The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1912-10-18

contains It's little "jokers," preparing the
way for this suspicious event, which will
never happen.
Speaking of salary raises, il is a mat
ter of history that there was a general
and almost universal increase of official
salaries during MdMillin's administra-
ton, but | am not aware of any justiti-
cation for charging him with the re-
sponsibility of it, unless it should be
insisted that these increases were made
by Legislature friendly to him and
that he exerted no influence and made no
protest against them. This was the
case, and it may be added that he did
not dare to open his mouth against the
junketing committees.
The "Fusion" Legislature.
Right here l want to call the hand of
the Regulars on another little prevarica,
ton which has been very prevalent
among them. / refer to their habit of
speaking of the Legislature of 1911 as
fusion" Legislature, meaning Legis-
lature controlled by Republicans and In
dependent Democrats. 1t is a great pity
for the state that it was not a fusion
Legislature, but it was not. The Pat
terson and McMillin forces controlled the
Senate by safe and easy majority. At
the outset the lower house was con-
trolled by the Republicans and Independ-
ents by very narrow margin. This
small majority in the House was after
wards converted into minority by ways
that were dark and devious, and the very
organization of the House, elected by
and Independents, was trans
ferred to the Regulars by the treachery
of few men. Thus it was that both
branches OF the Legislature were finally
controlled by the enemies of my admin
istraton, the Senate by election and the
House by seduction. This is fact
worthy of mention whenever you hear
some vociferous brother declaiming
against the fusion" Legislature for what
it did or did not do.
Suspension of Sinking Fund Payments.
Another subject of political contro-
yersy closely related to the legislative
matters already discussed is that of the
suspension OF the sinking fund act by
the last Legislature, and the failure of
the Funding Board to pay anything on
the bonded indebtedness of the state dur
ing my administration. An immense
amount of demagogy has been practiccd
by the Patterson McMillin party in regard
to this matter. They say, Hooper
hasn't paid anything on the debt"
No, and neither did McMillin, Patter-
son nor any of that bunch ever pa, any
thing on it. The people have pad some
thing on it occasionally. The Legisla-
ture enacts laws for the levying OF taxes
and collection of revenue. The Comp
troller and Treasurer constitute the
Funding Board, which pays part OF the
revenue on the states bonded debt. The
Governor has a little less to do with
this matter than. anybody else, the
much more than he, and the
Legislature most of all. If there is
money on hand that can be paid on the
bonded debt, it is the duty OF the Comp
troller and Treasurer to call the atten-
tion of the Governor to that fact. They
are the financial officers of the state,
charged with the collection and custody
of the funds. They are political allies,
and stand two to one against me on the
board.
If there is any money in the treasury
available for payment on the bonded
debt, it is their fault that 1t has not
been paid. If the Comptroller's desire
to play politics and the Treasurer's de-
sire to hold the money IN his favored
banks, have prevented the payment OF
anything on the bonded debt, it is no
fault of mine. If the Comptroller has
so managed his collections ana disburse-
ments that nothing can be paid, then,
again, it is no fault of mine.
On the other hand, if the departments
of the state government directly under
my control, especially the prisons, have
caused the state financial loss, then, to
that extent, am l responsible for the fail
ure to make payments on the state debt.
l have already shown, however, that
every department cnargeable to me has
made greatly increased payments into
the State Treasury.
The rate of taxation was not changed
by the last Legislature on anything, and
the state should therefore have the slight
increase in revenue due to the growth of
property values.
Where is the Money?
The question therefore arises, what
has been done with the money, and who
is responsible? This question is so ex-
tremely simple that nobody is excusable
for misstat ting of misconstruing the facts,
and yet the <McMillin platform contains
a formal and deliberate falsehood about
the matter. 1t states that the sinking
fund act "has only been suspended dur
ing the present Republican adminitsra-
tion,~ when, as a matter of fact, it was
at the beginning of Patter-
sons last administration, and the sus-
pension by the Legislature of 1911 was,
in express words, merely renewal or
of the suspension by the
Legislature of 1909. lnis renewal reso-
luton of 1911 was introduced by that
regular of the Regulars, Senator Hill
McAlister. In a previous report to the
drafted and signed by Sem
ator McAlister, the statement was made
that the increased appropriation for Con-
federate pensions, coupled with the fact
tnat Patterson's administrations left the
Treasury practically empty, made it
foregone conclusion that little or nothing
could be paid on the bonded debt during
the current two years. Senator Nc
Alister was entirely correct in this state
ment.
December 90 1905. inst at the bepin-