The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-14
THAT SURPLUS AGAIN
GOVERNOR JELKs GIVES oUr 4
 STATEMENT.
He Analyses the Balances In the Treas
 ury and Says Condition ts
 Splendid Considering Re- tfsaced Tax Rate.

II
 Governor Jelks yesterday gave an- other reply to the critics who seem bent | on making of his Treasury surplus no surplus at all or only an apparent sur plus He makes an analysis of the bal ances in the State Treasury at different periods of the year and says that the statement .'that there is no surplus grows out of the assumption that the money collected one year for schools year"
 This assumption would, of course, carry with 1t the idea that the three- mill tax for the next year for school purposes should be saved for still an- other fiscal year. This the Governor stoutly denies both from the standpoint of public policy and the law in the case.
 In view of the probability of an extra session of the Legislature made known by q recent speech of the Governor in Blount Springs, the discussion of the surplus with which the Legislature would deal is interesting at this time It has been repeatedly charged that the Chief Executive of the State spoke too quick in estimating the surplus about December around the $700,000 mark. If we are to collect two years school tax before we can pay one years school
 expenses" said the Governor. yesterday, the objectors are right: there is no surplus
 The Governor then sets forth that the State has not been reserving this edu- cational fund in practice and that there is no law for reserving last years school tax for next years school obli- gations. The fund has been amounting to over a million dollars.
 ITO reserve this money has not been at all the practice of the State Govern
 rnlt terday. "As a mere business proposi- tion, aside from the legality of the question, 1t would be a very foolish thing to do, indeed. We pay for this years schools out of this years re- ceipts."
 In the article on this subject in yes- terdays Advertiser, there was an ellip- sis in the Governors statement which may have more or less confused the reader
 The Governor concluded his state ment to The Advertiser representative by paying a tribute to the growth and prosperity of Alabama which makes the increasing balances in the Treasury possible.
 Every winter at some time near De- cember l." said the Governor as he ent- cred the discussion, the income to the State from taxes Is larger than the dis bursements. Just before that date the Treasury holds fewer dollars than for any other time during that winter or during the fiscal year, running from October to October. The Treasury ball ances rise from that time to some day in early March and then /ebbs again through the spring and summer months until December. There has been a ball ance each winter with no outstanding debts or obligations since I came into office, rising from $53000 in the winter nf trsV VEQQ in ho n fAr nf Q0A
 these two balances representing the smallest number of dollars in the Treas ury for their respective years. This winter the balance will be larger. There will be no future call under the present laws for any part of that lowest bai- ance and no use to which the money can legally be put. Exactly what that balance will be this December cannot be computed accurately. Since there was on September 12, 1905, s1S6.000 more than for the same day last year it Is reasonable to assume that the bal- ance of last winters lowest day. which was $593.0OO will be increased by more than s100.000, making something like $700,00O. This is a mere estimate.
 The statement that there is no sur plus grows out of the assumption that the money collected one year for schools shall be set apart for that use the next year. saving the three mill tax of the next year for still another fiscal year. This position would force the Treasury to carry at the lowest balance of something like million of dollars, a much larger balance than we have had in the Treasury for certain months of each of many years. To reserve this money has not been at all the practice of the State Government. As a mere business proposition, aside from the le- gaIity of the question, 1t would be a very foolish thing to do. indeed. We pay for this years schools out of this years receipts. This certainly has been the custom for some years. This three mills is estimated. take it, by the Au- ditor from the tax returns which are in his hands in August, he notifying the Superintendent of Education the amount of money which will be to his credit for the fiscal year. It is an easy and sim pie method.
 If there ever was any legal require ment for holding this large sum in re- serve, which have said has not been the practice, this statute approved March 5th. 1901, seems plainly to have removed all such necessity. It was in- tended to avoid the appearance of deficit when there was no deficit. It consolidated all funds in the Treasury.
 If we are to collect two years school tax before we can pay one years school expenses, the objectors are right: there is no surplus.
 T think there has been an actual surplus in the Treasury for each low est day in each winter for the last four years, constantly growing. We may estimate from that fact alone, if there was no other reasons to justify the position, that there Is an actual surplus of money unusable under the present statutes.
 This surplus in the Treasury Is very complimentary to the State. It indi- cates the great progress which 1t is making, particularly when we remem- Der that an amount equal to something over three millions of dollars has been paid out for schools and old soldiers alone in the last four years in excess of the sum paid out for schools and old soldiers during any previous four years of the States history. This vast extra sum of hree-quarters of a million doI-