The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-27
MT. Harrison-sIi,77o Mir. Espy-And the lowest? MT. Harrison-s6.432.

Mr. TO.
 MT. Espy-And the lowest? MT. Harrison-s6,4 ,432.
 | Mir. Espy-And they only get one- sixth?
 Mir. Harrison-Yes. and this Is the only money that the institution sets,
 and no farmer or lawyer or anyone else can deny that they have been doing a great work for all those Who desire special education in the State of Ala | bama.
 Now as to the cost of this matter.
 The State of Georgia itself pays to have this analysis 5000 year. l Some good has been made of this
 fund. The Agricultural College. am | informed has erected a four thousand | dollar building and has, equipped II l with a thousand dollars worth of in- struments and implements. And 1t | does what? It employs from four to | five experts all the year around In ] that Department. There are today five or six young men engaged in that De- | pertinent, and l desire to say for and | in behalf of that institution, in regard to the aspersions that have been made | as to the value of their analysis. that as to that the gentlemen are mistak- ] en. In behalf of the institution. chal- | lenge the correctness of any such state l ment, To show you how 1t is regard ed, I will say that during his present | season between eight hundred and ene | thousand analyses have been made al- ready, which is about the average. l I will say the samples are sent to the Commissioner of Agriculture, ;n bottles | that are merely numbered, and are not known to the parties. To illustrate further the value of the work that is being done by this institution. I will say that there have been referred to them a number of cases for final de- cision. Samples have been sent to the | labratory at Auburn from Louisiana, from Mississippi and from Georgia. where the manufacturers had chal- lenged the analyses of those States. and submitted the article for analysis | at Auburn.
 This is the way that 1t goes to them. (holding up a small glass bottle bear ing a labeD. Here is one sent from the Commissioner of Agriculture, simply numbered, showing the material, and that is the way they take hold of il in that institution, and they give the analysis. They do not say whe.heJ 1t comes up to that, but they tell you the contents, and prevent the farmer, as was alluded to here, from buying and paying for dirt. I wish the delegates to know. because I know there ;s general pride in this institution, that the institution at Auburn has not cEly been called upon by Georgia and Lou isiana and Mississippi to arbitrate their disputed questions, but today the Professor of Chemistry in the Florida Agricultural College, the professor oc- cupying the same chair in the Missis- sippi College and the same chair in the University of Alabama, and the city chemists at Atlanta, Birmingham and Montgomery, all received their training at the Auburn labrotory; and to tell me we should destroy 1t, as my good friend from Pike would have done If his l amendment had been adopted. l was astonished at the time, for no man could have known better than he, as an alumnus of that institution, the great work that it has been doing, and that we should not take away from it the mere pittance given to 1t by the State. I ask where has better work, and where is more value given. quid pro quo. than for the pittance that has been and is being used today for the benefit of the farmers in the analyses of these fertilizers?
 Now, I submit that the delegate from Henry is wrong when he says that this is the only special tax. I am inclined to agree with him on principle. l would like to see all of these special or priv ilege taxes done away with. It is un- fortunate that they are growing upon us. but this is not the only one. Why the licenses placed today on sewing machine agents, on peddlers, on almost everybody and on all corporations? MT. Greer (Calhoun)-Will the gen. tleman allow a question?
 MT. Harrison-Yes.
 MT. Greer (Calhoun)-Isn't that a privilege tax rather than a special tax?
 MT. Harrison-Well it is a tax wheth- CT you call it a tax or not. It is not the sort of tax that believe the great State of Alabama ought to collect. but when you come, my friend. to a par ticular commodity, if you wish to anal yZe it. or if you wish to get certain or special scientific information in regard to 1t. 1t appears to me that It is right and equitable that the particular per- son who receives the special benefit should pay for it.
 MT. Greer (Calhoun)-We do not deny that. We are willing to pay for 1t.
 Mr. White-Will the gentleman all low a question?
 Mir. Harrison-The gentleman from Henry caught my eye.
 MT. Malone-Will you give an idea as to what 1t costs to make this anal ysis at Auburn
 MT. Harrison-Yes, think I can come mighty near 1t. I have given you the figures that have been paid, and for which they have done it.
 MT. Malone-They are prepared to do it then at that price.
 MT. Harrison-Yes, sir.
 MT. Malone-Now is it not fact that the present year at 10 cents a ton there would be over $1S,000 collected, yet they are called on to pay out only six to eleven thousand?
 MT. Harrison-They sell so much more MT. Malone. I suppose it varies. The amount has something to do with 1t. You take the number of analyses made, when a great amount was sold.
 MT. Malcne-Isn't the sXpense smaller when less is sold. and greater when more is sold?
 Mir. Harrison-I don't know how 1t varies. There must necessarily be some variation, but do not know exactly what it would be.
 But I submit, MT. President, and delegates of the Convention, that it is not the province of this body to fix this today, for all time 10 come even if you desire simply to pay the expense by placing 1t in the Constitution of Ala bama. It ought not to go there. We ought to be willing to risk something to the General Assembly of Alabama. It is their prerogative to pass on this. The farmers elect their representatives to the General Assembly. There dre in every General Assembly greater pro- portion of farmers than there are in this Convention today, and they can be trusted tO takp cara of their own in