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

at the end of your first year there
 should be no material change in the
 financial condition of the state, pro-
 vided, of course, that the former de-
 gree of efficiency and diligence in
 the management of affairs is main
 tained by your administration. The
 results for the succeeding three
 years will depend upon what you
 and the legislature do concerning
 the assessment and collection of
 revenues and their appropriation and
 disbursement.
 I have said it so often that I am
 getting tired of saying it, perhaps
 more so than are those who hear, it, but I feel so earnestly on the subject
 that I cannot restrain the impulse
 as a matter of plain duty, to once
 more warn you and the legislature
 against the policy of tearing down
 the machinery that has produced such
 splendid results in the equalization
 of property values and the collection
 of revenues, l am out of public life
 and responsibility, but l have not
 surrendered my citizenship nor
 abated one iota of my interest in the
 welfare of my state and it's institu-
 tions. I am compelled to deplore the
 destruction of & system that has
 wiped out floating debt of nearly
 two million dollars, thus restoring q
 long impaired credit to gilt edge
 and enabling us to market our road
 bonds on satisfactory terms. We paid off half million dollars of
 bonded indebtedness; added more
 than three millions worth of physical property to the list of the states
 assets besides aiding in the construc-
 tion of rural school houses valued at
 moro than s4,50O,0O0; increased old
 soldiers pensions more than 3S per
 cent; doubled the allowance to in-
 mates of the Old Soldiers Home: doubled the per capita maintenance for the girls in the State Training
 school; increased the maintenance
 fund for the Boys Industrial school 50 per cent; fairly started a mag 1 nificent work for the welfare of help
 less children and another for the care of the feble minded; increased tEe per capita allowance for the care | of the insane by 43 per cent; in- creased the maintenance for public health work 800 per cent, thereby placing Alabama in the front rank of the states in that respect; and. greatest of all, aided in the develop | ment of education to the most re- 1 markable and surprising extent What matters 1t if the state took from one pocket and placed in an- other pocket the money that belonged | to itself and then used it for the ac- l complishment in part of these things? l claim no special credit for these l achievements. They resulted from
 the operation of financial machinery | constructed by the last legislature
 at the very vitals of which the pres e a Q and with your approval, has struck a fatal blow.
 "Government by Contribution1
 While I can well understand and ] sympathize with you in the burden | of responsibility that has been placed upon your shoulders, I rejoice that | you have come to a knowledge of the l seriousness of official responsibility 1 and to realization of the difference 1 between the attitude of the candi- date toward popular c1amor for re- | duced taxes and his thoughts on the
 subject when contemplating it as a
 responsible executive. I dare venture
 the opinoin that the paltry sum that
 may be saved through reducing sal | aries and aboljshing offices and ex- l emptions has shrunk to a size hardly
 to be seen with the naked eye when ! compared with the sum that will fall | away as result of the adoption of | government by voluntary contribu- | tion."
 l If that plan Is persisted In, and N seems to have the almost unanimous support of the legislature, the only possible way to save the situation is
 through the levy of taxes in another form And, mark this, any plan for l taxes of a new character will result
 in multiplying the amount and num-
 Der of exemptions, because all real
 and personal property which Is now
 assessed under the lawful limit of l 60 per cent will be exempted in the
 exact proportion that the actual as- sessment falls short of the legal as- | sessment. That would be exemption | with vengeance. A millage tax to | relieve the present necessities of the l institutions of higher education seems wise because it seems neces- sary. But if all real and personal property were assessed according to | law the extra tax would not be nec- | essary. It is not remarkable that re- sort must be had to an additional tax rate for the benefit of the prop erty owner who escapes. his lawful obligation, and especially since it is inevitable that the additional burden l must be borne most largely by the property owner who is already bear i ing his share of the burden?
 Then comes the proposal to tax users of gasoline, not wholly for the benefit of the roads as 1t should be,
 but also for the benefit of the man whose property is underassessed. And this is done because of an imaginary huge deficit in the general fund. It is preposterous.
 State Out of Debt.
 In conclusoin, what is the situa- tion? You started your first year with the state out of floating debt and with s165,13S12 cash on hand, there being no obligation with re- gard to any trust fund except the highway fund amounting to s1,4S3,- l 04439. Certain drafts against that fund will have to be met, but they come in small amounts and stretch over a considerable period of time.