The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-01
HOUSE PASSES COMMISSION
 BILL WITH AMENDMENTS

ne ameu0ment cdlfSu 1OTLH q tySi' in oppo-ision by Mir. Long of Ger who pointed out that Mir. TunT ~i had sought to kill the bill the CT day by striking out eight secs As. The measure sought, he said, to secure an honest valuation of property by an honest administration.
 His speech was cut short by point of order raised by Mir. Rice of Tusca- loosa. that the House had decided not to have any oratory on the bill--mereIy explanations. The point was greeted with laughter and applause. and MT Long subsided, although the Speaker ruled in his favor. Upon his motion the proposed amendment was tabled
 Mir Coleman of Marshall offered an amendment making the proposed board consist of three men. to be appointed temporarily by the Governor, but their successors to be elective.
 # Mir. Woolf of Marengo. chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, thought the amendment ill-adyised. There should be no politics in such an assessing board. It was not advisable to make the assessment of property a matter of political contest. The pres ent county tax boards were. he said, nothing more than a farce. and the election of the State board would make it along the same order.
 t tt.
 show Confidence in People.
 MT, sherrod of Lawrence spoke fer the amendment, declaring it was up to the Legislature to say whether 1t had confidence in the people of the State, and whether or not it was felt they could be trusted in the election of the board. He could see no ob- jections at all to the amendment.
 MT John of Jefferson moved to table the amendment and this motion provided, on roll call, by vote of forty eight to thirty-four. as follows:
 Ayes--Ballard of Autauga, Ballard Carmichael of Clay, Carmichael of Colbert. Coleman of Lowndes. Cooper. Crum, Doyle of Clarke. Edwards, Glow CT, Goodwyn, Haley, Hughston. Jen- kins, John. Killen, King, Kirby Lar- caster. Long of Butler, Long of Nor gan. Lyons, Mauer, Middleton. Mitchell. McDuffie, Norville, Pitts of Perry, Powe1 of Bullock, Power. Price. Pugh. Rainer, Rice. Rowe, Rnshton, Stan- Stoagail, Turner. Urquhart, Weaver. White of Perry, Woolf--4S.
 Nays--ArnoId. Arlington. Bultxell. olemHn of Marshall. Elrod, Fuller. Hoffman, Johnson, Kornegay, Lacy of Dallas, Lawson, Lee of Etowah, Lee of Houston, Lindsey. Malone. Moore. McCroy. McMillan. Oliver. Parker. Pearson, Pratt, Ragsdale. Rattray, Sample, Sanders, Scale, Sherrod, Smith of Etowah, smith of Franklin. Tuns- tall, yann. White of Lamar. Williams --3z.
 To Sit With County Boards.
 Mir. Lee of Houston offered an amendment to have the county tax xat& 4k. fn es..f& &fe raising of local assessments at the various county seats. any raises to be made by the two Boards jointly. each board to have an equal voice in the matter.
 Mir Lee. supporting his amendment. argued against the abolition of local self government, The counties were more interested in the matter of taxes than was the State. and would be willing to raise any assessment that was just.
 Mr.saPitts of Dallas opposed the amendHssnts contendlng that the local boards were thoroughly dominated by the voters, with whom they are close- ly in touch, and therefore, each board having an equal vote in the matter under the amendment, no raise could be made that was not, satisfactory to the tax payer.
 MI 1NlCc Ol LuoCdloOHd lhoQ6A IL peculiar that all the amendments pro- posed sought to destry the very pur- pose of the bill. none being offered that would improve the carrying out of the purpose of the bill.
 The amendmenI was then laid on the table, on motion Of MT. John, by a vote of forty eight to thirty seven.
 Immediately after a portion of Mir Lees amendment was adopted without
 N,,f. the local board must meet with the State board when it holds a session in any county, to confer with the State Board as to local values. The local board however, would have no vote in such hearings.
 Amendment For Hearings
 MT. Tunstall, of Hale offered an amendment providing that in hearings before the commission or on appeals to the court, evidences might be heard that the valuation of the property of ready proportionately higher than the average assessment of others.
 This amendment was acceptable to Chairman Woolf of the Committee, as being fair, but MT. John warned the House that the amendment was load ed" and contained more than appeared on the surface. He said the amend ment sought to establish rule of evil dence for the Circuit Courts which could not be adopted by them.
 MT. Maner of Montgomery feared the collection of evidence as to what the average assessment of property in the State was would be a stupendous un- dertaking for the Stateboard.
 MT. Rice of Tuscaloosa thought the proposed amendment would work out badly in actual practice. as one man would appeal to a second mans assess ment to prevent a raise on his own pronerty. and the second man, when his turn was reached, would seek immun- itv bv reference to the fact that the first mans property was not raised.
 MT. Pitts of Dallas could see no ob- lection as a friend to the bill, to the proposed amendment. All that could be asked in fairness was for equitable as- sessments, and that as he saw 1t, was the purpose of the amendment.
 Would Re Fairly Administered.
 MT. Jenkins of Baldwin, favored the amendment, declaring that it, as we'll as the rest of the hlll. would be hon estly and fairly administered.
 Sneaker protem Carmichael, calling MT. Haly of Jefferson to the chair, op- posed the amendment, declaring the friends of the bill would not support if. He maintained the provisions of the measure would be administered fairly and honestly. MT. Lee of Hous- ton favored the Tunstall amendment.
 MT. Tunstall, supporting his own said there was no "nigger in the woodpile,'' in his amendment, as far as the railroads were concerned, as they already had, under the federal laws and decisions, exactly the same rights that he sought to obtain for the people of his own and other counties.
 MT. John moVeS to table the amend ment, after a brief argument against if. and this motion prevailed, on roll