The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-02

say 1t can be made without taking one jot or little of the appropriation to the public schools, and without in any way interfering with the pension to the old Confederates.
 have not the honor to be a member of the Committee on Taxation. but I have taken the pains and the trouble on the submission to me of figures made by Mir. Searcy of Tuscaloosa. a member of that Commit tee, who is a practical and successful business man of close powers of reas- oning, to go over those figures care- fully, spending two or three hours on 1t and I have come to the deliberate conclusion that we can make this re- duction and ought to do 1t in order to be true to our pledges, not only to our open pledges but to our implied pledges to the people of Alabama to admins ter the government economically ana to their best interests. I have no such specific knowledge and information as to the figures that can go into detail upon this proposition. All that l can say is that when this report was sub- mitted, I. with others, was startled, greatly startled, by the proposition of in the State of Alabama. My first im- precision was decidedly against it. and, for the purpose of informing myself and of casting upon the floor of this Convention an intelligent vote, I made the investigation just alluded to.
 My distinguished friend who has pre- ceded me says that the argument of the Chairman of the Committee on Taxa ton Is inapplicable, that a bad impress sion would be produced, that 1t would be hurtful to the State of Alabama in the matter of immigration. The Chair man of that Committee is exactly right upon that proposition. The County of Madison from which hail, as largely as any other county in Alabama. is receiving immigrants from the Middle West and Northwest, class that is very desirable They come with money in their pockets and pay spot cash for our plantations. have in mind for mer distinguished citizen of the state of Missouri, who, in the last few years. has come to Madison County and paid $13,000 spot cash for a plantation. The first question after l became acquaint- ed with him was what is your consti- tutional rate of taxation in the State of Alabama. When I told him 1t was three-quarters of per cent, he was dumbfounded and was startled so much so that if he had known those facts prior to his coming to Alabama it might have deterred him from making the investment. found the same thing true with reference to the inhab- itants of Ohio. Iowa and Illinois, to which the gentleman from Lauderdale has referred, that although there is no constitutional limit upon the rate of taxation, the rate of taxation Is much lower than ours, and when we place the limit as high as three quarters of 1 0nnt xxrflI hox &hn @S deterring those men who, when they see 1t, will properly think if the last few Legislatures are to be looked to as examples, that the whole constitutional limit will be levied. It may not be known to some of the members of this Convention, but the last Legislature passed an act authorizing each county In the State of Alabama to make a new assessment map of the county, as- sessing the lands of the county instead of by owners by sections and subdi- visions of sections. A careful estimate has been made in the county of Madi- son and after deducting all United States lands and all State lands and lands of churches and charitable insti- tutions, 1t was found that 25 per cent. of the land had escaped from taxa t1on. am advised by other delegates upon this floor with whom have con- versed upon this subject, that sim- liar state of affairs exists in their county. should think that should be considered as Q potent factor in determining whether or not this tax limit should be reduced. It is true those lands are not the richest and most fertile in any county, that largely they are mountain lands, barren lands; but those lands are all worth one or two or three dollars per acre. and the increase in the as- sessment will be enormous. Does the gentleman from Lauderdale and do the other gentlemen who have argued as to the license taxes in the State, be- lieve in the event the present tax limit shall be maintained, that the Legis- lature will take off the iniquitous taxes to which they refer? Is it not the |sound judgment. is 1t not the honest opinion of the members of this Con- vention, that even if we put the limit pended and the privilege licenses still continue?
 Furthermore, in some cases the priv ilege licenses should not be repealed. Is It not fair that a corporation whose stockholders have a limited liability to the amount of stock they own, should pay something for the special privilege that the law gives them? Is that an unjust and iniquitous tax?
 There is another suggestion, MT. Pres ident. that is urged, that in the course or nVe or six years, panic or de- Pression Is due in this country and in the event of such a depression the as- sessment will be largely decreased? Upon that proposition I desire simply to throw out this suggestion: If such a depression does occur and if there Is such a depreciation of values, that depreciation will be from the point at which the panic begins and not from the present time. They all admit that assessment values are increasing year. ly and in the course of five years at the present rate of increase, granting the depression should occur at that time. the slump in values will be from the then values and will no more than reach to the rock bottom where we now are.
 In other respects the advocates for the retention of the 75 cents on the $10O do not argue fairly for this reason: They give you the figures as furnished to them by the Auditor, Treasurer. and Governor. but they do not consider the question what We will save by reason of refunding the debt and by reason of the quadrennial elections. am ad- vised by the Secretary of State that a general election in this State costs nearly $2oO,OOO. It is my Judgment that this Convention will establish quad rennial elections In Alabama and quad rrennial sessions of the Legislature In