The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-03

the passage of law authorisinE tk< county to issue thirty thousand doilArS of additional bonds. for the purpose of paying the current expenses of the county. without the knowledge of the people at all. and if that Kind of chi naniging can be carried on with the Legislature. 1t is time to put a limit on 1t to stop 1t.
 Mir. weakley--In my opinion the question of a debt limit is more im- portant than the question of q tax limit. If the Constitution of 1875 had inserted in 1t some limitations upon the taxing power of the cities and counties of this state to create debts. the present financial condition with which we are confronted would not ex- ist today. The eentleman who has pre- ceded me seems to think that this lirn. itation Is too low, and that h would interfere with the county of Jefferson- In answer to him I desire to say that the county of Jefferson has an as- sessed valuation of forty millions Of dollars. and under this limitation the county of Jefferson can create q dsbt of a, 200, 900 .and I submit. gentlemen. that debt is all that the county of Jef- ferson is able to pay the interest on with the proceeds of fifty cent tax rate
 I have given the matter some inves- tigation, and So far as am able to find out. there is not . county in the State of Alabama that would be seri- ously affected by this limitation. and do know. Mir. President. there ia one county In tho state that has contracted a debt of exactly five per cent Of its assessed valuation. and hos defaulted in it's interest. and l. unable to pay 1t. and that too when
 ce-kaif of this debt Is bearing Inter est at the rate of only s per cent. per annum. If gentlemen will take the re. port of the State Auditor. which they have upon their desks. they will see there the statement of the total as- sessed valuation of every couuty in the State. and each member can calculate for himself how much his county will be allowed to create under this linn- itation. I doubt not MT. President, after that calculation has been made, every member will come to the con eiusion that liu1it of per cent. will allow all the debt that the county in reason ought to create. The gentle- men must remember that counties are required to raise money and to incur debts for very few things. The build. ing of Court Houses, the erection Of jails, poor houses. and the construction of road system
 MT. O'Neal dauderdale)-will the gentleman from Lauderdale yield to a question?
 Mf. weakley--Yes.
 Mir O'Neal (Lauderdale)-You un- derstand this Section to mean, then, that you could not impose tax great CT than per cent. and you must include in that the debt which already existsr
 MT. weakley-Yes sir.
 Mir. O'Neal (Lauderdale)--The bond ed debt that already exists has got to be included In that 3 per centr
 Mir. Weakley--Yes
 MT. O'Neai CLauderdale)--Andc coun- ties that now have that limit
 MT. Weakley-Cannot create any ad- ditlonal debt. And there are very few counties that have 1t.
 was going to say that the reason counties should create debts are very few. They are to build court houses and jails, and bridges. and roads
 A Delegate--And poor housesf
 Mir. weakley--And poor houses. And will state further, that at the pres ent rate we are contracting debts, we will have to build a few more poor houses in this country before very long
 A calculation of these matters of the debt limit. has induced the leading financiers of the county to conclude that 5 per cent. debt limit Is a reasonable one, where there is no linn. itation upon the rate of taxation. but where there is limitation upon the rate of taxation as in this State, and our means of paying the interest upon the debt we already have Is small. c of 3 per cent. Is not too great restriction. ...-s.'.
 MT. O'Neal--How many States in the Union have th's linlste
 Mir. Weakley-The gentleman asks how many States in the Union have this debt limit. l answer him that probably two-thirds or probably three. fourths of the states in the Union have debt limit. It is recognized every where, as I said In the beginning, as more important than the tax limit, be- cause If the debt Is not created the tax will not have to be levied to pay 1t.
 Mir. Watts-I am opposed to the amendn ent of the gentleman from Lauderdale. I do not think the per cent. should be stricken out and per cent. substituted. It would not do for the county Of Montgomery. We gre engaged in a system of road building, to bridge our pralries and put our county in a fine condition. That sys- tenn has been extended for about twelve miles in every direction. If this amendment were adopted 1t would pre- vent Montgomery from extending her road system, and I do not think 1t would bo advisable to adopt the n nfnondmenf in nIr ra on The dtffara,t counties have their Boards Of Reve- nue, or Commissioners Court, who have these matters under consideration, and per cent. 1t seems to me is a small enough limit to put upon them. I hope, therefore, MT. President, that the amendment of the gentleman will not be adopted.
 MT. Harrison-I want to ask the del- egate what should be the indebtedness of Montgomery County?
 Mir. Watts-About a million dollars. Five per cent. would make it a mil lion. and 3 per cent. would make 1t about $s0o.000. and we already have Si25,000 of bonds for roads. not count e: purposes.
 MT. Waddell-Mr. President, I op- pose the amendment which proposes to change 1t from to B. simply for the reason that the poorer counties fin the State. should they lose their court houses and tails. or either of them, by nrc. they would not be able to rebuild them, if the 3 per cent. rate should carry. The taxable property in my county is given in this year at about $l, 700, 900, and I expect there are some counties in the State which come a great deal below that EhouId It hn