The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-08
ALABAMA NOT ATTACHED l!

No sooner had the Alabama legislature passed the measure revoking tax exemptions for power companies than the apologists | for the Alabama Power Company hasten to accuse the legislature of acting without due regard for honorable principles, and of breaking faith. That is serious charge and one that should not be made without the weightiest of reasons to support it.
 Far from acting dishonorably, it is prob able that the legislators were governed in their action by certain basic and cardinal reasons. Chief among these may be men tioned Section PIT of the constitution of 1901 which says: Property of private cor porations, associations and individuals of this state shall forever be taxed at the same rate, provided this section shall not apply to in- stitutions devoted exclusively to religious, educational or charitable purposes" Mani festly the legislators may in all honesty have held that the tax-exemption statute is in vio- lation of the spirit if not the letter of this section. Nor is it proved that the offer of tax exemption caused the water power de- velopment in this state, for the development did not begin until five years after it's en- actment, nor until the. enactment of the federal water power act. Since the enact ment of the federal statute, water power development has been just as rapid in states offering no tax exemptions as in Alabama Water power undertakings can be located only where nature has made it possible to conserve such power, and tax exemptions have little influence on such undertakings. | Doubtless the legislators also took cogni- zance of the fact that every court that has 1 ever passed upon the question has held that | such statute is not contract. Those who say that the revocation of the exemption is "breach of contract' on the part of the | legislature are making the federal supreme | court party to that accusation, for the supreme court in the case of Welsh versus | Cook, 79 U. s. 541, said: "Nor are we able | to say that this action involves breach of | faith towards the owner. of the manufactur- ing property, conceding, as the plaintiff must and does, that the exemption of his property was of the bounty of the legislature. He knew when he accepted it that it was liable to be revoked whenever the local legislature or congress should be of the opinion that the public interests demanded such action"
 
 preme court of the United States approved of the above ruling and added that in case like this the legislature Simply indicates a course of conduct to be pursued, until cir | cumstances or its views of policy change" | Although there were those who, as The | Age-Herald, thought that perhaps the ex- emptions should run for the period named, 1t '. would appear that the legislators are in quite good company in their view of the in- tegrity of the action, and are doubtless per- fectly willing to be found in the company of the supreme court judges in this matter. Perhaps they will therefore bear all charges of bad faith with equanimity.
 The Age-Herald certainly does not believe that the situation is as bad as the opponents of the Alabama Pow CT Company would have it appear. States of the Union have been ac- corded great manufacturing establishments without offering the inducement of tax ex- emptions. Nor do we believe that the honor of the state has been impeached, nor that the legislators are without proper concep- tion of honesty. If any were governed by the feeling of prejudice they but reflect the warning of The Age-Herald in the issue of December IA, regarding the power company valuation: "It is episodes such as this which create popular distrust of public cor porations and pave the way for those waves of public indignation which occasionally re- suits in their penalization. The corporations have only themselves to blame for this att titude of suspicion towards them, especially corporations of public utility nature which derive from the people their right to exploit natural resources"
 There are men of importance in Ala | bama, men of devotion to their state, who see in the present situation a determined effort on the part of the Alabama Power l Company to govern the state and dictate it's policies and enthrone itself in unrestrained and unrestricted control. One of the fa- vorite charges against those who do not bend to the power company's ambitions in that direction is that they are Corporation baiters." Perhaps there are those preferring to be classed as corporation batter than to be known as corporation tool, designa- tion which would carry with it the stigma of lack of patriotism, absence of character and disregard of the public welfare, when special
 private interests come in conflict with the public interests
 RUHR MINERS ARE PRACTICAL Coal miners seem to be about the only German workers in the Ruhr valley who