The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
GARTH ANSWERS
 K|LBY'S ARTICLE
 0N TAX LEAGUE
Accuses Governor of Squan- dering States Finances and Trying to Divert Minds of
 People of the State

| SOFtS VI ttlC 0tCkO
 Huntsville, May 6.-(Special) )-Col. w. F. Garth of Huntsville chairman of the State Tax league, has replied to the ar ticle of Gov. Thomas P. Kilby of April i 2s in the Montgomery Advertiser, attach | ing the resolution adopted by the league at it's meeting in Montgomery April 27. Colonel Garth accuses the governor of squanderng state funds and of trying to divert the minds of the people of the state from his tax record by attacking the league.
 attack is as follows:
 l Tn replying to the latest effusion of Gov Thomas E. Kilby, would say his attempt to camouflage his wasteful and extrayagant administration by dishonest attacks upon the people who have band 1 ed themselves together to get relief from his wastefulness, and his attempt to dodge the issue and cover up his lack 1 Of executive ability is pitiful. His effort to prejudice the minds of the people by | his reckless and extravagant statements i'll regard to the port of Mobile, Muscle Shoals, prohibition, etc, is not only silly but contemptible, and only argues his own ignorance.
 SAYS GOVERNOR NOT SINCERE
 There is nothing in the resolution that he rails against to justify his statement, and If he were sincere in his opinion, as stated in the papers, and honestly inter ested in those matters, he would not have made the foolish statement in the press, but would have suggested in quiet way that some fool politician might take that view of it. and that would have been the end of the matter. The resolution was discussed before and after the cons 1 vertion and it was suggested that some crazy demagogue might use it, just as his excellency has in his desperation to l divert the minds of the people from the real issue, but a majority of the com mittee did not believe that any one would l be foolish enough to advance such an argument against it, as it's purpose was only to cut unnecessary extravaganza by | the United States government.
 | You see what a demagogue will do 1 in an effort to have his way; however, to save him from shedding more hypocriti- cal tears for his beloved people to whom he refuses relief, I desire to inform him | that since the convention the President Of the United States has instructed the heads of the various departments of tho l United States government to that enc, so the governor will have to find ano@---r mole hill to hide behind.
 CANNOT UNDERSTAND
 ,"I cannot understand how a sane and sober person could be guilty of such pratt tle. The governor will have to invent some other poisonous gas. In reply to hls charge that the 1000 Alabamians assem- bled in Montgomery were tax dodgers, there is short Anglo-Saxon word that would cover the answer to that charge. But MT. Kilby knows that this statement is without foundation, and he knows that he utters a slander that he is simply trying to divert the people from his tax record and the reckless way in which the state funds are being squandered. He knows that every official salary in the state that could possibly be was raised, and the first to get the raise was his own. He tells you that the operating expense of the state comes from the earnings of the convicts and foreign corporation li- censes
 "In the name of God, does not the man know that the earnings of the conyicts and tho foreign corporation licenses be- long to the people of Alabama, and does 1 he not know that the money coming from that source belongs in the treasury, and | is not his salary and the salaries of his army of officials paid out of the treas tury? The governor cannot think straight. He tries to make it appear that because of a resolution calling for retrenchment | in the national government that it was necessarily blow to the harbor of Mo- bile and the development of the Tennessee river at Muscle Shoals. The governor knows the intention of the resolution. and he knows he is not honest when he tries to put a different construction upon it.
 STATE BAR RESOLUTION
 "rhe State Bar association passed similar resolution, which has met with nothing but commendation. and yet the bar of Alabama is not composed of thoughtless men.
 l "I read an inspired article in Sundays Age-Herald from it's Montgomery corre- spondent. saying among other things that I organized the Tax league. Mir. Kilby does me too much honor I only contrib uted in part to it's organization, but it is organized, and organized to stay. | "The governor now threatens to con- yene the legislature in extra session, and when he does, he will find that a legsla- ture fresh from an indignant people will inquire earnestly into the new $3,0OO,OVO tpenitentiary to be built at Montgomery, and they will look into all the ramifica- tions of the revenue law with it's army Of officeholders. They will inquire into the expenditure of vast sums for clerks and stenographers doing the work which officials are paid to do. The governor | ignores the constitutional provision of the state providing three separate divisions | of government as follows: Executive, legislative and judicial Having usurped supreme power, he does not take kindly to the protest of sovereign people who have justice and law on their side, but | intends to have his way though every taxpayer in the state be made bank rupt. That is what he conceives to be a business administrations Very respect. fully, w. F. G yRTH,
 Chairman State Tax League