The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-03-23
By HOWARD w. HARTLEY
Staff Correspondent
Florida News Service
TOO MANY COOKS
FIGURES DON'T LIE
PLIGHT OF SCHOOLS
sTREAMLINED ECONOMY
ONLY SIXTY DAYS

Tampa, called for the express
purpose of evolving some work
able method of keeping the kids
in school nine months each year
and raising enough money to
maintain our politicians in the
luxury to which they have been
accustomed, your commentator
finds himself in the mental state
of the befuddled Quaker, who
once told his wife: "All the world
is nuts but thee and me, Martha,
and sometimes think even thee
may be a bit daft.
Approximately forty members
of the, House of Representatives,
plus a dozen or SO senators, broke
camp on the banks of the muddy
Hillsborough1, with just about as
clear an idea of how much money
the, Legislature must raise as
Neville Chamberlain's guess on
what Adolf Hitler will do next
July. Summed up, the boys are
wandering around in a smoke
screen of figures, laid down by
groups of special interests, and
thick fogs of statistical tear gas.
Hence we have completely re-
vised our predictions on what
may transpire in Tallahassee be-
tween now and June. The ses-
sion, my friends, will be, in the
parlance of the boys in the street,
lone of those things, wherein
anything can happen and prob
ably will.
Any bookmaker can lay me
forty to one that the Legislature
will cede everything north of
Ocala back to Georgia and we
wouldn't raise questioning eye
brow. Because we've never seen
a parallel situation in Florida.
There has never been time
when a Legislature packed bags
for Tallahassee knowing less
about what the state, it's depart
ments, the schools and other gov
ernmental agencies must have to
keep that old debbir wolf from
the door. There has never been
a Legislature more sincerely and
honestly striving to do a good
Job, either House or Senate, and
the pity of it all is the fact that
the people expect their lawmak-
ers to wind up the job in sixty
days, adjourn and come home
with everybody happy.
Nevertheless, Speaker Woods
Woodworking committee MEM
bers have made some progress.
They know, for instance, that
some merchants prefer the gross
receipts tax to three percent
levy on sales. They know the
hotel men hail the sales tax as
mamma from Heaven-provided it
lifts the ad valorem from Flor
ida's taverns. They know the
schools are wallowing in a finan-
cial quagnnire because previous
Legislatures put bounty on tax
lodging and they are thoroughly
convinced the only popular tax is
the one the other fellow pays. :
Batches of .weighty statistics
were dumped on the Tampa con-
ference tables, written in enough
red ink to float The, Queen. Mary.
If you'd been there, you'd have
wondered if they sold blue ink
any more because, from the looks
of those reports, red is mighty
popular color among Tallahassee
bookkeepers these days. Any
body reporting a surplus would
have been greeted with loud huz-
zas. Yet there were plenty of
plans suggested to save the Ship
of State. In fact, the only person
we encountered who didn't have
tax program up his sleeve was
the bell captain at the Tampa
Terrace.
Speaking seriously, however,
out of the maze of figures we
cleaned one inescapable truth:
The Legislature of 1899 will pass
into history as make or break
session" and there are only two
guideposts at the crossroads. One
points to a wholesale shifting of
the tax burden and the other
points to a complete overhauling
of the present ad valorem sys-
tenn, including brand new set
of molars for our assessment and
collection laws.
Some of the Legislators had
kidded themselves into the idea
they were just about to break
through the clouds when Supt
Colin English laid a brand new
financial orphan in their laps in
the form of a. whopping public
school operating deficit The head
of the school system reminded
the assembled Legislators and
educators that a full term de-
ponds upon an emergency appro-
nriation nearly as bic as the gen