The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-03

The majority. however. seemed to ae- ! cept the verdict of the majority Of voters and give prohibition q tri1 with all it's financial -uisturbances. These pNid over their license money l with but little hesitation.
 There Is a strong element of dissaf- 1 isfaction, however, on the score of raised taxes. Many of those who bear the-bur1en are inclined to charge up | prohibition with the heavier taxes, :, That. of course. would be hard to yeri- fy. IL Is the direct result of the policy Of the State Tax Commission. who ieft no stone unturned throughout the state to maintain the high level of values started a couple of years ago. Jeher- son County was hit . hard jolt by the raises. for assessed values shot through e range of about e14.2B0,000. Much or 1 this lay in the corporate limits of Bir- mingham and proved to be the pro- tecting Aegis of the Magic City Tn the financial distress just pictured
 Jefferson County. asked how were coi- llections this year as compared witn last. said that prohibition had not in- terfered with payments. He, toos rather witnessed an improvement Tn the promptness and at this date only About s15o.o0o of unpaid taxes remain
 The county did not suffer in the proportion of the city in the license revenue. That loss was more than made up by increasd property yaiua- tons, afid there has been but httie embarrassment to the financial opera tions of Jefferson County by reason of prohibition.
 Turning from the relation of prohi- bition to the city's revenue to its re- lation to Federal revenue. serious phase Is encountered So heavy has been the decrease in the receipts of the internal revenue collector here, whose territory embraces now Mississippi as we'll as Alabama, that the government, 1t is feared in some quarters, will be driven to some other means Of taxa tion than that on whiskey and beers.
 The internal revenue receipts ieii during 1908 about 60 per cent under those of 1907. And. according to Deputy Collector w. E. Hooper. an experienced attache of the department, there must be farther gradual de- crease in the receipts until they shall represent only the proceeds from the sale of stamps for near-beer and ci- gars.
 On this account, Captain Hooper makes the earnest prediction that # will be a question of but a very short time before Uncle sam will turn the collecting agents to other than spirits and intoxicants to meet the expenses of the nation. In the opinion of Captain Hooper, the resort will be to money checks. This was subject for taxa ton during the Spanish American war and 1t is believed by him now that soon Congress will legalize the taxa tion of drafts again to i'll the deflcit caused by prohibition not only in Ala bafna but other Southern States.
 During the year 1907 internal reve- nue in Alabama was collected to the amount of SASS, In 1908 in the territory of Alabama and Mississippi there, was collected only $1S0. 0.2ss.11. This Is a falling or of s253.4o2.2s.
 As an Illustration of the present rate of collection, the books for January this year show thNt only s8,301.24 was collected while during the same month of 1907 a total of e34. .63s.4s poured in to the strong box of Uncle Sam from the same sources.
 This sharp reduction must be more sharpened when it Is known that du- ring January there were many sales of stamps to ex-distillers who stdll have stored in the State borders products that they are engaged in shipping to other States. These stocks must be cut down rapidly in the future and 1t is estimated that when the State is finally rid of all booze dn possession January 1. 1908, the internal revenue collector will collect probably no more than 3s0,000 annually.