Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1841-10-12
it not have seemed, to his eyes the FUNERAL
PROCESSION OF THE GOOD FAITH

' WILL venture the assertion without tear OF
contradiction from those who know mankind
/ well, that such a procession could not have
passed through Indiana, without creating per-
feet revolution among her citizens. They would
have risen in mass, to enquire, to remonstrate
to protest the stream of extravaganza would
have been arrested at lis very source and we
should not have to lament proftless
debt of Twelve Millions of DoIlars
Yet that amount Of money has been borrowed,
has been brought 10 Indiana or lost before it ar
rived there, has been squandercd, and no rev.
oluton no uprising of the People, has ensued
Why is this The thing done is the same :;
the manner only Is different. The debt is as real
as if the line of wagons had passed before our
eyes True, that the dollars were spirited across
from New York in the shape of bank checks
and bills of exchange They entered, as it were,
like a thief in the night, and we saw them not
Yet each dollar is reckoned against us, at one
hundred cents, all the same. Az and worse
than all each dollar received in paper is to be
repaid to the foreign crcditor-princpal as well
as ntcrest-not in paper-lor American bank
notes suit not him-but in the solid metal, in
gold and silver ITSELF We owe. and must pay
or break the faith of the State, to the public
creditors of Indiana. more haa TWENTY Tons Of
silrer gear, for INTEREST aione.
Answer me, my fellow citizens. how happens
IT,
murmur or rcmonstrance, merely because the
evidence of these public doings was not pre-
scented tangibly to our senses How happens
it, that seeing, or not seeing, the money pass
before us has made all tins difference The
evidence of the deeds done was ALWAYS there
the reports were yearly made the laws were
regularly printed; but the error was that We
passed these carccssy by The fatal error was,
that We did not enquire enough, reflect enough,
examine enough, INTO the doings of our agents
Of those, whom had elected TO make laws for
US We neglected our own affairs and il
they now running to rum, whom have We TO
blame but ourselves
And here some one, perhaps will ask &" To
what purpose this long statement now !; The
money has been borrowed and lost, and there
Is an end of it. Can we recall the past Then
why repeat, what we all lament, but cannot help
; now -
Why repeat it Because review of the
past NAV make us more wise and prudent in the
f future Because though there are some evils we
cannot recall or amend, there are others wc can.
, And this brings me to the more immediate OBJ
Icct of this meeting.
This volume contains the General Laws
passed Mt the last session of the Legislature
Many of those present, know, have never seen
them for II Is hardly two months since they
sufficient faith in the unerrng wisdom Of the
men who made these laws, to pass them by un-
examined Have your Legislators shown
themselves in Times past intaliiblc. that YOU
can trust them, bhudiold, now Or do YOU
think, that those who have bankruptcd the State
f require looking after -
| see the answer written on your countc-
f nances You will not trust them. Let Us then
, examine their acts.
The principal general laws passed at the las
! session are those which compose a new system
of taxation, partly derived from the statute boob
, of OHIO but retaining still a portion of our ole
system, clumsy enough dove-taiIed into the
. new.
The Board doing County business is required
TO appoint an Appraiser, with an assistant IN cast
r of sickness or disability, who is to value undel
the usual oath OF Office the real estate OF the
] County setting down, in separate columns
his estimate of the land and ofthe Improvement,
e thereon. He reports to the County auditor
! and Board consisting of the said auditor ano
a appraiser, together with the members OF tho
County Court, meet at the County Seat on tn,
y third Monday in November, to hear any com
il plants relative to the appraisal. This board ha
4 also the power to equaizc the appraisers val
. uation, by adding to, or taking from, any of them
. The appraiscment, thus revised, Is reported b.
d the County Auditor to the Auditor of State.
j, Besides the appraiser, a County assessor !
n elected by the people, to serve for two years
He also is to appraise all improvements OH lam
. or townlots as well as all the personal propcrt
l. owned in his county. lie Is likewise to apprais
d the additional lands which may, from year I
r year become subject TO taxation but not,
" would seem, the lands originally valued by tn
d appraiser And he, like the appraiser, report
II to the County auditor.
d la addition to all this, body of men eley
If en- in number. were appointed last session b
h the Legislature, and required to meet on the 1t
y Monday in next January at Indianapolis. They
u NTH the Auditor of State, compose what
e called the STATE BOARD or EQUM.lXA
IS TON. To them are submitted the valuation
d of lands and Improvements from each county
d as furnished by the County auditors 20 the stat
/ Auditor. And they empowered TO add 10
n deduct irom the valuations of real estate i
l. each County, ANY PER CENTAGE THEN
e PLEASE, with this restriction only, that the
n shall not lessen the total valuation of the state
N Their decision final and remains in fore
IS rs long as the law lasts, without alteration O
O amendment, except, indeed, that by bunglm
= provision in the appraisement law Section .
?. the county board is TO meet on the first Nlonda
in June, and NAV then increase bat cannot les
lie sen, the value of the Improvements as fixed b
r. the State Board
re The appraisers assessors, member, OF TN
Of County hoard Of equalization. and members
IL If rot,alfzaftoD each reCrlI