The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-30

o4est possible notch. to the very emaIl- : 11< poeeIble amount to which ke can xo. and in the event of the hlnfore- seen Circumstances So ably presented Nj the gentleman from Mobilts that 1t tiIi put it beyond the power of the Leg Nlatnre to raise any more revenue. We Y have already said that tha Governor N the State of Alabama shall have me power to raise only sso00oo by >exaporary loan.) It has been written In the eeport of the Committee >het there shall be no Increase In the bonded debt. and now we have limited khe rate of State taxation, or about to Hfnft the rate of State taxation. to the very lowest possible figure. l say. gen. fleinen. there should be some margin, there should be some elasticity in this limit. and there should be some room to f provide for emergency So tho credit sf the State may be maintained. We were told few minutes ago how the Governor and his Attorney General went to New York and borrowed &500,- 1D6 in spite of the Constitution. and say. gentlemen. not intending to dts credit the efforts of these able mon. that unless 1t had been in the Consti- futipn that the Legislature could levy tax to pay back that money they never could have borrowed one dollar. and the only reason why they were able to borrow that immense amount of money was that the tsx rate was only 45 cents. whereas the Constitution 4 alloEed them 75 cents. there was difference of thirty cents between the actual levy and that allowed by the \ Constitution to pay this money.
 Mir. Oates-WiIl the gentleman allow me to correct him?
 President pro tenn. (Jenkins)-wnl < the gentleman permit an interruption?
 Mir Weakley-Yes. str.
 Mr. Oates--At that time the rate was i've and a half mills. but the act of the Legislature passed just before my predecessor went out of office increased this one-haf mill. from five to five X and half mills. but that. of course, did mot have effect until the next year.
 Mir. Weakley--I did not have any hg- ures. was going by the figures stated by the gentleman in argument. But zhe proposition was making was that there was a margin between the tax rate and the tax limit of the Constitu- tion sufficient to pay off this debt. Now we have tied the hands of the Governor and given him only the right 10 raise $300,000 for temporary pur- pores, and we have tied the hands of the Legislature to a 65 cent limit. and suppose some emergency comes. then what Is going to become of the interest m the public debt. There Is just one more proposition that desire to sub nit The distinguished Chairman of the Tax Committee has brought in here a report stating that at given time there will be considerable sur & plus In tho treasury. 1 want to ask the members of this Convention is 1t is their intention to continue indefinitely the burden of an S, ,o0o, GOO debt upon this people? I ask you gentlemen as business men and tax payers are you going to psrpetuate upon the people of Alabama a debt of es,00o. 900 calling for nearly a half million dollars interest, and make no provision for paying 1t? say, gentlemen, that if these figures are correct, and if this surplus exists fin the treasury. 1t will be the duty nt tho Legislature to use that money in the purchase of Alabama bonds. and thus reduce the annual interest charged.
 Mfr. o'Neal GauderdaJe)-There is no provision for a sinking fund.
 Mr, WeakIey-As the gentleman sug- gegts there is no provision for sink ing fund by the State If Alabama, no provision for a sinking fund by any county In Alabama. and no provision for sinking fund by any city In Ala hama. and here we are piling up the burden of debt, State. cities and coun- ties that we intend to perpetuate upon the people.
 MT. Rogers .(Sumter)-Do you ravor n y4xed amount of tax to De set apart flor A sinking fund to pay our ,iabili- tiee--would you ravOr such fund?
 Mr. Weakley-I believe I would-how eIse are you going 70 pay it? A simi- lar proposition exactly has been in- augurafed in the State of Tennessee md that State Is today paying out lhousands of dollars, retiring the pub ac debt and thus already has reduced me annual interest over one hundred thousand doilare
 szr. Rogers (sumter)-wiu you d. low me to interrupt you again?
 1fr. Weakley-Yes sir.
 Mr. Rogers-I understand we have ho have a sinking fund. but the difference between a sinking fund In general and one which says a certain definite amount shall be set Rside each year. not what Is left over after you spend what you want to, would you favor that?
 Mr. Weakley--Yes, sir. We can meet that just like Tennessee where they have q law that provides that at a certain stated time certain State offi- cers shall meet in consultation and shall make calculations and if tkere be a surplus in the treasury over and Above what Is necessary to carry on the government that that rum shall be converted into the sinking fund. Now, MT. President. just a word more. It seems to be we'll understood that we are approaching the point of a refund- ing of the bonded debt. submit, gen. elefnen that no man can tell five years in advance what will be the rate Of interest. It is true that today this country is upon a 3 per cent interest basis. and If the proposition of refund ing the State debt were to take place today, I believe that with the present limit upon the rate of taxation. we could refund this entire debt at 3 per cent. Are we going to throw away the opportunity of accomplishing that in 1908. and are we going to do that gem tlemen upon the opinion of any one man. as was stated yesterday man who might be mistaken. It is esti- mated that by reducing the rate of in, terest we can in that way reduce the taxes better than any other, and it seems to me, gentlemen, that that is ahe safest proposition yet presented to &hls Convention,
 Mr. Kirk-As a member of the Com mittee on Taxation. 1 desire to say that we took upon ourselves the duty Of Investigating this question now be- fore the Convention. We did it realiz- Ing the importance of the position and as stated by the gentleman from Greene who Is also member of that