The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-03
A MARvELous ExPLANATIoN.

T.
 tiser year ago fOrecasted as inevit- able in view of the extravagant course of the Legislature and the State ad- ministration. has brought forth from 1 zeaious friends of the Governor some rather Iabored. not to say ridiculous explanations and apologies. but the climax Is capped when The Attalla Herald says solemnly that there Is a deficit but 1t was first produced by the last year of the Jelks adminis- tration. That statement made in deadly earnest Is what the English would call :'facer."
 The Jelks administration. according to The Herald's system of logic. might be held responsible for, the Boxer up- rising in China or the fndlscretions of the Kaiser, or for the mine disas- ter near Pittsburg or for Anna Gould's last divorce, but even that remarka- ble system of logic could hardly make the administration of Jelks responsible for the extravagance of the Conner Legislature. The wonderful charge is born of fatuous ignorance or deliberate intention to misrepresent. We prefer to believe the former. The l Herald may possibly have the same hazy view of Alabamas government, Illustrated by the current story of Governor who went into oflice and was astonished to learn that he could not 1 write an order and get money out of, the Treasury for any purpose he saw fit.
 There Is nothing complicated about the present financial condition of the State Treasury. nor is there anything complicated about the condition of the Treasury when Governor Jelks went out of ofice: At the end of the fiscal year of 1906, which was on October there was in the State Treasury as The Herald says a surplus of some thing less than s4o0. 0.00o."
 There was in fact nearly s2,OoO.O0 in cash in the Treasury but the larger part of itswas subject to draft by the school and other funds. But there l was something less than s400,oo0" over and above any possible draft that might be made on the Treasury. On the 21st of the following January Gov ernor Jelks gave way to Governor Co., mer, the Legislature having been in session only a few days during which time not "a single appropriation bill had been passed and during which time the most notable thing it had done was to offer a gratuitous slight to the retiring Governor by refusing | to confirm some of his appointments. The condition of the Treasury was practically the same as 1t was on the first of the preceding October. There was no possible legal way for the money to have been paid out. The new Treasurer receipted for some thing less than $400,O00."
 1 Where is the something less than $4Oo,0oo?" The report of the State Auditor made out at the close of the fiscal year on October shows that there now exists a deficit of ss4O.- ss2.7s. In other words if the State had, for instance, gone out of exist ence on october i. 1t would have owed ss4O.ss2.7s. It owed on open accounts that much more money than it had in the Treasury. These figures show, too, that in less than two years the present State administration has spent with the Jelks surplus and the present deficit approximately a mill lion dollars more than it has received.
 The Attalla Herald had best possess itself in patience and economize its explanations, The worst is yet to come.
 The State Auditor says in his report -so plainly that it can not be misun- derstood .. that the State last year spent S5,14s,O45.52. During the same period it received from all sources only S4.6s1, ,sO2.S5 Just that fast Is the money slipping away from the Treasury. The Jellxs surplus has long since gone with some ether good things of thespast.
 The state Auditor announced in his report that there was in the Treasury, in actual cash. $i.s6O.sSS.S2. The State of Alabama now owes the school and old soldier tax fund much more than this. The State for the present is doing business on money that is due to the old soldiers and the schools. At the present rate, in less than two years even this will be gone and the State which so recently had surplus will be in the market to | borrow money for current expenses
 The Attalla Herald has best hoard | it's explanations and apologies until that time. ---s-----s@1os-s--- A NICE QUESTION.