Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-22
WILL
MEET WEDNE SDAY;
TREASURY EMPTY

An acute shortage of funds in the
state treasury will look the legis-
| lature Squarely in the face when 1t
convenes next Wednesday, June %,
for it's annual session of fifty days.
For several years the state of Geo
gia has been kiting. Appropriations
have exceeded revenue, making 1t
necessary TO borrow from future in
come to meet present bills. The kit
ing process has been carried to the
limit, and now the treasury is prac-
tically empty with no funds in sight;
On July l an interest payment of
s125,000 on the states bonded debt
will leave balance of only $4,000.
During July the state will collect
from insurance companies about
s350,000. All of this and more will
be needed to pay current expenses
the months of May and June. More
than $250,000 of payments due the
departments and institutions for the
month of May are now held up. "A
similar amount will accumulate on
the 1st of July. The whole collec-
lions from insurance companies will
not be sufficient to cover the two
months. All of the revenue from ad
valorem taxes for 1919 has been col
lected and spent. and the governors
current borrowing power of $780,
600 has been exhausted.
The state is not bankrupt. 1t SIM
ply is a year behind it's expenses.
1t has no reserve to tide over the
period between the spring and the
fall. This years appropriations are
100000 in excess of last years rev.
enue, but the deficit will be covered
by increased tax values.
There is one source. and apparently
one alone. from which the legislature
can get some money to run the state
until ad valorem taxes begin to be
collected in the fall. 1t is the fund
from motor vehicles licenses. BY
joint. resolution the Legislature
might be necessary should be drawn
by the governor from this fund
and replaced later from other rev.
enues.
More Revenue Necessary
OF course, such a loan from the
motor vehicle fund, which is set
apart for state. highway, c0nstruc-
tinct proviso that it should be re-
turned. Neither the governor nor
any other friend of highway devel-
opment would be in favor of taking
it away without returning it.
Just at present the motor vehicle
of the pending test of the constitu-
tionality Of the act imposing a IL
cense upon motor vehicles and APP
propriating the receipts of the same
to highway construction. An effort
will be made to get a decision of the
case by the supreme court within a
short time after the legislatu con-
venes, so that the defect in the law,
If it should be found to be a fatal
defect, can be cured by amendment
while the legislature is in session.
Increased revenue is the only ul-
innate and permanent solution of the
states financial difficulties, in the
IN
man Carswell. of the house appro-
priation committee; Chairman Allen.
of the senate appropriation commit
tee; School Superintendent Britain
and others who have made a study
of the subject
The decreased buying power of a
dollar combined with increased de-
mands upon the institutions and de-
partments Of the state have more
than offset the comparatively small
increases in appropriations. School
teachers are paid less than day la
borers, and the schools are suffering
in consequence of good teachers leav-
ing their profession and going into
other lines Of work. Every institu
ton of higher education is packed 20
capacity with waiting line of APP
plicants who cannot be admitted The
lege at Milledgeville, the Georgia
School of Technology in Atlanta, the
University of Georgia at Athens, the
College of Agriculture, the district
schools and all the rest are turn
ing away ambitious young men and
women who plead for admission.
Cry for Appropriations
Not only the institutions of learn
ing are met with increased and in
creasing demands. but all Of the de-
partments of the government like
wise, and the eleemosynary institu-
Ely4 inf a.iJ1 fnn I1n IN
sane at Milledgeville. the tuberculo
sis sanitarium at Alto and others.
An increasing population means in
creased demands upon the public
service.
Though values have increased sub
stantially from year to year, they
have not kept pace with increased
needs. To cut appropriations would
be to cut salaries of school teachers,
cut the enrolment of institutions Of
learning, cut the facilities of elee-
mosynary institutions and cut the
service rendered by departments.
Such a policy is not considered and
cannot be considered, in the opinion
of the governor and Legislative lead
ers, who maintain that Georgia as
the Empire State of the South must
keep in the forefront Of the march
of progress.
Increased revenue, therefore, is the
only permanent solution of the
states financial problem. This can
be obtained by reorganizing the tax
all classes of property bear just
proportion of the expenses of the
government, or by removing the con-
stitutional limit on the state tax
rate. A variable tax rate, instead Of
a tax rate limited to 5 mills, as at
and comptroller each year to raise
whatever revenue had been appro-
prited by the legislature. 1t would
involve simple calculation in per-
'centage applied to existing tax val
ues. The larger the appropriations
made by the legislature, the higher
would be the tax rate. If the people
did not want to pay the cost of good
schools. good colleges and up-to-date
service in other departments, they
legislature pledged to retrenchment
A variable tax rate would give the
taxpayers an exact thermometer on
legislative expenditures.
Highway Program
highway legislation ranks with
finance in the order of it's Importance
upon the calendar of the 1920 session
of the general assembly. The high
way program consists Of two parts
Part as passed in 1919 is temper
constitutionality of the motor vehicle
law. Part 1 consisted of the motor
vehicle law imposing a license upon
autos and trucks and appropriating
the receipts to the highway depart
ment, plus the law creating the high
way board and defining it's powers.
The constitutionality of both laws
is involved in the pending court case.
Ii the supreme court holds the laws
to be constitutional, the highway de-
partment will go on functioning and
the legislature won't have to cure
the defects by amendment If the
court knocks out the laws, they will
have to be re-enacted by a roll call
vote, this being the point involved
in the test case.
Part 2 of the highway program
consists of bill to amend the con-
stitution so as to authorize a state
bond issue. The figure discussed