The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-06
Where Are We At?

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 A little dog was once sent by express
 with a tag around his neck showing his destination, But he chewed up his tag and then he didn't know where he was at" That seems to be the condition of
 many of our people just now in the mat
 ter of our city government. Let us try
 to ascertain where we are at" muni-
 cipally.
 Last year our commissioners, in finan-
 cial distress, imposed whisky tax upon
 our citizens, which tax has been declared
 illegal Only a few can ever get back
 what was paid, because suits to recover
 must be filed within three months.
 At present our city fathers are engaged in collecting a street tax, which is al-
 most certain to be decided illegal, espe-
 cially as it is admittedly street tax
 collected for other purposes. One of the
 commissioners promises to refund if the
 courts decide the tax illegal. But there
 are five commissioners. Besides, the law
 says they may refund if they wish and
 if they have the money not needed for
 other purposes. That will be the day
 after the judgment day.
 Again, the commissioners have an
 nounced an incidental fee of ''75 cents or
 more' per month in the schools It was
 decided by the supreme court of Alabama
 in Robertson vs Oliver that more than
 25 cents per month was illegal. There
 was no decision as to the 25 cents. That
 may be illegal The rule is that the in-
 cidental fee may be made large enough to
 cover necessary heating, lighting, etc..
 for the actual school term. Twelve ana
 one-half cents each would be ample for
 the Central High school. Small schools
 woald, perhaps, require larger fee'
 The matriculation fee for the state hlgh
 schools is put at $25O This is about 3O cents per month. But it was purposely overestimated, so that what was left after paying incidental fees might pc used to aid the school library. The 50-cent high school fee collected last year was illegal and the "75 cents or more proposed for next year Is illegal, oppres- sive, and tends to keep children out ol school or pauperize them
 Again, section 1852 or the code of Ala
 bama says that the board of education shall submit to the city council de- tailed estimate of expenses for schools and that the city council shall make an nual appropriations for the support and maintenance of the schools that it may deem necessary and proper in view Of all other needs of the government of the city and otherwise" It seems that our com missioners have wholly disregarded this part of the law. It is hard to see how any sane man, much less our commis- sioners could expect to meet a public school expense of S575, 900 with not more than half that amount in sight, except by utterly oppressive measures or measures of doubtful legality. We mention few things in the educational budget which the commissioners propose to stand for. The head of the schools Is to get $4200 in money, expenses of over $500, and the services of a chauffeur amounting in all to about $5OO0. The five commissioners hill says that no heads of departments shall receive more than $3600. It is true the board of education operates under the old law But the old law, insofar as Birmingham is concerned. was amended by the appointment of one Of the com missioners as head of the board of edu- cation, and, as amended, became a part of the five commissioners bill. Further it may be a fact that if a salary limit had been named in the old law, 1t would have stood. But aS the law now stands there is hardly question but that the
 $3600 salary limit applies to the schools as well as to the other departments oi
 the city governmsnt This was urged ir the late race for commissioners to show | that the head of the schools did not, and could not. under the law, receive more 1 than $36OO. But his salary is running al s5OO0 in spite of the law. Again the as sistant superintendent at about $3000 is | plainly fifth wheel, our numerous prin- cipals being really assistant superinten dents. The office of medical director | at $500 is sinecure. These last two
 positions are not authorized by law ! Neither are the trained nurses, and we 1 have not always had them.
 1 Again, we have three or four times al many principals as we need. Their sal
 aries are from s2O0O to $3o00. They were
 up to $3600 until this year. These sal aries are about twice what is usually paid in Alabama and higher. perhaps I than are paid anywhere else in thu l United States for similar service Int | same may be said of the high schoo l tea chers. They are now up to $1S0 pei
 month. until this year they were up tc 1 $200 per month. But is is widely pro claimed that salaries in our schools hav' ! been "cut to the bone.'' It is a pleasure
 to hsar of good salaries. especially fo