The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-11
aspire Any General Selling in Cotton

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 AA- rect theory but in practice it would be ineonvepient and expensive. IL would mean that at times when large sums of money are in the treasury to the credit of this fund, while little or no money is there for other pur- poses, the state would be compelled to borrow money and pay interest charges that otherwise might be saved In other words, 1t might frequently force the state to pay banks or other lenders for the use of their money while it's own money is lying idle in the treasury, earning nothing. Of course it would be bad policy to mingle real trust funds with other funds, but this road fund is not a trust fund in the strict sense of the term. It is money that belongs to the state to be used for state pur- poses and no outside party or in- terest has any lien or claim upon it whatsoever. Money received from the sale of bonds should be kept sep crate from other funds. Also the sinking fund to retire bonds which is taken from the highway fund. These funds have been kept seperate and apart from other moneys and they should never under and circum- stances be diverted for one moment.
 As to Highway Funds
 Now. where did this highway fund come from? It came from motor licenses levied by the legislature of 1919. It was collected by the recent administration in accordance with the financial program of that admins tration And right here I call atten ton to the fact that the late ad- lninistration lived well within it's in- come. The receipts for the four year period totaled s49. .6S9,476. The dis bursements totaled 47,656,048. The excess of $2,033.42S was applied to the Isyment of the floating and bonded debt. These figures were taken from the books of the state auditor and thea state treasurer and were checked by an expert accountant of the state tax commi sson. Talk of a deficit in the face of these figures is absurd and ridiculous.
 But, the state of the highway fund oG January Is is not for consider ation as involving the financial con- dition of the state. The question is, how did it stand on September 30, 1"c2? The difference between the amounts to it's credit on January Is
 
 added to the receipts for the pres ent year, as the case may be. As a matter of fact the fund was s3S4,- GS3.32 smaller on September 30, 1922, than it was on January 15, 1923. On the former date it stood at S1,4S3,- 044.39.
 Where Brandon Started.
 And right here is where the mis- leading and misunderstanding comes in. You call the legislatures attention to the condition of the treasury as of January Is, a matter wholly separate and apart from the question of the states financial con dition, as I Nave shown above. The fact is that your responsibility be- gan October 1, 1922, three and half months before you assumed office, just as mine began October l, 1918, three and half months before l as- sumed office, and your first year will end September 30, 1926. It is neces- sary to hear bhese facts in mind. We must regard only the years and pe- riods fixed by law.
 Now what was the condition of af- fairs at the beginning of your first fiscal year The reports of the audi tor and treasurer show it to have been as follows:
 Cash balance in treasury, $S17,- I4S.64; balance to credit of highway bond fund, $391,168.42; net balance in treasury September 30, 1922, $425,- 9OS.22; outstanding warrants, $26O,- S42.1O; net amount of cash Septem- Der 30, 1922, S165,13S.12.
 Wants No Misunderstanding.
 There is where you start. Please excuse me for being so explicit. l want to avoid further misunderstand- ing. During your first fiscal year you will be working under the same laws Tor the assessment and collection or taxes of all kinds that your prede- cessor worked under except in so far as they may be changed by the legls- lature with your consent and approV- al. The appropriations to be palo during the first year will be approx imately the same as they were TOT the preceding year. In addition, you have already paid out during the present.year a considerable sum for new cotton mill machinery, shirt fac- tory and dye house and for improve ments at convict prisons. These are the amounts spent since October l on projects begun prior to that date and not completed, and for which you will take due credit at the end or the year, among them being work shops for d thousand Convicts With out which you woul6 have encoun- tered difficulty ir keeping them em- ployed. These were especially neces- sary as a part of the preparation TOT working convicts, which l expected would be taken from the mines in ac- cordance with the mandate Of the legislature.
 I wonder if you have been .ad- yised as to how much of the DIE ap- propriations have already been paid. wonder if you know that one-half of the pension appropriation for IF months ending September 30, next, had already been paid before Jan nary 15. within the first three and one-half months of the year. l won der if you know that of the S3653,- S19.74 appropriated to schools to be used during the present fiscal year. S2858,544 had already been paid out before January 15, or within the first three and one-half months of the year. I wonder if you have been advised that all appropriations for buildings have alraedy been paid except $3O,000 for teachers train- ing school at Troy. Take special note of this. Appropriations for all building purposes, with the one ex- ception noted above, which were p,sda available until September 30,