The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-28

Der of that fraternity, put l say to you and to the members of this Con- vention that among the first principles that were taught me in the law was that a Constitution was the only place where limitations might be put upon taxation or any kind of legislation in a State, Prohibitions and restrictions are the province of State Constitutions in contravention to the theory of the National Constitution. That being A fact, if 1t is within the province of this Consultation to place limit upon legislation and upon taxation In part. why Is 1t that members of this Con- vention hesitate to give protection to a class of people who. on account Of their poverty are unable to form conn pines and lobbying combinations to come to conventions and Legislative bodies for their own protection.
 MT. Kirk-I understood you to say awhile ago that the president of one of these institutions stated to yon that the farmer paid the tax?
 Mir. Sanford--I did, most assuredly.
 MT. Kirk-will you please state how that institution evades the statute which enables the farmer to defeat the collection of a debt incurred in the purchase of fertilizers under cfrcurn- stances of that kind
 MT. SdTnIDTu~l VIII oo SO Nitu great deal of pleasure little further along in my remarks.
 Now. Mir. President, if we have a right. and I announce it as my firm conviction. that this Convention has not only the power but the right and It is one of their proper functions to grant this relief. why is it that they hesitate? It Is said by some-it has been argued upon this floor and it hls been urged in private lobbying among the members of this Convention that the farmers don't pay the tax. It has been urged upon this floor that there is a statute in our Code which prohibits a manufacturer or dealers of any fertilizer from adding this tag tax into the price so as to make the farmer pay if. Now, let us see what that amounts to.
 Tn the first place, 1t Is a doctrine too well established by the Democratic party and by common sense, for any one to say that the consumer does not pay scintilla and every cent that goes into either the production or the cost of production of any article that he uses. Every one of these factorses nas at its head the best business men in the community, Every one of these factories is run upon business princi- ples. Every one of them Is anxious to make a dividend for their stockholders, so that they may retain their lucrative positions. That being the case, the Presidents salary Is added ta, the Vice. Presidents, the per diem of the direc- tors. the salary of the man who fires the engine, of the man who feeds the cotton seed to the hopper, of the man who takes it away from the press, Of the man who turns the oil in the tank all of their salaries are added in just as the cost of the original crude mate rial is added in, and in adding in these amounts, they include this 50-cent tax placed upon it by the State of Alabama, and I can answer the gentleman by re- Iating a little incident. He asks me how it can be evaded. There was c captain of a vessel which piled the wa ters of the Atlantic. He went across to London or Liverpool and walked into an office, and he was dressed in very seedy fashion, out of date and out Of style. The captain of another vessel came up and said, Look here, captain, what is the matter that you don't dress up any better7" The first captain re- piled. My salary is not sufficient" {" Why don't you add 1t in your expense account" T don't think the com pany will permit that" ''oh, yes. they will" said the second captain. The next time you make an expense account put in for a suit of clothes" So when the seedy captain went back he added in one suit of clothes, $50, and he took it up to the Auditor of his company. The Auditor said, This is all right, except that I see you have $50 added for a suit of clothes" Yes, that is there. l know ought not to have put it there, and you can strike 1t out" So the next time he met his vs"iend he said to him, T added that $50 in and
 the company wouldn't stand It; they struck it out" Did you add it In for a suit of clothes?" said his friend.
 Yes" well. let me fix 1t for you the
 next time you make out an account. So, instead of putting down ''$1 ,00o for provisions" the account was made out $1, ,o50, and when the captain took 1t in- to the Auditor, the Auditor said, Yes.
 it is all right; you have not got that suit of clothes in there" "Oh, yes, have but you don't see it." That is the way with the manufacturer Of fertilizer. This 50-cent tax is in there,
 but you don't see 1t.
 But, Mir. President, the fact that the tax upon the farmer is small. the fact that 1t is inhnitesiMal in some in- stances, is no reason why an injustice
 should be done to them. As a matter of fact, in some instances the tax amounts to a large amount with the | farmers especially in my section of the country. I can well understand why 1t is that the farmers in some sections of the State have practically no inter- est In this great question, but when
 you observe the vast amount of com mercial fertilizer that Is sold in the wire-erags section of this State, where the lands are made to produce readily 1 and to respond to the hand of the farmer when assisted by commercial | fertilizers, you can readily understand why 1t Is that the representative of that section of the State should be here on this Convention floor pleading for their rights and for justice to be done them. Now, let us see what becomes
 of this tax.
 Another argument has been made. Some of the members upon this floor sav we should not reduce this tax or take the tax off entirely for the reason that there will be a disruption of some l of the educational institutions of this I state. I derire now to say to the mem bers of this convention that I am not an enemy of any of the institutions | within the confines of this State. I am l proud of it's University. l am proud of | it's agricultural and mechanical col leges. I am proud of it's high schools. whether they be supported by tax from one commuHity or a tax from another community. l am proud of it's great common school system, but if they are great institutions. and if they are worthy to stand, they ought to be
 supported by appropriation from the l..