The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-20
STATE PENSIONS
 SOON ID BE READY Confederate Soldiers Will Re- ceive Maximum This Year GOOD WORK BY EXAMINERS Tax Valuations Have Been Increased In Many Counties of the State
 and Still Further Increases
 Are Promised.
GOOD WORK BY EXAMINERS

Montgomery. September 19.-tspecial)- It will not be many more days now be- fore the state auditor will be getting out the warrants of the old soldiers who followed the fortunes of the Confederate army that they may secure the pension which the state has provided for them by virtue of the taxes its citizens pay for that purpose. With the sl00,OoO to be set aside by the auditor on the order of the Governor, the fund this year will go to about S47O.0OO, enough to give every allowed by law.
 The preparation of the lists and the forwarding of the warrants is in the hands of W. R. Sawyer and Cyrus Brown. clerks in the office of Auditor Sowell, and they have put in several weeks of hard work getting them all ready. It will be three weeks or more before they begin mailing out the papers on which the money will be forthcoming. but by that time it will go out to all the counties about the same time. There are fewer to receive the money this year with more of the fund, which makes the
  ising.
 Capitol RunsWays.
 The runaways of the capitol are began ming to get back after summer yaca- tions. Auditor SoweN, who is far from well, suffering with rheumatism, has come back from Hot Springs, and looks much more fit than when he went away. For the time he will break up house. keeping and board, believing that he will be more comfortable during the balance of the summer.
 Treasurer J. Craig Smith, with Mrs. Smith and their little son. will be home from Waukesha this week. where they have been spending two weeks pleasant ly. Secretary Virgil Griffin of the state railroad commission is in his office after a trip of three weeks, and Secretary of State E. R. McDavid got back from Yer mont today and is housekeeping again.
 It Is expected that most of the mem bers of the supreme court will get in by the first of October. Clerk Robert F. Ligon is in Hot Springs. N. C.. and is expected back by that time. and Chief Justice Mcclellan usually gets here by the first week of October. Justice Dow dell Is at his home in Lafayette, and Justice Simpson at his in Florence, both having returned from a trip to Cali fornia
 With these the capitol force will be pretty well up to strength again, and 1t will be then in order to get down to business either for the calm uneventful- ness of the winter or the disturbed con ditions incident to a session of the leg islature.
 Work of Examiners.
 There has come to the state wonderful benefit within recent months by the ser vices Of the state examiners of public accounts, along line not before worked out. Ref rence is made to the fact that in each county where they examine books they note the valuations of the taxable property and give their opinion in the re- ports to the governor, as to how much 1t Is below the price that 1t should carry This action, it is understood, was taken by the instructions of Governor Jelks, who has, in this way, been able to get an Idea of what the tax officers are doing
 The result has been to enhance the values of property in most all the coun- ties Where a report has been made that a county was turned in at say 50 per cent of what the examiner thought right, it has been brought to the attention of the state through the publication of the re- ports in the papers, and they have done better in another assessment. Quite often the examiner reports that he is told that the assessment will be raised the next year to something like what he thinks Is right.
 Check School Officers. N
 There is another way in which the ex- aminers have been doing good service, and that is in checking up school of ficers of the counties. It has been the custom for many years to go along in a kind of slip-shod way in the county super intendents offices Not that there was any effort to violate the laws in the fsAing of money that came into the hands of the officers. but many of them used their own judgment and pleasure about how the money was paid out and never paid any attention to the laws on the subject. As a consequence much of the work was badly done, and many localities were not given the schools they ought to have had with the money in hand. Now the county school officers must obey the law no mat ter how little they like it, or have suit brought on their bonds.
 In a number of places there have been troubles because the local trustees did not want to run the schools as the state law directs and in one or two cases they have undertaken to override the law en- tirely. They will find that this Is poor business when the examiner gets there if there is not a compliance with the statutes as to paying out the states money.