The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-07

as clerks in the probate office, for sev- to the pensioners of Jefferson county, and hence 1t was necessary for me to inform myself in regard to the law, and I would say that every pensioner has received the amount in full due him under said law.
 In the year 1907 the pensions were paid annually, the first class s6o. second class $50, third class s40, fourth class $50, in one payment. paid October 1, 1e0s for the year ending September 30. 1907. The legisla- ture of 1907 changed the law and directed the payment of pensions to be made quarterly" providing that the first class should receive not in excess of s25, second class go. third class s16 and the fourth class SIP 50 per quarter. for three quarters, commencing with the quarter beginning October 1, 1907, and that the money left of the appropriation should be prorated among the pensioners ou the fourth, the July quarter. whether more or less than said fixed amounts.
 The lawmakers recognized the difficulty of fixing a definite sum to be paid to each pensioner beyond the third quarter. from the fact that it was not possible to know the number of pensioners who would be added to the list during the year, or how many would be raised from the other classes to the first class. In other words, while there was a definite amount of money provided, the number of pensioners was an indefinite one, hence the wise provision in the law. that the money left on hand after the payment of the three quarters, beginning October l, January and April 1 should be prorated among the pensioners at the fourth, the July quarter. beginning July 1.
 Under this plan the first class received $S5, second class $sS. third class s54. 40. and fourth class s42.5o, showing the pen- sioners of the first class received s25 more in 1908 than in 1907, second class SIS more third class $14 more, fourth class $12. 50 more. In 1907 the number of pensioners was 15,475 and the money appropriated was $473,250. In 1908 the number of pen sioners was 1G5ss and the amount of money was $'sS.4 .453. The number of pen- sioners in first class in 1907 was 147, in 1907 the number of pensioners in first class had grown to 1886, an increase over the previous year of 11s9 in the first class. Notwithstanding the lar increase in the number of pensioners do93) and the large number raised from the other classes d1Se) on becoming 30 years of age, and for other disabilities, each pen sioner was paid more in 1908 than in 1907.
 The state auditor in his annual report for the fiscal year gives full and com plete statement of the distribution of the pension fund for the years 1907 and 1908, giving the total amount of the pension fund, the total number of pensioners, the number in each class, the amount paid each individual in each class, and the amount paid each class. The auditor in this report takes special care to present the matter in a light so clear and plain that I am unable to see how any one can fail to understand 1t, or to be i'm pressed with the faithfulness of this offi- cial in distributing the fund in exact ac- cordance with the law.
 Col. J. W. Bush has already, in two different articles appearing in your columns, ably and fully explained the matters pertaining to the distribution of the pension fund under the law, and deem it unnecessary to say more at this time.
 Hoping this letter may throw some