The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-11

 between what is collected and the 60 per cent as fixed by law. If the state would enforce the tax laws already made, he says, the new taxes pro- posed by Governor Brandon would not be necessary.
 kilby's Letter In Full
 His letter in full, given out just before he left on a business trip for Washington, is as follows:
 Hon. w. W. Brandon, Governor,
 Montgomery, Ala.
 My Dear Governor:
 l have read your message of Jan uary 25 to the legislature concerning the states finances and the auditors statements accompanying it, also statement printed in newspapers purporting to show the condition of the finances from October 1, 1922, to January 1, 1923.
 It is sufficient to call attention to the fact that the last mentioned statement reflects the condition of the treasury immediately before the De- cember tax collections were reported to the treasurer Taxes become de- linquent January 1 and naturally a large portion of them are collected during the last half of the month of December. But, this money does not reach the treasury until few days after January 1. It is, there fore, plain to be seen that the con dition of the treasury on January bears little relation to the financial condition of the state because of the money outstanding in the hands of the county tax collectors on that date. I am surprised that you, Q former state auditor, did not see all this and withhold your approval of H.f ,t, tel a fl ing statement
 Says Statement Erroneous
 Now, concerning your message and the auditors statements accompany ing it, the message is misleading and calculated to create wrong impress sion, while at least one of the audi tors statements is erroneous and the others are misleading.
 The net balance in the treasury Ut the close of business January 15 Is shown as being s44,o0O3S. If you will refer to the statement of tho treasurer you will find the cor rect amount of the balance to be S12S,S74.64. The following item on the treasurer's report of January Is is left off the auditors report, viz: Item reported to the treasurer to be certified by the auditor, sS4,- S74.26." That amount is the exact difference between the statements of the two officers and clearly indicates the error of the auditor. 1 quote from the treasurer's report as fol- lows:
 January as, 1923. The condition of the treasury at the close oc business today IS as follows: Net balance sa tho treasury, $f2S,s74.64"
 The other statements ara mislead- ing in that both of them include the amount standing to the credit of the hisnUay department, while each con; dlns . note to the etfcc; u at the amCtnt is to be paid out Of ;f.e general fund, thus ma \. ig it appear to the casual reader that double the amount of the hignwas money is t, ba Isid out of the gAla t.l fund.
 Of Little Concc-l
 In your message yod ssy D tte legislature, "it is necessity for you U know the present coll lien of tke state treasury.' It 's beyond my powers cs comprehensia ;D under- s;lnI wlty' the legisla:.1~e should be ecnce1nea with the "pr9s,S'.' con- Gition O. the treasury. It's ccnd.t on on any day of the year, excent the f!r5- and last days of he fiscal year, ar those only, does not i1 an, man. Rc- whatsoever indicate :he ear'!i- tiCn of the finances of the state. The amount of cash on hand and .he amount of outstanding warrants at any given date merely indicate :he cohd' tion ct the treasl-y Itself on such datc-a condition that naces- sarl.y changes daily.
 To determine the financial condi- tion of the state 1t Is necessary to take into account the amount of col lections from all sources already made during the fiscal year and the amount of collections still to be made also the amount of disburse- ments already made during the fiscal year and the amount still to be made
 The daily statements of the treas urer do not embrace such informa- tion, and so it is plain that the fact that on January 15 a certain amount of warrants were outstanding and certain amount of cash was on hand does not in the remotest degree in- dicate the financial condition of the state on that date or any other date There is q very clear distinction be- tween the condition of the treasury anu the cOnultlOn or the finances or the state. The treasury is merely the cash drawer. It does not indicate the financial condition of the state any more than the cash drawer in any of flee or store would indicate the fi- nancial condition of a private busi- ness.
 As a matter of fact, however. the approval of accounts for supplies and maintenance of institutions was un- usually close up to date on January 15 In late December or early Janu- ary l sent a letter to all departments of the state requesting that all bills and accounts be checked up and sent sible delay, the purpose being to get all old matters out of the way so that a clean slate might be presented to you. l mention this merely to in dicate the attitude of the outgoing administration toward the incoming one, for, as above stated, such trans actions have nothing whatever to do with the financial condition of the state.
 Regarding Trust Funds
 Now, as to the so-called trust funds. there was money in the treas uary Januady Is to cover all of them except the game and fish, pure food and highway funds. The game and fish and pure food are trust funds only in a technical sense. The money standing to their credit was col