The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-03

wen ff it had been made when tng min -biliy' frst made his appeAra1M on this floor, by introduction ox e19 gentleman from walker.
 MT. Henin lRandoiph)-I ries e q point of order.
 The Presidenf-rhs gentleman wf5 state the point of order.
 Mir. Hefiin (Randolph) )-Thers is sA much disorder that the GeutlemAu Iron Talladega cannot proceed and ws ean- not hear.
 ask a question. Who would vots the property held by . partnershtos er ey corporation?
 MT. Browne-No corporation would be allowed ot vote.
 MT. Reynolds (chiiton)-But say who would vote the property of part nershipf
 Mr. Browne--No one would. unsess it was taxed separately. A parsnersnip cannot vote.
 MT .Reynoles (cniiton,--ff thers were three men in the partnership, worth ten thousand dollars. and two Of them favored that tax. and one was opposed | to it. who would vote at the electionf MT. Browne--1t would not be assessed | to either one. If 1t was assessed to | the partnership, and the taxes were paid by the partnership. partnersniS would not have any voice In the mat | ter, nor would a corporation. want to say, and hope gentiemen will respect my request, that I do nos desire to be interrupted any more. De- cause one gentleman gets up and asks | d question, and before finish one sem tence another gentleman gets up ana interrupts me. . Now. about the cities and towns. f this section becomes q law. and the tax is levied, it is with the CommsssionerS Court how they will appropriate, or ap- portion 1t among the different schools. Some cities may be 50 selfish that they | would desire tc ret back all 0f tns taxes they pay; other citiee mtsht Ds | liberal enough to be willing to pay l their part of that ten cents on sne | hundred dollar tax and leave snat
 money to be eauitably apportfofisd | among the schools in the county ny the Cominsssioners' Court. So one. ft | seems to me, would be so selfish as 10 | desire that any city should get all Of it's tax back. and not divide It with .ne country precincts, upon which the cfty | relies for it's support. If the county should see it not to collect their ten cents of that tax. then the city so1id levy that ten cents on the hundred dol lars: or if any county took only dve
 cents. why the city could take the
 other i've.
 Now we deal with that as only ten
 cents upon the hundred doliars, but gentlemen forget the restraining iufiu- | ence upon the future Legislatures of | Alabama that this section will nave. Gentlemen will not be so anxious to appropriate sums of money In the fu- ture as they have been In the past, | when they know that by not levying the full amount Of the sixty-fve cent limit that they will thereby allow their | counties to get more than the tea cents on the hundred dollars. In othe- words if in three or four years. the Legis.a- ture should see that they can pay the
 expenses of the State Government.
 economically administered, by levytng . tax of only sixty cents on The hun- dred dollars, then the county can get fifteen cents on the hundred dollars for her public schools if the county wants it. If not, the county Is not soresd 10 take it, and before 1t can be taken, 1t must be voted for, under the provisions of this ordinance. as reported. by a majority in number and in the value of the taxable property.
 For one, am willing to accept the amendment offered by the gentleman from Jefferson. favor it for my coura- ty, but when gentlemen tell me of con-
 ditions in their counties. I do not care to force 6 provision upon their counties.
 against their will. that would tend to
 confscate their property to some ex-
 tent. I am told that under the most rigid suffrage law that can be enacted.
 that in some counties there will stiu be almost a majority of colored voters.
 who are non- tax payers. That certain ly, with large majority ot the coi-
 ored non-tax paying voters of the 1 county, and the very small minority of
 possibly non-tax paying white men. c
 tax could be voted upon the property
 of that county, against the will of the
 property tax payers. and am opposed to any law that would allow such c
 proceeding as that.
 Now, am told that in Texas that the
 result of the two- thirds law is similar
 to that In Louisiana: that when you
 have gotten a two-thirds majority Of ell of the qualified electors who are
 tax payers. that in almost every in-
 stance you have majority of the tax
 able values of the county. For one.
 propose to vote upon this subject in the
 interest of the public schools of Ala
 bama without any thought as to what
 effect such vote will have in the future.
 and without considering whether or [ ot
 . small class of non-tax paying vot-
 CTS will object to 1t. The question Is,
 how can we best help the public schools
 of Alabama and keep faith with the people, whose representatives we are 2
 It seems to me that the only possible
 way is by permitting counties to levy
 a special tax for schools. within the
 present constitutional limit. not the ono
 we fixed on yesterday. but the one in the old Constitution, of seventy five
 cents for State and fifty cents for
 county purposes. I have nothing mora
 to say, MT. President.
 MT. Merrill desire to ofter . subsli-
 tute.
 The substitute was read as follows. Substitute for the amendment ta
 Section 5 of the Article on Taxation: Ia
 line sixteen, after the word by" in-
 sert the letter ''a." and after the word
 majority. insert ''of two-thirds,'' and
 strike out of lines sixteen and seven
 teen the words 'fn number and In T value of the taxable pfopertyI'
 MT. Merrill--1 agree with the gentle
 man from Jefferson that no question
 of dollars ought to enter into an cleo
 ton. I do not think that a man with
 a dollar ought to have any more power at the ballot box than the man with
 out the dollar, but when we transfer this remarkable power of levyins a tax
 to the people of a county. I think that