The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-05

the county boards of revenue and county commissioners.
 gro provide for expenses of state employees.
 iners.
 These are the bills on which Cover nor Kilby would rest the future of his administration. He studied them before he went into office, and he fought for them after his inauguration. They are comprehensive in scope, and under their general classification several other progressive measures were adopt ed and signed by the chief executive.
 BUDGET BILL kILBY'S PET
 If any one bill enacted at the 1919 session of the legislature stands out pre-eminent1y in the governors esti- nation. it is the budget bil1,' said MT Ayers. vt was under the provisions of this bill that the revenue law was compiled, and it will be the budget sys- tenn of government that will hold the expenditure of the states public funds within the income. In other words, the budget bill will make for real business management of the states financial af- fairs.
 ''When Governor Ki1by was making the race for the office he now holds, he said of the budget bill:
  data and expert estimate above gum shoe. hit-or-miss methods and seduc- tive personalities.
 "'It would force the state to live within it's income
 "It would be as a watchdog placed before the door of the state treasury, and would forever put an end to invis- ible. fires onsibre government in this state'
 How well that promise was borne out in eventuality is familiar to every person that followed develop ments in the last legislature. In the first place. precedent was established in Alabama by first providing the rev enue to operate the state government before any appropriations were made and under the income and tonnage tax provisions it is possible to make as- sessments on accurate, scientific data The income tax is indorsed by all mod ern economists. and the peculiar lorna tions of coal seams in Alabama-almos' in pocket formtaions-make the ton mage tax far more equitable than the old ad valorem tax method which was based on guess work pure and simple
 SEDUCTIVE PERSONALITIES "When Governor Kilby spoke of 'se- ductive personalities he had in mino l the vast horde of professional lobbyists | that have been maintained by selfish | interests in Alabama from time imme morial. They are the gentry that come l to Montgomery to speak to legislator l in honeyed words of political affection | to make insinuating promises or t' 1 wield the big stick of personal obliga l ton over the heads of the lawmaker an effort to make them do the bid | ding of vested interests. They wer' l at the last session of the legislatur l in surprisingly large numbers. ant they sprang up from the most unex pected sources. No governor and nc | legislature in all the history of Ala bama were ever before called upon tt combat such powerful influences il the discharge of a public trust. Int | legislature of 1919. however, was no seduced. The public interest triumphet over selfish interests in one of the me morable conflicts of wits that revolvt around almost every revenue bill, ane Governor Kilby attributes the success, of his administration revenue measure! | to the fact that the members of tho legislature had confidence in tht budget commission, who had giver careful, intelligent and painstakint study to their task.
 With a less determined, courageou. and resourceful man in the executive office at Montgomery, however. the
 revenue bill of 1919 would never have