The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-23

some division among those who have been | studying this question of local taxes Tor | schools. Our present constitution allows
 any county to vote upon itself by 60 per | cent vote of all votes cast a 1 mill tax | for the support of public schools in the | county and no more No provision Is ! made in the constitution allowing a school l district to tax Itself by a vote of the
 people or otherwise for the support of the
 public schools
 Suggests Increased Levy
 Tt Is my opinion that each county ought 10 be allowed to levy by vote of
 the people a school tax of not more than | 3 to mills, and that, in addition, any | school district ought to have the ilb- | erty of leyying whatever tax they mght vote upon themselves. In order to pre- 1 vent the voters from ruining themselves | by excessive @ taxation the legislature
 might. if 1t saw fit, place some reasonable maximum upon this act in order to pro | tect the people against themselves 1 T have been holding the view that no | school district ought to be allowed to tax | itself for the support of it's own pubnc schools until the county in which that
 district Is located shall have levied as
 much as 21s mills for the support of all the public schools in the county. It has been my idea that the towns and the yil- | lages, as well as the cities, would vote | against leVying the county tax If they 1 had the option between both county lax | and district tax This would leave the | rural districts, in which the tax values are necessarily low practically helpless l in their efforts to maintain a public school | system. The state fund with small sup l plement from rural property would not provide sufficiency to maintain in the rural districts the kind of schools which the people are entitled to have. It has been my idea, recognizing human nature
 as have met it, that the people in the
 towns and cities and along the railroads if they had the choice between giving part of their taxes to other people in the
 rural sections or keeping the entire in | come for themselves, would pursue the latter course. The average railroad run ming through the average county does not touch more than 10 per cent of the school
 districts of the county. The farmer from an outlying district, who must drive l through the country to haul his freight
 to the depot. is as much a patron of the
 railroad as are those who live within hear ing of the locomotive whistle They are entitled to share in like proportion in whatever benefit may accrue from the tax ation of that railroad.
 "Too long there has been a ceaseess unrest on the part of the people in the
 rural districts in their desire to get to
 the villages and the towns in order to pro-
 vide better school advantages for their children. If the incorporated towns and cities and those districts through which railroads pass are allowed to retain for
 themselves the school tax on the large
 property values within their borders. farmers and other citizens living in the
 rural districts and constituting about three-fourths of our population, would get little benefit from the provision allowing
 local taxation for schools while the towns
 and cities would be able to collect, with out anybody feeling it, all the money they could possibly use toward the main
 tenance of the most excellent public school system.
 But some gentlemen in the cities insist
 that the farmer not being familiar with the advantages of local tax for increasing the efficiency of their public school. would vote against an increase of the county | rate and thus prevent the levy of addi- | tional sums to supplement that which is now received by each county from the state. These gentlemen in the towns and cities insist that progressive communities | like the towns and cities ought not to | be held back in their efforts to go forward | by the less progressive people in the rural districts who either do not want any | better schools or do not know how to get them. The average farmer. in my | opinion, Is just about as patriotic and is just as anxious to promote the welfare
 of his own child is the man who lives | in the town.
 | "Gentlemen who advocate district tax ation as being preferable to increasing
 the county rate and then following this
 with district taxation-n other words,
 those who want the choice between dis
 trct taxation and county taxation should | be allowed by the legislature to have | just what they want if they are sincere | If they are willing to share the taxes Of | the rich with the poor by means of coun- | ty taxation through increase of the coun- | ty rate to 2 cents on the hundred dol l lars, or two and a half mills. let them
 say so by their vote. Let the legislature
 then submit it to the people-a proposed amendment tc the constitution allowing | any county to levy, say to mills, for | the support of the public schools of the | county Lot this same provision allow | the people of any given district, village
 town or city to levy district town or city tax for the support of the local pub | He schools to any reasonable maximum,
 say mills but let the provision In the proposed constitutional amendment be | SO worded that no district village, town l or city shall have the right to levy local | tax unless majority voting in such dis | ,r1ct, village, town or city at any given | election on an increased county rate for
 rublic schools, within a maximum of, | creasing such county rate as proposed. | In order that school taxation shall not | become burdensome let it be provided that any village, town or city having ordered or levied a local district tax for public | schools may, in the discretion of it's local | authorities. reduce such local tax after | the county as a wsole shall have votel
 an increased county rate up to the maxi
 mum required of 21a mills. In any effort | to raise the oounty's public school tax
 up to 21a mills if the local vote in any district village. town or city should be | recorded against such county tax, let the i provision require the annullment of such | lccal district, village, town or city tax
 already levied. Such an amendment will
 not only allow large property In the com
 munity centeis to assist in maintaining
 a public school system for the people of l the county. Lut it will require them to dc | it if they get one for themselves. At the
 same time. let the amendment allow any district to levy a district tax If such dis trict voted in favor of the county tax even though the county tax proposition failed in the election.
 Now it is fact that in some F or
 h counties in this state many years will
 pass before any effort will ever be made | to call an election for county tax foi
 schools. In those black belt counties thcre are at the same time number oi villages. towns and cities which perhaps would like to have the privilege of levyns
 a district local tax.
 .,rhe proposition above submitted shou'd in no wise interfere with theil
 desire. If the county as a whole vii .fa tla.. a.. mt q