Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-08-06
SAYS THE STATE
IS GOING BROKE
In Funeral Grafton Upon Passage
of Tax Act, Reid Says Georgia
Will Owe $S60,000 January /,
49, 1911. s.,..

sembled Julius Caesars body pierced by
dagger-thrusts, the general tax bill came
to its passage Monday afternoon in the
| house. .EFr ...
And like Mark Antony standing be-
side Caesars coffin, Mr. Reid, of Camp
bell. delivered a funeral grafton over the
mutilated remains of his ways and means
committee report. II will long be re-
membered as a masterpiece of mournful
eioquence. tF-.
The ways and means committee chair
man, believing that the state of Geor-
gia faced a serious financial dilemma and
would have TO choose between increased
taxes. reduced appropriations or bank
ruptcy, had framed with his committee
a bill providing for a material increase.
The house amended the bill so as to
kill practically all the proposed elevations
| and incorporate in the bill near-beer
tax increase so heavy that Mr.. Reid
believed it prohibitive and calculated to
reduce to a minimum the near-beer reve-
nue. $50
Just before the amended bill was passed
Monday afternoon by a vote of 10l TO 13
Mr.. Reid was given the floor. He said
in part: A..
DISAPPOINTING TO HIM.
Throughout this fight, the house has
shown me the kindliest personal courte-
sy, and. for that : am deeply grateful.
AS to what will result from the passage
of the shill,1 the future must determine.
To me II Is a disappointment. did not
explain my vote on the ,near-beer section.
nor why I wanted to leave the Wise
act stand intact. l suppose 1 will be ac-
cused of ialigning myself with the anti
prohibittonists,, but 1 regarded this bill
purelysas a revenue measure, and my
vote was. controlled by that view. When
the near-beer question was first brought
before the Georgia legislature 1t was a
question of revenue, and it is a question
of revenue today. 1t was passed by a
prohibition legislature and was signed by
! prohibition governor. They were not
Observation-Disclosures, and how can today
be Justly accused of Joining hands with
the enemies of prohibition when l vote
to retain that law?
when I left the old home as a boy, ~
mother made me promise never to take
a drink of liquor, and not one drop of 1t
has ever passed my lips. Not one single
time when prohibition has been an issue
have 1 cast my vote for the other side.
But as head of the ways and means
| committee charged with the duty of rails
ing money to support my state. l did not
| feel that II would be just and proper to
inject into a revenue measure a prohibit
a project II was wit the conviction that
l was doing my conscientious duty to-
ward my state.
This bill will soon be out of our pos
session. I had hoped that this body
would see fit to provide means for raising
the extra money of which the state stands
absolutely in need and with which she
could discharge the honest obligations
she has contracted. That we have failed
to do so is to me a bitter disappointment.
Because we have killed the near-beer
question as a revnue-raising measure,
tahd because I'VE have failed to vote for
necessary increases in taxation. the state
| of Georgia.. II now appears, Will be
| forced to face on January l, 1911, deflcit'
fof $3.50, COO. raising the states total deficit
from s53O,OO0 10 $4,000, .
ITO these, my repeatedly reiterated
warnings, members of this house have
lseen fit TO answer fiippantly that Geor.
gia is a rich state and that there is no
use to worry or to howl calamity, They
Lhaye talked Of me as a Georgia Jere-
miah and have characterized my utter
ances as a voice from the tomb.
Nevertheless, I have supreme faith
in the future of the state. Georgia will
prosper, but she will sooner or later pass
I the law upon which 1 have insisted to-
day. We have failed, but another legis-
1iature will succeed.
iI'The ways and means committee has
been harshly criticised because we tried
/ 70, take care of our home corporations,
I'VE have been denounced as people who
Fwere trying to ruin the state, whereas
our only motive, in addition to raising
la revenue from a source which could
Justly AFFORD to pay IT, was to protect
Ecur own corporations. in just measure,
from foreign competition. We did not
Ewant TO destroy or drive our foreign
icorporatins, only to give our home ones
a fair chance. Our motives have been
iimpusned by people who do not under
i,stand the situation and whose only in
fterest in the matter is that our law would
have taken few dollars out of their
pockets.
+ h'The most important of our proposed
increases were TO bring money from the
! people who could best afford to pay. We
I tried to tax the automobiles of the rich.
and we were voted down. We tried to
/ tax the corporations and you said we
were running Georgia. You would not
touch those who could and ought to help
bear the burdens, and the only thing you
! did dare to tax was the poor mans only
friend the dog. You passed a law that
/ will not rid the state of a single cur,
but will cause many poor unfortunate.
unhappy soul, 10 sacrifice his last dollar
i for the sake of having his only friend
and faithful companion.
His dog has stuck to him and he will
stick to his dog, through adversely or
prosperity, and II the payment of that
dollar tax is taking bread out of his
own mouth he will turn 1t in to the
sake of the animal which is his best be-
loved possession on earth.
POOR MANS DOG.
The rich mans auto can roll on. but
I If the Door man cannot meet this added
burden, the poor mans dog must die.
But never fear, the poor man will be
true to the beast that has ben true to
him, and you will have the satisfaction
of having raised revenue from one new
source at least-the source which is least
I able of all to bear It!
! But the hard-earned dollars thus
diverted to the treasury of the state will
mot save the situation. Only two courses
iare left to us. We must reduce expendi-
lures or we Will be without funds to meet
our honest obligations. Why, already,
1--WE are compelled TO pay ourselves with
money which 1 believe, under the law.
we have no right to touch. The treasury
IT'S advancing money which should under
1.-THE law be sacred for other purposes,
land we are trusting we are risking II,
4 that the money can be in some way re-
placed before the; time for final settle
Iment arrives. ~ s-.. r.=s.. -..
I'm conclusion I want to thank for their