The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-05
TEXT OF GOVERNORS MESSAGE TO LEGISLA TURF
 AND CORRESPONDENCE WHICH PRECEDED CA


 wise, accruing to the s'tte. ts ua- nicipalities, and iha ps H4c af aEEs The special advantage to be de- rived from the prompt passage of the | bill to take effect immediately upon it's approval is obvious.
 TVELFTH-TO PROVIDE FOR SUB sTITUTION OF TAX RECORDS. During last Winter one of the blackest pages in Alabama history was written. The assessment of taxes for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1921, had been about completed to the atisfaction of practically all of the tax payers of the state, there 1 being not a single appeal in ma jority of the counties and but very few in any of them, when a general business depression set in. At such an suspicious time. when there should have been q call by every good citi- zen to stand true to his state, a number of unpatriotfc persons staEte1 [ a campaign of agitation having for Tits avowed purpose reassessment of the tax values of property through out the state. Some of these per sons, prompted by the selfish desire to avoid paying their just part of the expense of the schools and other in stitutions of the state, were willing to place the state to the enormous expense such action would incur. hoping that the influence of the financial depression would enable them to secure a lower valuation than that from which many never even appealed as provided by law; others thinking that this appeal to prejudice would be popular have sought to build themselves political success by joining the movement, be- ing willing to advance their selfish interests at the expense of the state and it's institutions; others have in- nocently and unwittingly been made s part of movement which in it's ultimate result has borne the fruit of treason to the state, and created a partial state of anarchy in one county.
 A systematic plan of propaganda was established for the undermining Of confidence in the method of ad- ministering the tax law, law which permits more appeals to the tax payer than any law ever enacted in Alabama, thus seeking to destroy the taxing machinery. All sorts of mis- representations and demagogic ap- peals to the prejudice and passions or the people have been resorted to with the natural result that some good people were made to believe that grave injustices were intention ally done them in the matter of pron efty assessment. One cannot con template the effort made to destroy the state in this particular without DelnB reminded of the German prom aganda promulgated during the war 10 weaken our faith in our conn lfy' ana to divide our allegiance to the Ightlng men, crime which dur Ing the war was punishable by death
 In my opinion the logical result or thls propaganda was found in Coftee county where thieves broke into the tax assessors room in the courthouse at Elba and stole the records of assessment The fact that they took every book or doc,,- ment referring to the assessments would clearly indicate that the thieves were coached as to the legal effect of the documents and books or were men who had such intor- matlon. Notwithstanding a wide be- lief among the best element of cit lzenship of the town and county that certain well known men were either guilty of the theft or counseled it, ana Tn spite of the extraordinary ef- forts on the part of state and coun- " officlais to bring the thieves 10 Justice, the persons who committed this outrage and their advisers are 'stiil at large, eyfdeneing how welIss the propaganda has borne fruit of anarchy in that section. The right thinking people of Coffee county owe to themselves and the state the duty or discovering, exposing and bring ing to justice the traitors in their midst who have struck this coward. ly blow at the vitals of their gov ernment and brought disgrace to the county and shame to all decent peo- pie in Alabama. In no other possi- hl O IuQ hA moved. In the meantime, outside in- stigators, aiders and abettors of the dastardly crime, whether with inten ton or otherwise, would appear to best advantage in seclusion.
 At great labor and expense to the state and county the state tax com mission has duplicated the records as far as possible by consent of many of the good people of that county. At this time, however, when every good citizen should advise the citi- zens of the county to assist in du plicating the records so that local school funds might be secured and their taxes paid. am advised that some of those in Coffee county prominent in the movement hereto- fore mentioned, realizing that there was no provision of law for substi- tuting such records, used all the in fluence and effort at their command to prevent people from cooperating in the establishment of these records and prevented many who were dis posed to cooperate from so doing. Such reprehensible conduct has made lit necessary that I request the pas sage of a bill providing for the du- plication of these records. that the work might be expedited and be ac-
  THIRTEENTH-BOY BLACK
 LISTING. ETC.
 The recent coal strike in this state developed the fact that our civil and criminal statutes were inadequate to promptly and properly deal with the conditions which existed just prior to and after the strike was declared. 1t was then discovered that by reason of the inndequacy of the statutes of this state, relating to strikes, boy colts, blacklisting, etc., that the civil authorities were unable to>present or even check many wrongful acts which inevitably led to the calling of the strike and to the perpetration of many heinous crimes which attended and followed the strike. Acts of vio- lence and commission of more seri- ous crimes against both person and property of citizens, the inability of the civil authorities to check or con-> trol such unlawful actions on the part of those connected or sympathiz- ing with the strikers necessitated eailing out the state militia to pre-
 erve peace and order in the coal mining district of the state. While liartial law was not absolutely de- Ared, nor the civil law actually suspended, the condition of affairs x.s, antt ft,r.1 .., <l