The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-03

f year 1907. Also there was heavier ! disbursement generally in 1908 than in 1907. This is proven by the fact that notwithstanding the deficit by liquor | licenses was more than mde up by Inc creased licenses on4other businesses ano by the jump In tax receipts, there was q decrease in the~ total receipts last year of s1s,595. But in increasing the disbursements t was calculated with l foresight for even at this stage the total cash on hand set over against the outstanding bills shows some balance stili. And there was Q baiance of q few thousand to begin the calendar year with. ta
 A synopsis of the financial operations af Birmingham during the first twelve dry months show several outiays that would indicate there was not . pa ralysis of its business. Among them are the following:
 Began year with ss,11As7.
 Paid all ordinary and extraordinary expenses except a few pending items not exceeding sg:0e0.
 Made cash payments of sl.bso on real estate purchases.
 Made cash investments to the amount of sfs.22o.3s.
 Paid .Ii.lss.ss cash for Additional equipment.
 Paid s23.71s75 on the floating debt. Paid ss.oss.o7 on Avondale's current liabilities.
 Paid ,1.sa5 interest on Avondais's bonds.
 Paid s2.77s.44 for improvement and maintenance of Avondale park. After increasing the expenses In ev- cry department on account of annexed territory. the year was ended witn s1ss. .2s7,4i on hand and owing sf75,0o0 for temporary loans Of 1ses wnicn havs. as stated. been paid.
 There were a few of the above items which showed less expenditure in 1sas than in 1907, but the city seems mot to have suffered for want of necessary means. '=-c
 Auditor Petersen makes the point that the added territory of Avondaie. East Birmingham and untncorporated area has been more expense to the city SO far than it has furnished receipts. It has been found necessary to assums the debts of the incorporfted towns and to extend the fire and police protection 10 those limits. This has cost money, and 1t Is claimed that the revenue de- rived from taxes and licenses has been less than the outlay.
 The city was disappointed to the ex- rtent of S25,009 approximately which they did not receive from the county road and bridge tax fund. The re-ad-. justment of the revenue took some ac- count of this money Tn expectancy but the Supreme Court ruled the sec tion of the municipal code unconstitu- tionai by which the partition of the fund was to be made.
 Bexgnn Deserves Credit.
 Tribute should be paid by the prohi- bitionists to License Collector J. J. Boggau of the city of Birmingham hs took up the slogan of quick money. right on the jump and has not yer ceased to cry 1t aloud on streets. In stores. and in the thousands of offices of the sky.scrapers. The city needed inc money He had been told by Mayor Ward that licenses must be paid with speed this year as the temporary loan had to be cancelled last month.
 HOW well Collector Boggan respond ed to the call is shown by the ngureS that he has compiled, snowins unat during the month of January, this year, he collected S1ss,25s.25. In 1907 his collections amounted to only x117.- 2gT. 6s, proving an increase of $7,s7O.75. Thia is A signal achievement. and whether the prohibitionists appreciate tt or not, this officer. who himself IS not an advocate of "dry," has helped the city bridge over some rugged t,asses. He has modestiy contribute df his energy to bolstering the perma- nest argument of the prohibitionist on lines of revenue.
 Just how the city will move along in the second year of prohibition, re- mains to be seen. Those in charge ex- press no alarm. They declare their belief that no serious dimcuity will be experienced in making both ends meet. Y
 As to the attitude of the merchants and other licensees towards the viz orous campaign that was conducted for raising money here. 1t may be said that generally there was little resist ance. There were e few who railed against the consequences of prohibit ton and threatened to leave town.