MESSAGE
ST1ATE OF GEORGIA, Executive Department. Atlanta, August 10, 1918.
Gentlemen of the General Assembly: There are three matters to which you are now de-
voting earnest thought of such importance that it was deemed advisable to address you this special message concerning them.
FINANCES.
As to one-the State's finances-the status of your work presents a situation that apparently demands a frank expression of my views.
It is anticipated also that a full and accurate statement of the condition of the State's financial affairs may be helpful, if not to all, certainly to those of your Honorable Body who, in the multitude of matters with which you have dealt at this session, may not have had the opportunity to acquire a detailed and definite knowledge of the subject.
This tabulated statement following will visualize the situation that must inevitably confront us the first of next year, unless of course, the anticipated revenues, whic:h are liberally estimated, should far exceed present expectations:
Appropriations for 1917 carried in the General Appropriations Bill of 1916 and Special Appropriations Bills in 1917 unpaid August 1, 1918________ $ 149,268.51
Appropriations for the year 1918 carried in the General Appropriations Bill of HH7 and Special Bills of 1917 unpaid August 1, 1918 ____________ 4,538,410.01
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Deficiency appropriations carried in the General Appropriations Bill of 1918, to J.e paid in 1918____________
Temporary loan and interest clue September 15, 1918 __________________

195,000.00 204,500.00

'l'otal . ___________________________ $5,087,178.52
Balance in treasury August 1, 1918 _________$ 132,958.53'
Estimated iucome Augnst 1st to ,Jan 1, 1!llfl, based on income for same period of 1917, including $70,000,000.00 increase in taxable values as now estimated by the Comptroller General __ 3,315,611.00

Total _________________$3,448,569.53
Dellciency January J, 1919 __________$1,63'8,608.!J9
Some word of explanation concerning the foregoing is necessary:
In order to pay our Confederate Veterans their pensions in full; it was necessary to negotiate the loan set out in the fourth paragraph. The interest charged, which will be borne by the State, is very reasonable ancl no difficulty was found in placing the loan.
A contrart as anthorize<1 urnfor the law passed scwral ypa1s ago ,vas made whereby $2,000,000.00 of sehool wmT,mts ]11\\'c lw(m used in order to pay our school tc>,1ehers 1'or 1!)18. 'rl1is method of anticipating taxcs-"liieh is something akin to kiting -is aeeomplishf'd :1t a high rnte of discount to the already poorly 1iaid tcaeltns of GPorgia and should
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be discontinued. The mm contract was hard to ob-
tain at any rate of diRconnt, due to unsettled conditions gro"ing out of the war, ancl hut for the state interest and pride of some of our Georgia banl,ers, it is verr Jll'ohahle that the 1Yarrants could not have been disposed of at all. It is unnecessary to cliscuss the advisahilit~- of making prompt provision to avert the embarrassment that will inevitably eventuate if this practire is not discontinued. Th, amount of warrants annually discounted should C(~l tainly not h1 e increased and immediate steps should be taken looking toward the balancing of this item on the State's books.
rI1he foregoing explanations al'(' n0cessary to a cornplde unclerstancling of the present situation ana methods of state fimmcing. This method has been in vogue since the passage of the Act of August 13, 1915, to be found in Georgia Laws of that year at page 56.
The following table shows the clifferences existing between appropriations and revenu0s for the years Hl13 to 1917, inclusive: 1914, nnpaicl balances ,Tan. 1st ______ $1,607,431.39 Bnlrmre in treasury.Jan. 1, 1014 ______ 709,625.25
nefi c1 ency ________________________ $ 897,806.14
101;5, unpaicl balances .Tan. 1st _______ $1,901,702.07 Balance in treasury ,Jan. 1, 1915______ 787,455.88
Deficienry - - - - - - - -- _______________ $1,114,246.19
mm, unp11icl hnlnnces ,Jnn. 1st _______ $2,257,361.73' Balanl'P in trcmmry .Tan. 1, mm ______ 842,799.02
1lefi<ien<,v _______________________$1,414-,562.64
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1917, unpaid balance~ Jan. 1st _______$2,627,631.43 Balance in treasury Jan. 1, 1917 ______ 1,386,135.42

Deficiency ________________________$1,241,496.01
1918, unpaid balances Jan. 1st _______$2,812,640.43' Balance in treasury Jan. 1, 1918 ______ 1,459,33'1.18

Deficiency ________________________$1,353,309.25

A deficiency for 1918, as shown in the table first

given, is estimated to be $1,638,608.99.

The General Appropriations Bill for the year

1919, passed by the House Monday last, carries ap-

propriations aggregating $8,780,113.45. There are

special bills pending which will probably pass ag-

gregating $590,000.00. These sums together make

a total of $9,370,113.45, and an increase over 1918

appropriations of $2,062,763.45. This excess added

to the deficiency of 1918 will make a total deficiency

at the close of the year 1919 of $3,701,3'72.44.

It is seen by an examination of the figures above

given that while your predecessors and you have

taken no steps to increase, through the medium of a

general revenue law, the income of the state, both

have incurred heavy obligations. If the measure

proposed by that branch of your Honorable Body

empowered to originate appropriations is adopted,

you place Georgia in a worse condition by $2,286,-

809.80 than any previous General Assembly, cer-

tainly during the years for which comparison is

instituted in the above tables. The deficit which

yamououhnetl.mpegd

to to

$c1r,e6a3t8e,60b8y.99y,ou1.rs

legislation in large enough

19a1n7d'

should not, it is respectfu11y submitted, be material-

ly increased at this present session. To permit

this condition to exist is unhusinesslike, and to

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materially increase the deficit would spell INEFFICIENCY in capital letters. I cannot believe, until it is an accomplished fact, that you are willing to bring about this condition.
Some of your body defend excessive appropriations by declaring their expectations to be that at an Extraordinary Session, which they expect to follow the passage of a bill providing for lavish expenditures, adequate revenue legislation will be enacted. There is little reason to expect that a body which has so consistently rejected all proposals for increasing the State's revenue at its regular session would entertain different views at any Extraordinary Session, but it is respectfully submitted that for no reason imaginable can it be either wise or proper for us to dispose of this matter by the enactment of legislation imposing upon the State House officers who are chargeable with financing the State, the impossibility of paying money appropriated where no adequate revenue for that purpose is provided.
I quite understand the sentiment among the people against increasing their burdens by increased taxation, and I understand your desire to gratify the demand of the State's institutions for increased expenditures, but suggest that it is impossible to safely undertake to '' ride two steeds gning m opposite directions" and remind you that it is your duty, as sworn trustees of the State 'R lmsiness interests, to harmonize your expenditures with the anticipated income of the State.
HIGHWAYS.
In my .annual message of July 3' it was recommended that Georgia be given a Highway Commission charged solely with the construction and main-
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tcnance of roads and bridges, and attention was called to the need for State funds for this purpose.
-While it is no,,T apparent that nothing can pnssihlv he done toward the creation of such a department ris. was suggested, it is still very probable that provision ean he made whereby State funds can Le applied to this end.
Everyone must admit the advantages to be de-
rived from good roads. They save stock, machinery and time; increase property values; promote social
life, and lead to community co-operation, especially
in the establishment and maintenance of schools, thereby making it possible for fewer school-; to serve a larger number of people and to b(~tter advantage.
Georgia, out of $800,000.00 of Per1eral money which has been available since July 1st, 19JJi, has utilized only $8,000.00 in the construction of roads. It is apparent without argument that there must he something radically wrong with a system which
will enable a State to avail itself of only 1 per cent.
of such a gift. I submit that one of the two bills now pending,
either of which will meet the requirements of the Federal Government in the provision of State funds, should be immediately enacted into law.
PUBLIC HEALTH AND MORALS.
There are now pending several bills involving pnhlic health and morals which have been acted upon favorably by the committees to which they have lleen referred, and which should be enacted into lmY. From the standpoint of the public health and morals of om civilians this should lle done, and also het-ausr their enactment is desired all(l requested by the F'Pderal Authorities charged with protecting the
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health and morals of the young men now stationed at the cantonments and camps within our Stnte.
I refer to the bi11 looking to the control and suppression of venereal diseases; the 1)i1l penalizing those who solicit for the purpose of prostitution and those who transport persons for this purpose.
It was recommended in my general message that the State 'L''nberculosis Sanatorium at Alto be placed under the control of the State Board of Health. 'rhis I trust can be done. I also hope your body will pass the bill amending the 'Puberculosis Sanatorium La,v of 1910 so as to permit cities of 15,000 to establish Tuberculosis Sanatora.
I cannot too strongly urge the passage of the bill looking to the prevention of blindness nmong children. Georgia expended this year $9,000.00, or $300.00 per child, for the care of blind children, w1bose affliction could have been prevented by the ar)plication of a simple and inexpensive remedy which this hil1 seeks to have administered by those officiating at childbirth.
Res11ectfully submitted,
HUGH M. DORSEY,
Governor of Georgia.