The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-06
\ BUSINESS GOVERNORS ADMINS
 TAXATION.

ApONSinQF " k4AtAth A&s SOAnS- w s-~A"| features of it's economic and govern mental achievements were reflected in the figures published in Sundays Ad- vertiser.
 | So significant are they, so remark ! able is the showing. that the whole | State should know them and pay the l tribute of appreciation that is due Gov | ernof JeIks and the men of ability and I energy who have with him so well served the State. | The figures are gathered from the books and records of the State They are authentic. They are the proofs of a true business administration. In the | recent past much has been said of bus mess Governor and business adminfs- tration. The records have been writ ten. The figures are not to be gain- said. The true and the spurious stand in their own light.
 Governor Jelks has been at the head of. the State government for five years and full treasury is one of the accom- plishments of these years. What he has done, what his administration has accomplished, may not be well weighed and gauged unless 1t is compared with the five years that preceded his term. Nor in the consideration of these fig ures should the reduction made by the Constitutional Convention in 1901 in the tax rate be overlooked.
 ! At the very beginning of the term of Governor Jaiks the tax rate in Ala bama was lowered by the Constitu- tionai Convention from 75 cents to not exceed ss cents on the hundred dollars. l The action of the Constitutional Con- l vention presented a new obstacle to, l and placed an added responsibility on l the Jelks administration. How that | obstacle has been overcome; how that I responsibility has been met the figures published tell. For ono thing the 1 treasury balances for various years l may be considered in an effort to ap- preciate all that has been accomplished. | At the beginning of the first period of l five years. and at the close of the fis- cal year of 1896. the amount on deposit 1 fn the State Treasury was S5S,s19.40. At the close of tho fiscal year of 1905 the | balance in the State Treasury amount ed to si.4sI.231.34. la the first five l years the highest point attained by the l treasury deposits at the close of the | first period of five years was $629.6si.- 1 A. So. notwithstanding the constitu- tional reduction of the tax rate, the Jelks administration has more than doubled the treasury balance in the first five years in which it has been In charge.
 | Perhaps no State in the Union has had such an educational revival as Ala bama in the first five years of the new
 century. In the preceding five years | Alabama devoted a total of $s,436.162.-
 s2 In the last five years Alabama has increased her gifts to the cause of education by $2,o00,00o, for in that time total of $5.424,s26.os was
 set aside for the public schools of the
 State.
 l The Confederate veterans of Ala
 bama have fared even better than the nschool children of the State. For in
 the five years of the Jelks adminis- tration they have received nearly three
 times the amount they got in the pre- ,ceding five years.
 In every branch of the State gov
 ernment. not only in the Educational and the Auditors offices, but in the h.
 surance Department. fin the .Agri icultur-
 al Department, in the Convict Depart ment, the same results ot a general pol
 ley of thoroughness. of energy and ability are shown.
 If Governor Jelks In his administra- tion of the affairs of the State. had done no other thing. if his administra- ton had only one thing to point to with pride and that one thing was the new convict lease system, It would alone commend his administration to the gratitude of his people. If no other reform had been dnahg1rated if no other achievment had been wrought, his courageous abolition of the old system and his fearless establishment of the new. would make his administra- ton thing of pride to his friends and command the just gratitude of his peo- l pie.
 In 1900, the year previous to William D. Jelks. entry into the office of Gov ernor. Alabama received as profits from
 the hire of convicts the sum of $6,25s,-
 01. In the year of 1905, five years
 later, the State received in profits from
 the convicts the enormous sum of
 s29S.291.56. No set of figures could be
 more eloquent of able and intelligent
 administration. No less eloquent are
 the figures which show the comparison
 between tho first period of five years and the second period of the same num-
 Der of years In the first five years
 the total profits from the Convict De-
 partment were only s104.27s.O1, while in the last five years the total profit
 foots up s9s7,27s.Ol.
 Such are a few of the things that | Governor Je1ks has accomplished in the years of his administration. His work | for the State has gone forward quietly, | earnestly and systematically. There | has been no ostentations trumpetlngs i of what the Governor has done. He has not been building up a political machine. He has not forced the op- portunIties of his office to bend towards l his political advancement He had no purpose, no ambition but to serve the people who had honored him, to serve them faithfully and well. Such was 1 his pledge when he entered the office. And the people of Alabama may now