The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-15


 ami one-haIf mills shall be appropri- ated towards the maintenance of pub lie schools. That does not include. as understand, the State University, the Agricultural College, the school at Mon- tevallo. and other institutions about over the State. That law now pro- yides that one mill of that tax shall go to the old soldiers of the State. That would be four mills of the 1-2 mills that we are permitted to levy. The fixed charge for the interest on our deLt is about $44S.O00. which is about 1 1-2 mills, which makesN5 1-2 mills out of the 1-2 mills that we are permit ted to levy. Then. out of that, we have got to pay for the running ex- penses of the Government: we have got to pay for the maintenance of the State University; we have got to pay for the maintenance. partially. of the Mechanical and Agricultural College. We have got to pay for the mainten- ance of the Girls Industrial School. We have got to pay for the Instrution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind; we have got to pay for the maintenance of the Insane Hospital and for various other items that go to make up the expenses of a great Commonwealth and A great State, and that are absolutely necessary. Mir. President, is 1t wise :! Is lt wis6cm upon the part of inc members of this Conven- tion to so limit the amount to be charged or to be collected from taxes as to jeopardize our credftI Ano desire to call the attention or tnis Convention to one other proposition that we ought to bear in mind as we go along, and that is that our bonded indebtedness is nearing maturity. It behooves us to refund that debt. which we cannot pay:we haven't got dollar with which to pay 1t; 1t has got to be refunded. We have got to borrow either the money to take up these ponds or we have got to make some arrange ment by which other people will take up the bonds for us, and 1t behooves us to make that deal for the issuance or new bonds at as low rate or interest as possible. T submit it to any busi- ness man in this house. if. when the Governor of this State goes to the great financial world and asks that the bonds of this State be fioated at a tax limit of only 2 1-2 mills for all purposes outside of the public schools and old soldiers, our bonds can pc fioated at as low a rate Of inter- est. as they could If we had greater margin. Now would like to see the fixed appropriation for the pubic schools, at three mills. would favor that proposition provided we could take the back track ur@n the taxation preposition and raise the limit again to three fourths of one per cent, put submit to this Convention that, as husiness men. with the figures as have them and I would be glad to be corrected if I am wrong about the mat ter because I would be glad to vote for this clause if it can be demonstrat" ed that we can safely do it, but SUD init that we ought not to adopt snis ordinance unless we have in view change of tax limit so as to make our credit like Caesars wife. AhoVe re- proach and above suspicion.
 MT. Jones (Wilcox)-Mr. President and gentlemen of the Convention
 MT. Cobb--tWill the gentleman yield to me a moment to amend by StrikinG out these words
 MT. Jones-Wait till we get through with the discussion.
 MT. Cobb-Yes, sir.
 MT. .Jones-Gentlemen of the Conven" ton. the distinguished delegate from Macon has stated that this is purely legislative matter and ought not 70 DC in the Constitution at all.
 If you will refer to the Constitution of 1875. you will see that there was n provision made at that time. in the de- pressed condition of the finances of the State, fixing an amount for the school funds. It is Section 5, Article XIII
 .~rhe income arising from the 18th section trust fund the surplus revenue fund, until 1t Is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in Sections 5 ana of this article, with such other moneys, to be not less than $100,0OO per annum' as the General Assembly shall provid" by taxation or otherwise, shall be an- piled to the support and maintenance of the public schools and 1t shall be the duty of the General Assembly to in- crease, from time to time, the public f,nd as the condition of the treasury and the resources of the State will admit"
 You will see, gentlemen of the Con- yention, that 1t Is not legislation pure and simple, but that similar provi- sion was made in the Constitution of 1875, and that $100, 900 was appropriated at that time when the State was In a poorer condition to give that $l0o.O0o than it Is the amount that the com mittee suggests to be appropriated at this time.
 Mir. Harrison-what proportion of the revenues OL thc pidbe oS Ih"t s'AAS did $100,000 amount to and what pro- portion do you propose to take nowT
 MT. Jones-I haven't 1t before me now and would have to look at 1t.
 MT. Harrison-Is 1t not fact that the income then was about $1,OOO,0Oo. which would be one-tenth, and now you propose to take nearly one-half?
 MT. Jones-I do not recall the amount and haven't 1t before me. The appro- priatio that Is made for the school fund at this time, amounts to about $500, ,oO0. We do not propose to make | 1t larger than that. 1t is in fact small l CT than the amount that is appropriat- l ed at this time, and I ask if the peo- pie of Alabama, when they sent us l here, believed that we would cut down the appropriations for their common school in this State and make them less than they are, thereby diminishing the ! of their children to be | educated, would ever have alIolwed tnla Convention to be held?
 MT. Sanford (Pike)-Wtll the gentle | man permit a question!
 MT. Jones-I have but little time and | have three to answer and I dislike to | refuse, but 1t would cut on my time | too much. The gentleman from Madi- son says that it would be imprudent. | that we do not know what we are about | if we go on and make such a provision ! as this. The Committee on Taxation | when they came in here and asked us | to reduce the limit to 65 cents stated | 1t would not interfere in any way with | the amount to be given to the public |