The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-10

largely donated by that great lover ot
 old soldiers. Jefferson M. Falkner. ant | Is known as the "Falkner Home" Yol | appropriated s120 year for each in
 mate Under the act I appointed th'
 % state st fa1ses Larse.G Gi m de FalReer, Ihle; w D.; westcott and c. l.. Ruth: and thu following. one from each Compression
 ley, s. T; Frazer, H. C.: Reynolds, "
 Stone. Samuel Blackwell and W. c.
 Ward. They are all clever business men. I think you will not find wiser
 or more efficient body of men on any board than these.
 The appropriation has been found tc
 be entirely insufficient to care for 1t al all. There are nearly seventy people in the Home and the appropriation l: s10 for each per month. competent | commandant, with an assistant or two
 cooks helpers and nurses, particular. the appropriation. You will consider, of I course, that nearly every one of these old men if not absolutely. Is partially helpless and needs much attention to feed and ciofhe them. The Board has found 1t impossible to get along on | the allowance and they have gotten pe- | hind. The members above named signed with me a note for s2.75o. which | I will ask you to provide for. This | money had to be borrowed. the oid Veterans starved. or the Home closed :. If you should decide to keep 1t open | further you will necessarily be com | oellcd to greatly increase the per cap | ita appropriation. It certainly ought , not to be run as poor house.
 Assessment Laws.
 Real and personal property, when az gregated. does not bear taxes on thir- | " per cent of its real value. Person unless 1t is in shares in a corporation. It is almost unrepreserted in the tax returns. Real property in many coun- | ties IS not itself given in for an and there are counties where twenty ' per cent on real estate is considered a most liberal estimate. Every effort has been put forth by the Auditor to reasonable per cent of it's value The Back Tax Commissioners office has been constantly in touch with the Au- ditor in this fight for a. proper show, ing with what. I consider, a pitiful result. The assessment for the year the tRe0 year spunes ises to sssiSSS. .cS6, an in- crease uneaualled at any time , in the would. however. hardly be 9 fair as- sessment. We are sharing in very great prosperity all over the country and Mississippi have increased their assessments in a larger degree, which I assume is the result of superior tax law anu not the EtSulI OI ECdlly creased values.
 Back Tax Law.
 SThe Tax Commission law is effective in increasing the assessment against a of the counties. It does hot reach one person in one hundred whose property deserves to be raised. In one-half or the counties 1t is entirely ineffective with any execution this administration could give it: and with any execution. indeed. it ever had at any time since the passage of the act. The whole tax system should be radically changed. Personal property; except such as tha: represented by corporation shares. or such as pay a record tax. as have said. practically. bears no part, Of the tax burden. At your last session you pro- vided for the taxation of mortgages at the small rate of 15 cents l hundred. This departure has not only been effec- S75,66T 21 in 1906 for the State alone, but 1t suggests an extension along the same line. I am of the opinion that ultimately the law must be so changed tion all such personal property as may be entirely hidden from the Assesso". except such as the law requires court or state records to disclose. l am in clined to believe that the principle of a mortgage tax might proftably and fair ly be extended,
 effective in securing unpaid licenses than in raising valuations or t-iscover- ing esca pes. It seems that the law should provide for greater diligence collection of licenses. Now 1t requires that the judge of probate shall report the list of licenses collected to the tent themselves with receipting for H. censes when handed them or. "erhaps. notifying parties that they are due such license. They do not count il as a part of their duty to enforce collection Their indifference. on the whole. has probably increased since the passage of the back tax law. It would be feas-, probate judge a requirement. that he exhaust whatever remedy the law is made to give him to the end that those who might otherwise. may not escapc such tax.
 Curious to know what has been done l have gone over the returns for four years covering the years of 1893. 1899. and those of 1905 and 1906. The law was established in 1896. I found that in 1898 in thirty-on counties there was either no back tax commissioner. or if raises and furnished no escapes. In 1899 twenty-four counties had no raises and reported no escapes. There were six other counties of the sixty-seven in from the work of the Commissioner amounted to less than $30 in general state and special tax.
 For the past year l find there have been no raises and escapes from the Commissioner in thirty-five counties. For 1905 there was no raises or escapes in twenty eight counties. It will. 1 am sure. appear to you at once that as at present written in the books the law Is only effective against a few of the parties 1t ought to reach. You will agree with me that 1t is most undemO- cratic to make fish of one and fowl or another. In some of the counties of the State the law has never operate1 for any one of the ten years which it has been on the books.
 Our assessmet laws are not operat- ing to the States advantage. Our neighbors on either side of Us are bet ter equipped. Their increase in assess ment the past year or two has been greater than ours and am sure the real valuation of property in Alabama has far outRrown either of them.
 Railroad Assessment.
 The railroads were assessed by the Board charged with that duty last March for the total sum of s5S426072, ministration of $10,227.S34. Th'S amount is far below their value, though I thing 1t incontestable that it Is d higher valuation than that set upon property generally in this State by owners and assessors. l may 20 fur ther and say that a greater value Is placed upon railroad nroperty In this assessment than Is placed on personal and real property in any County in the State.
 I think that the State can fairly pro vide for a reasonable Inheritance tax
 VnRrancy.
 The law on the statute books has been ineffective to suppress vagranCy No lines that you may write will likely