The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-29
TO APPEAR BEFORE
 BOARD ON MONDAY
PROBABLE THAT COMMITTEE OF CITIZENS WILL CALL ON BOARD OF REVENUE ABOUT GRADING TWENTIETH STREET.

It Is probable that the chairman of
 the committee appointed by number of citizens of Birmingham interested in grading the Twentieth street road across
 Red mountain, will appear before the board of revenue next Monday and re- quest that body to make an appropria- ton to defray the expenses of a pre- liminary survey of the proposed road J. H. McCary chairman of the organ
 ization which is promoting the new road,
 talks Interestingly of the prospects of the success Of the movement. He said;
 "A large number of citizens of the ds-
 trict have come to me since the action of
 the meeting on Wednesday afternoon and warmly commended the plan of connect ing the north and south sides of Red
 mountain by the extension of the Twen- tieth street road The committee that has
 charge of carrying out the preliminary survey will continue to work until the
 success of the movement is assured.
 "As soon as the board of revenue has passed upon the question of the prelmin- ary survey I will call another meeting of the citizens for the purpose of outlin- ing additional plans"
 that not dollar of these sacred funds should be touched for any purpose even though both under the law and the prac- tice they are touched daily anyhow and have been for several years. And even though if used for the payment of a part of our debt every teacher and every pen
 sioner, as experience abundantly shows,
 will get every dollar due him without
 abatement or delay
 he reason for this Is, that on October
 1, 1905, at the beginning of the new fiscal
 year, or as soon thereafter as practicable,
 the state auditor will certify to the state
 superintendent of education every dollar
 estimated for the school year 1005-06
 When this certificate is made not a dol
 lar will be due a single teacher, and
 before the schools have been taught or
 the teachers paid the taxes for the fiscal
 year 1905-06 will have been collected and
 the money all available
 'The theory of the critics of the propo-
 sition Is that the state has no right to
 use the money collected In the fiscal year
 1905-06 to maintain the schools taught in
 1905-06, but must depend exclusively on
 money collected in 1904-05 According to
 this absurd theory, which is sustained
 neither by the fact the practice nor the
 law, the state must always be in debt
 to the schools a million or more dollars,
 Wnlcn must TelHdlH III tHt tIedSuiy uH-
 used and untouched every minute of the
 time for a full year.
 If such absurdity should be the law,
 no greater reason could exist for calling the legislature in session to change 1t. But it is not the law.
 How Idea Grew.
 "The idea grows out of custom of the auditor to estimate the school fund for the current year upon the basis of the receipts of the previous year. This pian Is subject to no just ground of criticism. It prevents the possibility of error in the estimate, and is a protection to the auditor which is just and proper. For instance, the total taxable property of the state, as assessed for l904-0o was, Tn round numbers, $324 100000. For the previous year it was s30S,OO0,O0O The au- ditor's estimate for the current year was based on the previous years receipts, which was definite and fixed, the cur rent year being at that time indefinite and unfxed. The gain to the fund in l9O4-05 will be available under his estimate In 1905-06 and Is not lost to the schools at all.
 But this is very different thing from saying that the taxes collected In l905-06 cannot be legally and morally applied to the schools taught in 1905-06, as they have continuously been applied in the past 'rhe money is there If the schools Of the current year can be paid from the taxes of the current year. But If they can be maintained lawfully only from | moneys collected a year in advance of their use, then indeed there Is no surplus.