The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Elections Bill to Come Up in
 the House
MEASURE ID RELIEVE WIDOWS
Senator Smith Has a Bill Carrying S14o0 Appropriation for Old Soldiers and Dependent
 Widows In Clay County.


 This, as one of the recess days of the leg islature, has not served to accomplish much except to permit the overworked clerks to see a rather distant streak of daylight with the calendars, journals, etc. This, however, was the real pur- pose of the recess day. It may serve to a better end, to judge 1t by former recess days. Heretofore the members seem to work more harmoniously after few days in which to cool off and reach a sober sec- ond thought. It Is noticeable fact that a recess after a hard and bitter fight tends very greatly to heal the little wounds that almost without exception follow.
 There are just nine days for work, and to accomplish all that is important will require cool judgment and rapid work. As a matter of course, 1t is difficult to cou- pie these two suggestions together and more especially in the present legislature where there are so many members who do their own thinking. There is still much necessary work unfinished, and the slow ness with which this necessary legislation is being put through Is said to be very .
 Not Much of Interest.
 Tomorrow is not likely to prove a very Interesting day, the special orders for the day are not If more than passing in- terest. The house will first have up the Bankhead elections bill, which comes back from the senate with a few minor amend ments. MT. Bankhead will move to con- cur in these amendments, and save fight on a local solctorship as to appoint ment or election, there will probably be no objection to the amendments offered. The house had also fixed Tuesday as the day to consider the primary election bill, but 1t will hardly be reached before We'd nesday, that being the corresponding day with Tuesday, since Monday was made a recess day This measure is very gener- ally considered as one of the very great est importance.
 To Relieve Widows.
 Senator Smith of Clay will on tomor- row introduce a relief bill which has much merit, and which commands sym pathetic support The bill proposes to pay the old soldiers and their widows the special pension of which they were deprived by the unfaithfuness of former Probate Judge Whatley
 When Judge Whatley suddenly disap-
 
 by the state examiner, 1t was found by this official that he had been defrauding several old soldiers and dependent widows of their pitiful state pensions.
 Senator Smiths bill carries an appro- priation of about $l4O0, but all that the state receives from the bondsmen of the former judge is to be used to replace this amount
 While the total amount appropriated is
 
 ing to the two score old citizens of Clay, who are so earnestly struggling to keep the wolf from the door.
 General Insurance Bill.
 bill causing considerable attention is the general insurance bill being urged by Deputy Insurance Commissioner N. R. McDavid. Discussing the bill today, MT. McDavid said:
 My sole purpose Is to get the state its share of the license money paid In Alabama by insurance companies, and put all insurance companies doing busi- ness in the state on the same tax basis. Under the present arrangement some of the big life companies pay a total state, county and municipal toll of less than 1H per cent, while some other insurance institutions equally as solvent pay as high as 20 per cent do not believe that this is fair.
 Under the present law our state tax on gross premiums collected in the state is 1 per cent. This tax yields the, state about $55.000, there being about $5,5000 COG premiums collected here. The municipali- ties pursue a different scheme of assess ment They charge by the company not by the amount of business done''
 Montgomery, for instance. charges all fire companies $401, which amounts to 0r f0tf f,, twenty or thirty per cent in others. It charges s100 to life companies which amounts to less than one quarter of one per cent with some companies and twen- ty times as much with others The bill on the calendar simply proposes that ev- cry company shall pay for exactly what it gets. It provides a two per cent tax for the state and authorizes the munich palities to charge one per cent on all col lections within their borders This is in about the same proportion as the state tax on other things as compared to the municipal tax allowed by the constitution 'The equity of the bill cannot be ques- toned The tax burden on a company, under It's provisions. increases as the com panies business and profits increase. can see no reason why the tax laws should discriminate in favor of the great life insurance companies, which are the most powerful financial institutions in the world. This Dlll simply requires them to pay the same proportion of taxes to col lections that the smaller life companies and the fire companies do. Under this bill only three of the fire companies will be re- nuired to pay more license than they do now, and fifty-seven of them will pay less. The large life companies will have to pay more but that is only proper for they get larger profit from the people.
 q regret that some of the city treasu- res of the state will be hurt by the oper- atons of the bill, but there is no doubt about the inconsistency of the municipal licenses. Montgomery charges fire com pany a greater license than any other city in the world and collects more from the fifty companies doing business here than the total the state gets from the sixty that if licenses here and everywhere else. The fire companies pay s2O000 here to collect ,200000; the life companies s2.500 to collect ,s00O00.
 Take other cities in the state Selma and Huntsville are about the same size. Selma charges every fire company $250 and m additional fire tax. Huntsville charges