Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1849-02-01
reading, AMI referred 10 CO mit,ee on Judici-
AIRY.
Adjourned.

4 SENATE. Mr. Potter introduced bill in rlla
/ ton Ia the next Court of Common Pleas in tn
county of Kent read and i'd On The table
blll IN amendment of the act regulating tn
/ asst ssing and cole ting OF taxes. Recon-
I mcnded by The commitiee With amend. d.nenl
and concured.
4 Adjourned TO 10 A. Nj. tomorrow.
\ llousg.-The Estimate bill was taken up.
I MIR. Whipple said that he wished the bil
amended by requiring every person to make
! schedule under oath other personal property
| lie had been told and believed it that lher,
were some houses in this city whose furulur,
cos, S25 900, and he wanted TO reach th
kind of property with tax. IL a man refused
to make a schedule he would impose penal
!. ~ upon him.
\ Mr. Ames said that there was penalty al
ready i'nposed by law, and that was 10 cave
1 the assessment of such new taxes in the die
lcretion of the assessors. And yet men are
\ rtaxed now who would not 90 to the asses
sors and have it reduced. Some wouli moi
do II because they ere taxed a few dollars
only toe much, aud others would not expose
/ the prurien. cur Osliy OF every one all their
financial and personal affairs as for people in
this city having personal property in the shape
of furniture in their houses to tie amount OF
20 or 25 900 dollars he did not believe one
word OF it. lie pretended to know as much
about the furniture of the citizens of this town
as the gentleman from Coventry, and yet he
did not believe that any ones furniture amount.
ed 10 $1,000 or over. lie thought that the
gentleman from Coventry could find some eth
or motion for tn action OF his 81 of the
House Than to prevent this kind of property
from being taxed.
! MIR. Uidden-We have in Rhode Island
men solvent to-day and nsolvent to- morrow. =.
rich one moment and poor the next, and he be-
lieved this measure was holding out to men
'he grea est nducement To commit perjury
Men who were in filling circumstances, and
that fact known only to themselves would
not e likely to come forward and under oath
dec!ard it, Mr.. III. did not believe that any
such law exists on any statute book in New
England. Besides the law would be perfectly
imprac tcable.
! MIR. Elisha Watson moved that sect on be
added To the bill requiring assessors TO tax
real estate, and that person having the fee
in him should be taxed for only his interest in
The fee, and to tax tho mortgagee of such an
estate 10 the amount Of his mortgage.
M Iii den said that a case like this m ght
occur. A man Ii, ing in this State and own.
il to person living Ogt of the State for It's
whole value, for the purpose ofralsing money
in his business. lie owns the farm, and is
worth just as much as ever, the farm being
only mor,gaged for security for money borrow
ed ; aud yet, according to the plan of the gen
tleman from Kingston, the whole farm would
go ultaYed. Ii such law should be passed
he had no doubt but t. at one tn rd Of the real
IN aftb ic itv t1u
Mr.. Bar. er had thought Of this difficulty for
years past, but had been unable to devise any
remedy. lie believed that the bill should no,
be embarrassed with this clause, and he should
vote against t.
Mr. Brown said that there did not seem to
be enough ingenuity in any lawyer to find any
means to give farmer any thing when hc
asks it. As for farmers mor,gaging their
farms TO persons out oi the State, he did not
believe a word oft.
| Instead of this, he did know Of farmers out
of this State mor,gaging their lands TO farmers
in Rhode lslend.
! But among every thing that had been said
about raising a tax, not word had been said
about rerenching our expenses. Mr.. Brown
went into comparison between the expenses
OF tho State of Indiana, and those of Rhode
Island. Mr.. l.. said that he had knows the
political character of this Stale changed and a
party turned out Of power on account Of ex-
travagaace, and yet the whole amount of the
extra agancc charged was only S25 Mr.. B.
said that since he had inquired into the subject
he had iounl that there were looking g assess
in houses in tn city that cost $1,000 and if
the looking asses cost SO much, what must
have heen the cost of the other portions Of the
furniture lie was far taxing it.
Mr.. Whipple sust lined the motion in some
remarks not heard by the reporter.
MI Ames said that he was not seeking to
impose heavy burthens upon the towns. The
amendment would op rate favorably for the
city, because, as every one knew, there were
ten mortgages in the city to one i'll the count
Try, and it would operate injuriously to the
country by increasing the quo ia of taxes. II
was be ause he saw this unjust inequality that
he opposed the amendment.
The amendment was lost.
The question being on the final passage o
the bill Mr.. Whipple said that standing almost
alone in defence OF the landed interest. he was
OBJ igel to speak often on the bill. For twenty
one years past this State has gone along with
out direct tax. The State had'pa SD through
many vicissiludes il that time, but the time had
The General Treasurer reports the annual
deficiency in the Treasury at bttween ten and
twelve thousand dollars.
Mr. lIu,chins said ,ha, the report stated the
deficiency to be Sl3,S23
Mr.. Whipple said that, as was well known,
he had been in favor of raising a tax by taxing
the privileges Of certain corporations. II a
direct tax is laid now, a greater one VIII be
laid by and by,-A Court House, costing
500, 900, mus, be built, it is said, and every
kind of extravaganza will be run into. He
called upon the representatives of the farmin!
interests of the State to attend to their own
interest. Why, look at the popuous towns in
this House. l.o5k at Providence, Newport,
Warren, Bristol-every one OF their represen-
tatives will 90 for direct tax. There was
no need of such tax, no necessity for 1t, and
he warned gentlemen to look out for the results
of this law You wi raise a storm about you
tina, Will shake The foundations Of your po i,lcal
power.
The bank capitol is continually increasing,
and that is conclusive evidence that the banks
are not over taxed. Has any bank given up
aha ~ brro 10