The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-02

From The Msnufacturer's Record.
 I am invited by The ManufactureFS Record to forecast something of the prospects of Alabama, with . broad gen- in store for the state. and with partic. ular reference to its most striking po- tentiality."
 Last month long stride was made. in future growth of the State. By large majority the new Constitution, framed in sovereign convention after ninety days labor in the last summer. was rat
 Assuming that your inquiry is essen- tially related to the industrial life of the State, shall, in . few words, un- dertake to indicate the reformatory fea- lures of the new Constitution which directly bear upon the limits of taxation taxes.
 Under the Constitution now about to be superseded the limit of State taxa ton was 75 cents on the $100. This limit The county and town tax cannot exceed 50 cents on the $10o. except in the towns named in the instrument itself, where certain specific taxes are permitted:
 The operating expenses of the State the constitutions of quadrenniai for bien- nial general elections and sesaionS Of tho Legislature.
 It Is reasonable to expect . great re duction in interest charges on the State reason of the power of refunding dele gated to the Governor. and which power was wanting under the. superseded Con- stitution. There are limits to county. town or district taxation of q stringent kind. The provision for taxing corporations the same as individuals is plain and specific.
 All state-chartered banks. all trust companies and individuals doing . bank ing business must be examined twice a year by the State Examiner. This is . new safeguard.
 The provisions for public schools have the effect of giying greater permanency appropriation Is increased over the sum that has heretofore been granted or not. at the option of each succeeding Legis- lature. In addition to this augmentation of the strength of tho institution. the new Constitution provides that each coun- ty may tax itself 10 cents on the S1oo. exclusively for the benefit of the public schools in that county. In fact, nearly half of the fixed revenues of the State will go to the public school under the
 It is not easy to designate the most striking potentiaiity' of Alabama's re- sources, as your memorandum of inquiry suggests. Our native soil is so blessed
 
 line we have no barren lands, unless an insignificant area on the Gulf coast b' so claSsed. There are approximately s. 600 900 acres within our bounds, and venture to say there is nowhere trac' of 100 acres, on nountain-top or plain that is not capable of remunerative soil tiIlage. If one acre be described as pro ductive of cotton, the cereals. the grasses the vine, the orchard tree, the berry then all acres within the State are de Srrfhod with exact We hAvf s.0oo or 1000 square miles of coal. iror ore and furnace fiux in cur central coun ties. but right along with the mines and furnace in stone's throw. we have mar ket gardens that produce as large veg. etables as any garden in the world Wt have in different counties and sections unsurpassed timber of great variety. but the lands from which the timber is re. moved are drst-class agricultural lands We have Q wide belt of black-prairit wooded territory across the center of tn, State which iias q known cotton-produc ing quality unsurpassed in the Cottor States. but the same prairies yield { great varietye of cultivated grasses. al the cereals, all orchard crops, many va rieties of the grape, and vegetable gar
 At the recent Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. r., Alabama won more gold medals for her display there thar any State in the Union except New York
 We have some 1.5oo miles of interior river navigation. in Alabama, spreadins port of Mobile. Let e canal be cut some thirty-eight miles by Government survey to connect the Tennessee at Guntersvifls with the Coosa at Gadsden. costing boats--this. in view of the removal of qb- structions frem the Tennessee and Coosa. readily practicable-and we then have un- broken water passage for grain and pro-