The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-29
SCHOOL TAX PLAN
 MEETS MUCH FAVOR
l. H. Motion Writes Letter En-
 dorsing Movement
STRONG CAMPAIGN WAGED
Secretary Sandefur and His Assistants Have Been Busy for the Past Week Mailing Letters to Prom
 Inent Men In the County.

Campaign managers E. K. Campbell and Henry B. Gray, who are conducting the campaign for local taxation have instruct ed Secretary Sandefur to call meeting of the campaign committee of one hun dred for next Saturday at noon in the Commercial club rooms in the Linn build ing This will be the first meeting to be held by the committee and all of the members are urged to be present. Re- ports will be received as to the progress being made in favor of the issue in dif- ferent parts of Jefferson county. The line of campaign which will be carried on until the day of the special election June 2O-will be laid.
 The past week has been busy one with Secretary Sandefur and his assist ants at the headquarters of the cam paign committee In the first National Bank building Letters have been sent out to a number of prominent citizens of the county asking for their support in the campaign for good public schools in Jefferson county. and already many fa- vorable replies have been received.
 T. H. Molton's Views.
 In a letter to Managers Gray and Camp bell, T. H. Motion. a member of the com mttee of one hundred, gives the views of a business man and large property owner. on the proposed taxation for the school. The letter says:
 'Todays mail brings me your formal notification of my appointment as a member of the general committee of one hundred citizens, created in the interest of a special tax for our public schools.
 Tn your letter you ask that I give my views on this subject, which I am glad to do very briefly, as follows: Whether the property owners are willing or not, the time has come when they have got to submit to being taxed for the pur- pose of educating the children of people who own no property-the poor people. As to the great benefits to come to our state from education, 1t seems to me every Intelligent man should fully appre- ciate and acknowledge. Should this ben eft be conceded, then I would say that the property owner who has vote on the question should apply practical, common sense as to the best method Of raising the money We all know that our property in Jefferson county is as- sessed for taxation, as rule, far below it's real value, and yet our county is pay ing into the state treasury so much more than any other county in the state we feel that the assessed values in Jener- son must be largely in excess of valua- ton in other counties.
 A Weighty Argument.
 'This is the strong argument submitted to our tax commissioner and to the board of revenue whenever there is a proposi- ton to raise the valuations on any should be considered, and doubtless has it's weight Taxes are burdensome, and always have been. The problem of equalizing has never yet been solved. and may never be. The cause of education is in the ascendency. More money must and will be raised to carry forward the great work. would. therefore, say to every property owner that IL IS lar petter to submit to a special tax. every dollar of which is to be spent in our own coun- ty, than to have our property values in- creased, in which event more money will be taken from our tax payers, and more than one-half of 1t go into the state treasury. From this view of the subject, it seems to me that every man, whether he is in favor of further increasing our public school service or not would favor the special tax"