The age-herald., 1901-07-03

vote of 6s to 4o
 Section Six.
 Section was then taken up which reads as follows:
 Section 6. The property of private cor porations, associations and individuals of this State shall forever be taxed at the same rate; provided. this section shall not apply to institutions devoted exclu- sively to religious, educational, or char itable purposes.
 MT. Cobb of Macon moved to limit the exemption as to educational institutions to 200 acres of land and S10,000 of personal property, exclusive of libraries, musical instruments, philosophical and chemical apparatus.
 He said that certain private educa- tional institutions were buying every day thousands of acres which were therefore untaxable.
 MT. Greer of Calhoun moved to table Judge Cobb's amendment. This was lost by a vote of 46 to 54. MT. Carmichael of Coffee moved to amend the amendment by putting the limit at $20,0O0 of personal property. Judge Cobb then moved to re- fer the section back to the committee on taxation to reconstruct it. MT. Lomax of Montgomery opposed the amendments. He thought they would strike blow at higher education in the State. It would put a tax on many of the colleges. Some of these the State contributes to, and what Is the sense of making a contribution and then taking back part of 1t by taxation. Our agricul- tural colleges ought to have more than | 200 acres of land. We ought to do every thing we can to uplift and upbuild our educational institutions and not take a step which will place us in the middle ages in matters of education. He moved to lay Judge Cobb's amendment on the table. Judge Cobb then withdrew his amendment by consent. MT. Long of Walker moved to amend the section so that not over 1500 acres of land of each school should be exempt from county taxation. He said that the State had a right to exempt them from taxation. but that 1t was not right to prohibit the county from taxing them citing the case of Walker County. MT Longs motion was laid on the table and the section as reported was then adopted.
 Section Seven. | Section was then taken up. This re- | lates to city taxation and limits the gen. l eral tax to IF per cent, and provides for | city taxation for schools provided that | the tax rate shall not exceed H.75 for State, county and cities. It contains the l Birmingham amendment.
 l MT Weakley said that the committee on municipal corporations had reported a l similar ordinance, and he wanted both taken up at the same time. He moved to l lay 1t on the table.
 Mr Kyle offered an. amendment to limit the special tax for public schools to l A per cent. I The section was then, on motion, laid | upon the table,
 Section Eight. Section was then adopted as follows:
 Section 8. The General Assembly shall l not have the power to require the coun- ties or other municipal corporations to pay any charges which are now payable | out of the State treasury.
 Section Nine.
 Section g was then read as follows:
 Section g. No county shall become in- debted in an amount greater than per l centum of the taxable value of the prop erty thereof; provided this section shall l not apply to any indebtedness in excess | of such per centum, which has already | been created or authorized by law to be | created.
 MT. Lowe of Jefferson said it was un- l necessary to limit the debts of counties; that it had not been done in the last | twenty-fiv years. The people of his county were willing to trust their county commissioners; that a county debt had to be authorized by the Legislature and ap- proved by the county commissioners He hoped the section would be laid on the table.
 | MT. Weakley said a debt limit was more important than a tax limit. He | wanted per cent limit instead of a 5 | per cent. limit and offered an amend ment to this effect.
 MT. Watts of Montgomery opposed the 3 per cent. limit. He said 1t would em- l barrass his county, which was building roads, and that per cent. limit was low enough.
 | MT. Waddell of Russell also opposed a 3 per cent. limit, saying 1t would prevent public improvements in his county.
 MT. Wilson of Clarke favored the ; per cent. limit, citing certain figures to | show it's effect on his county. | General Harrison of Lee favored the per cent limit as safe and conservative
 The fact that we had placed a debt limi, | and a tax limit on the counties would
 give them certain credit. He spoke of
 the history of his county in endeavorins
 to pay it's debt as an Illustration of the
 evils of an unlimited debt limit
 Mir. Sanders of Limestone offered a sub.
 stitute to fix the debt limit at 8 per cent
 provided 1t should not affect those coun-
 ties which had already exceeded that | limit. t 't+ '-45. N's
 MT. O'Neal of LauderdaIe said that a | limit of 3 per cent was too low; tha;
 Indiana was the only state which had a | limit so low and that New York's limit
 was 10 per cent; Georgia's limitation was per cent He cited the limitations In | the constitutions of other states which | allowed for increases in certain contin- | gencies a provision which the proposed l section did not contain. He moved to | lay the amendments and the substitutes | on the table. MT. Sanders substitute was tabled and MT. Weakleys amend ment was tabled by a vote of 52 to 49. MT. Kirk of Colbert offered an amend | ment to allow a special tax to pay for | public buildings and to provide that the