The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1914-06-25
SIATON'S MESSAGE
TO LEGISLATURE
eOvsmor Reviews Work Accomplished BIZ
The 1918 General Assembly
During First Session.
DEBT PAYING LEGISLATURE
Is way He Styled Them-Renlnds
Lawmakers Of Problems Con-
fronting Them.
June rs, 1914
State Of Georgia, Executive Department,
Atlanta,
To the General Assembly:

State Of Georgia, Executive Department,
Atlanta
To the General Assembly:
/ rejoice with you in the general pros
perity which has blessed the state during
the past year. Since your last session
the people have enjoyed the favors Of
generous Providence. Their crops have
been bountiful and their industries have
flourished to a degree hitherto unknown.
The farmer, the merchant, the manufac-
turer. have utilized with ceaseless energy
their opportunities, unrestrained in eff
fort BY the hampering effect of unwise
laws. The schools and institutions Of
learning are giving to the children and
youth the keys Of knowledge and proyid-
ing them with that equality Of opportu-
nifty which is all the worthy can demand.
And more important than all, the church
in every community is teaching the les
sons Of Him upon obedience to whose
statutes rests the welfare of all nations.
You are entitled to the thanks of a
grateful constituency for the achievements
Of the session of 1913. You did not multi-
ply laws, but with courage and intelligence
met and solved problems, not of your
creation, but which affected the honor
and fair name Of Georgia.
AS an aid in the exercise Of the suf-
frage you provided a permanent regis
tration system which win remove unnec-
cssary encumbrances in the way of the
voter and at the same time preserve
proper safeguards You made it pos
sible for the farmer, often remote, to
mail or send his taxes by his neighbor
without risk of Acknowledgement The
merchant, the travelling man, in fact, all
classes occupied with the affairs of busi-
ness are placed on an equal footing with
the professional politician who never for
gets the last day for registering.
You provided not only for the present
but for the future in the education Of
The children and for the afflicted in the
institutions, and recalling the past and
our obligations to those who cheerfully
imperiled their all in behalf of the south,
you made provision for the declining
days Of the Confederate veterans.
Finance.
In future years your body will be dis
tinguished as the debt-paying legisla-
ture. When the dishonor Of reputation
may blight the fair name of other states,
you and your descendants may point
with pride to the enactment of laws es-
tablishing a financial system which paid
the debt Of the state, made possible the
refunding of our bonded Indebtedness,
rehabilitated our fiscal system and, above
all, gave to people the means of checking
expenditures by making the tax levy re-
fleet the amount appropriated by their
representatives.
Now It win be easy for the people to
know what appropriations their agents
are making Any condition which per-
Units concealment or interferes with a
ready understanding by the principal of
the actions Of the agents is indefensible.
] have seen constitutional amend
ment submitted to the people involving
an extra annual appropriation Of half
million dollars, without provision being
made for raising the money, and so ar
ranged as to conceal the necessity for an
extra revenue. However worthy the
cause, such legislation is indefensible.
The comptroller-general in his report
OF 1918 said; "In other words, the entire
appropriations for the year 1918, exclu-
siye of common schools and pensions,
should be met by tax levy of about
one-third of one MILL In his report for
1914 he declares that, exclusive of com
mon schools and pensions, all of the
appropriations could be met by tax
levy of about one-half of one MILL
Who would wish to cut those two items
Of public expenditure, and if anyone did
wish TO lessen them, who will say the
people would permit it? With a deficit
of over one million dollars and with APP
preparations exceeding the revenue, how
could YOU cut from items other than
common schools and pensions enough to
equal the deficit?
For 1918 the total raised from the tax
levy on property was $4.so0,Oo0. and
leading items of expenditure were as fol-
lows;
Public schools $4,000
ra n ~