The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-11
GARTH COMMENTS
 ON KILBy ATTITUDE
 ON TAX MATTERS
Says Governor Applauds Him. self That ''The Cheapest Thing Going In Alabama
 Is State Government

Huntsville, June 9.--(Special.)- .)-w F. Garth, chairman of the state tax league. has issued the following statement regarding the tax situa- tion in Alabama:
 ITO the Tax Payers of Alabama: shall not trespass upon your time by , replying to Mir. Kilby's attempt to justify his refusal to give relief to the over-burdened tax payers of Alabama. His arguments have been replied to repeatedly.
 Tt is enough for you as it is for
 me, that he has turned a deaf ear to your petitions and expresses only regret that he could not get more taxes than he and his official myr- midonS might fatten upon your life blood. He tells you, my country
 men. in refusing to call the legisla-
 ture together for your relief, that
 would wither and hang lifeless at
 his side than that it should sign call for a legislature to withdraw It's tardy help and succor of those | helpless neglected children and un- l fortunate mental interiors of the state This high flown language is only a play to the gallery and is in keeping with the general insin- l cerity of his political life. The pur- pose of your tax league never con | templated in the most remote of talk ing one dollar from the schools, the | indigent or the old soldier, Cod bless him, and no one knows this 1 better than Mir. Kilby. What the tax league proposes is the looping off | of supplemented salaries like that
 of MT. Kilby. and there are many of 1 them; of the abolishment of the county tax adjuster, and additional officials created by this infamous revenue 1 law. If MT. Kilbys right hand had
 withered and hung lifeless at his side before he signed the bills ere atng this army of officials to draw
 the life blood of the people, we
 might all have had reasons to re- joice. He tells you that his new
 penitentiary will not cost over five hundred thousand dollars ($500, ,000).
 I have it on such authority that 1 there is no question as to who is
 telling the truth, that the building alone will cost over one million dol
 lars, and I challenge MT. Kilby to
 publish the contract.
 | Cheap Government
 He applauds himself that the
 cheapest thing going on in Alabama
 is the state government While
 am surprised at this admission by l his excellency, 1 most heartily agree 1 with him. Lest you be misied, 1s 1 Mir. Kilby seems to have been by l the report of MT. Gormley, that the
 mass meeting of tax payers held | in Montgomery, April 27, was rep
 resented by delegates from only IS counties; while the facts are, as sub | stantiated by the records of the sec
 retary of the tax league, SS counties
 were represented. Every congress sional district was represented, and l for the better information of the
 tax payers, I will give you the coun | ties by name. The First district was
 represented by Clark; the Second
 district represented by Butler, Cren-
 shaw, Covington, Montgomery and
 Pike; the Third district by Bar.
 bour, Bullock, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, l Henry, Houston, Lee and Russell i;
 the Fourth district by Chiffon, Dal-
 las, Shelby and Talladega; the Fifth l district by Autauga, Chambers, l Coosa. Elmore, Lowndes and Ran
 dolph; the Sixth district by Bibb,
 Hale, Perry and Tuscaloosa; the Seventh district by Marshall; Eighth district by Jackson, Madison, Lime stone, Morgan. Colbert and Lauder dale; Ninth district by Jefferson; enth district by Franklin.
 Some of these counties had as