000 of which have been built md about onelhalf of the remainder llready contracted for. The report of he committee and the substitute of the yentleman from Madison will stop that We have gone beyond ,ur limit. Our hands are tied. and we ,an do nothing else.
 Not only that, butyou must remember hat this is not merely an act of the legislature, but you are putting 1t In your organic law. Now, 1t has been suggested to me that there are 203 mu- licipal corporations in Alabama. The eport of the committee and the substi- ute of the geneltman from Madison | will bear equally upon all of these cor ,orations without exception and with ut regard to the peculiar needs of any | f them and without regard to the | wishes and desires of their citizens. The Imitation in the first part of the | mendment proposed by the gentleman rom Lauderdale, which is practically s reported by the committee, will con- rol l94 of these corporations, and to hat extent that substitute will adopt he general system reported by the ommittee; but the virtue and erncacy nd equity and reason of the suosttute f the gentleman from Lauderdale lies n the fact that it contains some exeep- ions which apply only to the elgnt hief cities of Alabama. They apply | 0 Mobile, Birmingham. Montgomery, nniston, Selma. Huntsville, Florence' ,essemer and Gadsden-those are nine, |
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