Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-10-30
SPECTATORS
EDWARDsVMLE, OCTOBER 80, 1919.

EDWARDSVILLE, OCTOBER SO, 1879.
Bills of the Bank of the State of Ten
nessee, at Knoxville, are now received
in payment for lands, by the Receiver of
Public Moneys for the district of Ed
wardsyille. Bills of the branches of that
bank are not received.
Mark L. Hill and Martin Kinsley,
Doth republicans have been elected
members of Congress from Maine.
FOR THE SPECTATOR.
THE ROAD LAW.
Mr.. PRINTER,
In your paper of August IA, un-
der the head of " Law of Illinois," APP
peared piece, copied from the Kaskas-
kia paper, entitled IN act for otlening,
RECURRING, Improving, and regulating
roads and highways, AND CREATING. A
FUND FOR THAT PURPOSE" The des-
potic and unconstitutional provisions
contained in this law, created doubt
in my mind as to its authenticity; and l
therefore determined to wait till the laws
were legally published, before l made
any remarks on this subject. The laws
have at length made their appearance,
accompanied by certificate from the
secretary, i'll due form, stating that they
are true copies of the enrolled laws in
his office, reference being had to a very
copious catalogue of errors of the tran
scriber and errors of the printers. All
errors not comprised in this catalogue,
may, therefore, be justly ascribed to the
legislature.
Upon examination, find that the
Road Act contained in this volume of
laws, is not materially different from that
published in your paper of August Ia.
Having asserted that this law is IN
constitutional and deshotie, l will now
give you my reasons for this belief.
The constitution Cart. 8, Sec. ao)
provides, That the mode of levying a
tax shall be BY VALUATION, so that eyery
herson shall hay tar in hroflortion to
The vaiue Of the hroherty lie or she has
in his or her possession" The mean
ing OF this section is too plain to be
misunderstood even by the dullest capa-
city. Yet the law under consideration
lays tax not exceeding five dollars a
year, equally on &C all males between the
ages of eighteen and fifty, living within
the precinct" No matter whether rich
or poor, bond or free, halt, lame, blind,
or able bodied-all, all alike, are liable
to pay this tax.
The justice and propriety of the con-
sttutional mode of levying taxes, are
peculiarly manifest in the case of a road
TAG. No one will deny that the making
of good road greatly enhances the
value of the adjoining lands. Yet the
proprietors of such lands are not,
according to this law, required to con-
tribute single cent towards defrayinp
the expense of such road, unless they
happen to live I. within the precinct p
and even then they are to pay no more
than the mechanic or laborer whose only
property is the clothes which he wears |!
A man may monopolize half the lands
in the state, and yet he is taxed only five
dollars year to make roads through his
lands; and at the same time he reaps
the principal benefits which are derived
from this oppressive tax upon the poor
If he does not reside in the state, or if
he resides in "prccinct'' where the
roads require no repairs, he pays no
road tax at all.
This law is also peculiarly adapted to
promote the interests of another very
numerous and cnterprizing class of citi-
zens, namely, the tozun makers. These
gentlemen have only to entice sufficient
number of mechanics and laborers into
their new towns and IN have thar, G alva,