The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-30


 sources at a five mill rate will amount in round numbers to about $1,s5O,OO0. The disbursements for the year end- | ing September 30, 1901. is estimated to | be S1, ,929, ,000. At five mill rate for | general purposes the expenses of the | government, economically administered will about be met by the receipts. This has no reference to the pension and special school taxes.
 Respectfully,
 T. l.. Sowell. Auditor. | J. Craig Smith, Treasurer. MT. Banks (RusselD-This is a Ques- | tion' of grave importance, and 1t de- serves the most serious and careful consideration of this Convention. We l are not here to call in question the sin | eerity of anybody. The members of | this committee who have made this re- port are doubtless as good and true men as can be found in the Conven- | tion, and we should have the utmost
 respect for their opinion. but the opin- ions of all men. of all the members of | the Convention, are to be called in question as we consider the matters | that are brought to our attention. The arguments in favor of q reduction of | the tax rate, are based on the euppo- sition that the prosperous conditions | that have prevailed in Alabama for tEe past twelve months resulting in an ad- vance in all the taxable property in | the State will continue, and upon an- | other suppcsition and that is that the State of Alabam shall have no occasion | to call upon her people for yet larger | demands for other purposes. The fu- | ture as painted by our committee ia | full of promise. there is not a cloud | to be seen anywhere on the financial l sky. and we sincerely hope and trust that this prophecy of the future will De more than realized. but we are re- minded that the words of Burns apply with equal force to the hopes of men. as they do to the schemes of men, | when he says, '"The best laid schemes of mice and men aft gang aglee." We | are confronted by facts. MT. President | and gentlemen of the Convention, facts | that we must not ignore. facts that we must not forget, facts that we must undertake to provide for in some way. | The bushes man who forgets the causes that brought disaster to his | business so soon as there comes relief | to him from some sudden wave of pros perity. will soon be again on the tolls of misfortune and disaster. The facts that confront us here. that for the past
 number of years we have had the Chief nAGCutlV6 Ol tUC CtdlC uTkhlk, year UF year or session by session, upon the Legislature to increase the tax rate. so that the demands of the State might be met, demands that were not based upon any schemes of extravaganza, but demands that were based upon the most economical plan. Surely as mem- bers of this Convention we cannot complain that Alabama has based her plans for the public expenditure upon any wild eXtravagant schemes, surely as we have discussed facts here as to the pay of our Executive. as to the pay of the Supreme Court Judges, and
 as to the pay of members of the Legis- lature. and as to the general expenses of this State. surely. surely Mir. Presi- dent and gentlemen of the Convention,
 we cannot conceive for a moment that
 Alabama has been wild and extrava-
 gant in her expenditures of public
 moneys. And yet in the face of all this
 economy. what confronts us as we-Tead the Treasurer's report of September
 30. 1900? This, that $169.000 is tho
 amount of the deficit. Now. MT. Presi-
 dent. the voice of our lamented Cover
 nor had scarcely died away from these
 halls. and here we are confronted with
 this report of the financial condition
 of our treasury September 30, 1900, just
 few months ago. These conditions
 have come. Mir. President. when the
 tax rate has been raised to the consti-
 tutional limit. when Alabama has been
 taxing the people to the very utmost of what the Constitution will permit her to do. and yet with those conditions.
 we are confronted with $169.000 deficit
 September 30, 1900. Now what other conditions are we confronted with?
 MT. Browne-Will the gentleman per-
 init question?
 MT. Banks--In a minute.
 MT. Browne-I understood the gen.
 tleman to say We were confronted with
 a deficit of $160.0O0?
 Mir. Banks-$169.000 the Treasurer's
 report shows there was a deficit of that amount September 30.
 Mir. Browne-It shows $1S4,00, think.
 Mir. Banks-That was the Auditors report and the Treasurer's report shows $169 9,0O0, and he tells why 1t does
 not conform with the Auditors report.
 Mir. Browne-Will the gentleman al- low me to state what the Auditors re- port said?
 Mir. Banks-Yes.
 MT. Browne-The Auditor says his re- port and the deficit of $1S4, ,0O0 is wrong; that in that he includes $50,00O covered into the treasury from the convict de- parLmenL ana SOUsOOO ITOIH leEIih1eI tags, and that the deficit was only $S2, 900.
 MT. Banks-Yes, but the Treasurer's report shows that. And right in con- nection with that report comes the voice of the Governor to the Legisla- ture of Alabama urging them to economy and retrenchment and to make the expenditures come within the amount of the receipts of the State. But those are not the only conditions. We are confronted with other condi- tions. Alabama has planned. some what largely, but who will say that she must curtaiI her plans? She is plan nin9 more largely for the education of her children; she Is planning to make some sort of compensation, to give some token of appreciation to that splendid class of heroes who lost every thing in her service, whose silence has been more eloquent than words, as they have gone along and borne their losses without one word of complaint, but those are not the only things, MT. President and gentlemen of the Con- vention: We are confronted with a ra- pidly-maturing indebtedness of eight and a half million dollars to nine mil lion dollars.
 Here are the creditors of Alabama almost at our doors to demand of Ala bama that she shall pay what she owes. Are we dreaming? Are we under the spell of this beautiful vision presented to Us by this committee, when, in the face of those things we talk about reduction of the tax rate in Alabama? What will be the possible effect? And,