The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-05
Joint Sessions of Committee Chairmen Agree Upon
 Programme
MOST DEPARTMENTS
 WILL BE AFFECTED
Highway Department Loses $I44,OOO. Judiciary System Cut-y "a University Will <S
 Be Affected
By l.. $. 60

Montgomery. Febv s -tspeclal., A retrenchment py o;'e proposing m annual saving Q state of more than S30O,O0O w ed upou today st joint session the committee chairmen of the two houses of the legislature.
 Bills providing for this curtailment of the expense of running the state gov ern'nent will be presented to the legisa- ture tomorrow. and it is proposed to have the measures acted upon before ad- Journment for the split session. There is hardly department of the state government which will not be at- fected ly the carrying cut of the re- tfenchme mt programm,
 The state highway department will lose It's annual appropriation of sl44,0o0, &C., cording to the plan but will not be abol- ished. Recommendation will be made that the state motor vehicle department be placed under the supervision of the highway department, and that the funds from the sale of motor vehicle licenses be applied on the public roads. Under this plan, the funds available for state aid work, after paying all expenses, and after paying reasonable pro rata to the cities and counties, will be probably sl0O,- O0o
 University Won't Suffer II Was reported that the University of Alabama would lose an annual ap- propriation of s1e0,oO0. This, however, is not fact. That instst,ition vii not suffer as the result of the committee chairmens recommendation other than it's failure to secure additional appro- priatons.
 The expense of the judiciary system will be cut s5o,o00. This reduction contem- plates the abolition of the court of ap- peals as we'll as the discontinuance of ether courts of the state. It also con- templates the abolition of the office of supreme court reporter. The cost of running the judiciary last year was, in icund numbers, about S3O0,000
 The military department was cut $l5,- GOO annually. The expense of maintain- ing the national guard last year. exciu- sive of the amount contributed hy the United States government. was siO,000.
 ne Stdte spent Ia year TOT 1epulnZ prisoners $130.o00, and it is proposed to cut down this expense to Sl0o.0o0. Public printing last year cost nearly s22000, and Sl0,000 has been cut off the fund pro- vided for that purpose.
 Departments Cut
 The immigration department is cut 5000. and with the remaining $l400 allowed by statute. it is proposed to operate the department in conjunction with the com missioner of agriculture The bureau of cotton statistics will lose it's entire ap. Lropriation of s300o, for an annual saving of that amount to the state is proposed.
 Other retrencnments proposed are as follows County registrars, S10,003: normal schools, $10.000. and teachers iustirutea, $10c00.
 Whether or not the retrenchmeut pro- gramne will pass the legislature is not known, but 1t is doubtful if the two law making bodies will approve the scheme in it's entirety. It is certain that vigor, ous protests will be entered against the legislative programme. and it IS expected that the protest to some of the rstrench- rlents proposed will be effectual