The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-20
FINAL MEETING 0F COMMITTEE 0F 100 ID BE HELD FRIDAY Reports of Three SubcOm- mitttees Will Then Be
 Considered
$1,25O,OOO BOND ISSUE
 STRONGLY URGED
Committee on Temporary Relief Gives It's COnclusiOns-W0uld Re- move Hindrances to Bond
 Issue By Legislative Act

Chairman Sydney J. Bowie of the com mittee of 100 yesterday called meeting of that committee for 8 o'clock Friday afternoon at which time it will take up the reports of the three subcommittees as printed in Tire Age-Herald during the past few days.
 It is generally believed that this will be the last meeting of the committee of 10c The reports of its three subcom- mittees which were appointed in order 10 form a basis of action for the commit tee as a whole, have in each case been unanimous and it is, therefore, consider ed that the committee Friday will soon come to an agreement on the recommcn- dations made to it by these three sub committees-one on permanent relief headed by Frank Nelson. Jr.; one on tenn porary relief, headed by John H. Frye, and the other on investigation of mu- nicipal affairs headed by H. U. Sims. With the publication of MT. Frye's com mittee's report this morning. all three will have made unanimous recommends tions to the committee of 100. MT. Bowie stated that it probably would be best | to give the committee members couple 1 of days to study oyer the subcommt- tees recommendations and therefore he | would call the meeting for Friday aft 1 ernoon.
 Temporary Relief Measure l Recommending d bond issue of S1,25o,0oO with which to pay off the present ac-
 cumulated deficit of the city treasury, the third and last of the subcommit- | tees reported yesterday
 l The committed headed by John Il.
 Frye, chairman, makes a secondary rec | ommendation for an amendment to the state constitution to remove any legal barrier to the bond issue. The report is signed by nine of the 10 members Of the committees and Is as follows:
 l 1.-The committee appointed to recom- mend a plan for financing the floating in- | debtedness of the city has given earnest thought to the subject. We have held a public hearing, and have oaref.'ly con sidered e number of communications from | citizens with reference to the matter, no member of the committee being directly or l indirectly a creditor of the city. And We now sutmit the following report: 1 "Ihe indebtedness of all kinds not fund I cd in bends, according to informa-on fur- | l figures. s1,5O0,O0O. At this season very l considerable sum Is received from taxes and license, but it is not practicable to 1 use funds in liqudating indebtedness, pe- 1 cause they will be needed in meeting nec- l cssary expenditures through ut the en- | suing 12 months. In this respect the city | is like an individual whose annual income 1 is received largely in one month, put whose expense accrues through period I of + months
 ] Tt goes without saying that commercial honor requires the protection Of the city l credit and that it is more easily maln- | tained than regained. Furthermore, thls | credit is an asset in which every citizen | owns a part It is not a question, now. l of now money was spent, but of how the obligation shall be paid or carried There | may be a difference of opinion IS to meth | ods of paying, but payment must De made.
 Expensive Borrowing l "1wo- thirds of the floating indebtedness 1 is in the form of short-time notes. In addition to the difficulty of continuing to finance them. it is expensive to borrow I in this way. There is further disadvan- 1 tase also, in that purchases cannot De
 made economically by the city, if those
 who furnish commodities are in doubt as
 to receiving prompt settlements. With I A deficit of nearly s300,000 year in in- l come. it cannot be hoped that a sufficient l reduction in expenditures could be made I to absorb this deficit and leaves sur plus for the payment of existing liabiii- | ties.
 "As will be obvious to fund the float I ine. liability i'. bonds, would neither in- crease ngr diminish the amount due. There | is d legal difficulty, however, in the fact l that, under the laws of Alabama. bonds
 cannot be issued for a sum greater than l the net indebtedness at the time of the
 election. For example, from the city s | floating debt, s.s it now stands, the prop ! erty and license tax, which natures at l the first of the year, would have to be ! deducted As has already been pointed 1 out thesr funds are needed to defray l expenses in the remainder of the year, I and cannot be devoted to the liquidation
 of the floating debt.
 "Everyonc IS agreed that the credit d the city must be maintained. and we are of the opinion that this cannot be proper ly accomplished without funding the present indebtedness in bonds. While the suggestion of bond issue is objec- tionablc to some, we believe that when the facts arc fully investigated, prejudice against it would largely disappear.
 "Another committee has been appointed
 to deal with the problem of permanent relief; and it is not within our province to make a suggestion in this regard either with reference to an equalization
 of assessments an increase in the tax rate a reduction in expense or otherwise fBut for the purpose of temporary, as well as permanent relief, great deal would be gained iron. having well defined
 plan by which the city could live within
 its income, before bond election is
 called
 'In view of these considerations, the
 committee would make two recommenda-
 tions:
 T. That an election be called at al
 early date as practicable for the pur-
 pose of voting on a bond issue of q, 0O0
 ''2 That legislative action be applied
 for to remove any legal difficulty such as
 has been referred to above, that would
 prevent authorizing the issuance of bonds
 James L. Cole, George s. Crawford
 E. R. McDavid, w. A. Spencer, J. D
 Moore. Crawford Johnson, John H. Frye
 F. M. Jackson, E. F. Enslen."
 | Eugene McAuliff Here
 Eugene McAluiff. fuel agent for the