The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-15
.B|G DEFICIT IN
 GEORGIA FUNDS State Is Nearly a Million DoI-
 lars Behind BOND ISSUE NEGES SARY Justices of Supreme Court Of Georgia Are Discussing Proposed Change in Style of Dress and Use
 of Gap and Gown.
BOND ISSUE NEGES SARY

Atlanta, October 14.-(Special.) 1.-The re-
 cent report as to Georgias treasury con ditions, submitted by firm of account ants specially employed for the purpose by Governor Brown, showing that the
 state faces an estimated deficit of s72S.- 566.50 January next. rather tends
 to bear out the claims of those who have asserted in the newspapers and otherwise thas the state was close to s1, ,0O0O00 be- hind
 As it turns out the amount which the l state Is lacking to balance accounts is
 only about $75o,ooo; but there is a vast difference between that and being s2.00O.- GOO to the good, as State Treasurer J. Pope Brown sought to show in a recent speech made at Carrollton.
 The condition of the state treasury has
 heen made question of politics for some
 months new, the question being appar
 ently as to what administration 1t
 that is most responsible for this condi-
 tion It has been case of argument be-
 tween the Hoke smithites and the anti
 Hoke slnkhtes, with the result that the
 official audit appears to favor the posi-
 ton of the latter in so far as actual treasury conditions are concerned.
 The truth of the matter Is, however, that the governor, whoever he was, had mighty little to do with 1t. Of course
 he has to be on guard and watch the sit
 uation and inform the legislature as to
 conditions. But after all the legislature f tue etate is going to have to spend, as
 well as to the methods in which 1t shall be spent.
 Despite the claims from some of them
 that the trea snry was in splendid condi- tion. none of the Hoke Smith partisans l have so far questioned the statement of the special auditor They have only
 sought to construe it. But they cannot
 get around the fact of the deficit. It Is
 there, and it Is there to stay until the 1 legislature makes some provision for get l ting rid of it.
 The legislature has been appropriating l from year to year more than the states
 income; 1t has added to the common school fund in the last two years a total
 of $500, 600 without cutting off anywhere else And this and other increases have l been in far greater ratio than the in- | crease in income
 The muddle is one into which the legis-
 lature has gotten the state by it's failure to strike an even balance between income | and outgo, and if the states finances are to be put back on business basis 1t rests with the legislature to put them there.
 l Governor Brown has renewed his sug- gestion of $6OO,0O0 bond issue for the
 purpose of taking care of the payments to school teachers and this method, with little curtailment in appropriations. would restore the equilibrium. | There are many, however, who oppose bond issue, even though 1t Is proposed
 to use the proceeds only as a loan fund 1 to tide over the period between obligation
 and the receipt of tax money, and the l fight on 1t may prevent the adoption of
 this plan, inasmuch as 1t would require
 a two-thirds vote to amend the state con I stitudon.
 | But apparently there are only three l ways of doing it-by the bond issue, by I increasing taxation or by cutting down | expenses. Inasmuch as the cutting of | expenses would involve reductions in the | school and pension fund, that plan is l practically out of the question; so it rests with bonds or more taxes, between which | it is evident the legislature will, sooner 1 or later, have to make choice. | In the meantime the publication of the 1 auditors report has brought an end to the dispute as to the treasury condition | so far as the political aspect of it Is con | cerned except insofar as different inter- | pretations may be put upon various 1 phases of 1t. For at best the treasury | situation is in such a muddle as the re- l suit of long continuance of an anti | quated system of doing business, that nobody but an expert can tell anything l about it.
 As result different interests have been able to take the same figures and make l them tell entirely different stories. But according to the report of the auditor the situation is comparatively clear, and the
 remaining question is, What is the legis- lature going to do about it?"
 egaI Gap and Gown. It is evident that the justices of the supreme court want to be further urged before they adopt the suggestion put forth at the last session of the Georgia Bar association that they should ap- pear on the bench in cap and gown. | Although it has been some four months since the bar association passed resolu- | tions to this intent, whenever a member of the supreme court is approached re- garding it, he replies that the court has
 not yet taken the matter under formal consideration.
 While the Georgia Bar association rep, resents large element of the bar of the state, it does not include all of it. then again the number of lawyers who took part in the proceedings when these resolutions were passed was compara l lively few.
 While the supreme court may ultimate ly adopt the suggestion, it Is evident that it is going to wait until if is more sure of the fact that such is the wish and desire of practically the entire bar which practices before it.
 The supreme court has high regard for the sensbilities and for the sensitive ness of practicing attorneys, who appear before 1t: and if 1t thought that even a small number of them were opposed to the gown, 1t is extremely doubtful if 1t would ever be worn.
 There is no indication when the question will be taken up. Probably the court will wait until after another meeting of the bar association, by which time the matter will have been pretty generally talked over the state among the attor- neys, and 1t will be possible to get at a ca aS to oh, t<