The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-10
Will Not Oppose Repeal of the
 Foreign Loan Tax
REVIEWS THE WORK DONE
Thinks Legislature Should Use Care In Providing for Enforcement of the Child Labor
 Law.

| lOudy, IS dS IOlloWS.
 Montgomery, July 9. 1907. | To the Senate and House of Representa- tiVes:
 l congratulate you on your safe return and resumption of your labors. It is needless to express confidence in the | continued conservativism and patriotism of your conduct. l congratulate you on | the success of your previous session. and can assure you that the people believe that you have done a great work and put In propulsion factors for the upbuild- | ing of the state; factors that will make 1 historic this assembly,
 Education.
 ! You have laid the broadest founda- l tions for far reaching educational im- l proVement; you have put in process the accomplishment of facilities which enable the youth of the land to measure up in educational requirement. with any of our 1 sister states, and if carried to the com | pleteness that your provisions will au- f thorize, will make Alabama the peer of any Just as it Is the correct policy | to take all of the raw physical material ! of the state and fashion 1t into finished | and higher priced product; just as it IS | the policy to take the agricultural lands and by proper treatment intensity and | enlarge their production; just so you | have made the policy of the state to take | the crude material in the shape of the | youth of the state, and by putting on and putting in education. intensity, the value of the citizenship of the state. The far reaching importance of these acts will be more and more understood and appre- eiated as the generations come. Midas, it is said turned everything that he touched into gold. The touching of the brain of the land with the comprehensive factors for earnest thought and work is vastly more important to the welfare | frfI tfna h. ed to Midas.
 Tax Equalization.
 You have created a state tax commits sion and by this means made possible the equalization of tax values throughout the state. I will explain that the report from your tax commissioners Is that 20 per cent of those people who pay taxes on property value of GO per cent are farmers and small holders, and that 90 per cent of those who pay a property value of less than 30 per cent are large owners and corporations, and that the most vigorous opposition to the validity. equity and ex- | ercise of this law are parties who are | assessing their property at 1-10 or 1-2O or | the correct value. When you fully under | stand that without this law there will be constant under assessing of values. making tax dodgers more and more the | vogue and more and more the danger, l you will fully appreciate the importance | of this law to the state. The opera | ton of this law after a series of years, will, think demonstrate it as one of | the most far reaching for good of the laws you have passed.
 Vagrancy.
 Your vagrancy laws are commendable and are working well.
 Intangible Franchise Tax. Your intangible franchise tax law in which public service corporations are re- quired to pay taxes to the value of the franchise, property which earns inter est and which Is to every intent as much property as anything else and as 1 much subject to taxation, as much so 1 as a COW, n horse, acre of land or a stock of goods, in fact more so because 1t is a gift from the people. This value. intangible. and yet a value you have made taxable. To illustrate, there Is a corporation in Birmingham that pays taxes on one and three quarter million 1 dollars valuation, and they have just voted to issue bonds to the extent of ] twenty-five millions on that property. | But for this intangible tax you could not reach them. Again, there is a railroad in | this state that l believe is earning interest l on eighty thousand dollars per mile, which railroad could possibly be repro | duced for thirty-tive thousand dollars per l mile. It is by means of this tax on in | tangible property that you are able to reach them and have them pay reason able tax on that intangible value. 1 un- derstand that you will secure taxes on more than thirty million from this source, or taxes equalling Sl95,000. this, the first year.
 Protection of Game and Fish.
 You have made a law for the protec- ton of game and fish so that the ex- termination of this great property of the state should cease.
 Dealing In Futures.
 You have made laws regulating and prohibiting dealing in futures; protecting, so far as you could, the state from this seductive and dangerous mode of gamb- ling, which gambling was from it's very nature destructive and impoverishing to many of our citizens.
 Local Option.
 You have enacted far reaching local option laws regulating the sale of intoxi- eating liquors, and with your general election and dispensary bill have brought nearer to the control of the people the sale of liquors.
 Inspector of Jails.
 You have established the office of in- spectors of jails cotton mills and aims houses and thus having these institu- tons under state supervision, prevent abuses along this line.
 Anti-F srtilIzer Trust.
 You have appointed a committee to frame anti-fertilizer trust laws, and laws to prevent the use of worthless filters and ingredients in the manufacture of fer tlizer. When you consider that our farm CTS buy annually seven million dollars worth of fertilizer then you can fully realize how important it is to enact a statute giving them full protection.
 Enlargement of Courts.
 You have enlarged the number of your courts and provided for speedy trials, thereby preventing in a large measure the old method of filling the jails and keeping them full, and by this means either giving the prisoners their liberty or putting them to work for the state or county, and thus securing for them speeder return to their homes and free ing the state of the expense of their keep.
 Military.
 You have increased the efficiency of the | military, and while at times it would i seem that it was money uselessly spent, l yet in time of need nothing could be more necessary for the safety of the 1 state, and l, as chief executive, appre- ] ciate the fact that at all times they stand | ready at instant call to serve the state. 1 It is a source of greatest security and safety to know that this strong arm Of the state, this splendid body of volun- teers are ready to respond to dutys call at a moments notice.
 Old Soldiers. 1 You have increased the appropriation l for the old soldiers to where 1t will 1 amount to more than eight hundred thou 1 sand dollars per year. I think this the