Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1851-01-09

extent--alreaoy lndicated-oi ueciar-
ing tina, the Legislature has not the con.
sti,utional power TO levy any tax. by
way Of granting a license or special
privilege to any person to exercise any
business or calling whatever. The
State, in the exercise ofone Of its high
est prerogaiives, can tax any and every
thing not prohibited to i, by the con.
stilulion of the U. States, the compact
Of this State with the general govern.
ment, or the constitution Of Missouri.
The only limitation upon this power by
the constitution Of this State is, tina,
all property subject 10 tax, shall be
taxed in proportion 10 its value. This
does no, prohibi, the legislature from
saying wha, property shall be subject
to taxation, and all property not thus
designated will be exempt.
This clause in the constitution,
therefore. only operates MS limitation
upon the power of the legislature, to
the extent tina, when property is by
law made subjrc, to taxation, is to be
taxed according to its value, and the
Legislature may rightful'y resort 10
any other means of raising revenue,
which does not conc in conflict with
the other restraints upon legislative
power, to which have referred.
leave it for the legislature 10 deter.
mine as to the oppressive character of
the law as it now stands. My convic.
tons lead Inc TO the opinion, that if
should be determined 10 let the law re.
main, and abide the decision Of the
couri,,ha, it should be greatly modified.
The striking injustice and oppressive
character Of the law, will be made ap.
parent when you examine the table OF
licenses prepared by the Auditor,
which shows its operation.
On the LIST October, ls4S, there was
a balance in the treasury Of the three
per cent fund Of SIS 10 cents, since
, then, and up 10 ist Of Oct, 1850 there
: has been received into the treasury
$l6,140, all Of which has been appor.
toned among the counties according
to law.
There have been paid into the treas
, ury since the LIST Ocl. 1913, and up to
the lsl of October, 1850, of the "lnter-
nal improvement, Fund.-" $l39,s0l 6s;
oflhis amour, Sl2O,46l AZ have been
J paid from the Savannah land office: the
; balance from the other three Offices
! There remains of that amount, not YET
: apporlioned, and distributed among
: the counties, $2I, 81.
The Register of each land Office is
required by law to make n quarterly
: report of lands sold a, his office 10 the
: Register Of Lands q, the city of JEFF
ferson, describing The lands by ranges
!. townships, sections, parts of sections
! by whom entered, and the amount paid
, for the same. This important duty has
not been performed by Jas. ii. Oar.
) Iing,on, Register Of the Stale Land
Office at Chillicolhe, since the LIST Oct,
1910, up 10 which time the last report
was made.
am not in possession Of the reasons
for the neglec, of So important a duty.
The Register Of Lands is required 10
record this report in a book to be kept
for that purpose, and in this way, con-
slilu,es an important link in the chain
Of title 10 the purchasers. From this
report, also, The only evidence is derived
by which The Auditor is 10 charge the
Receiver with the amount ofmoney re.
ceived by him a, the State land office,
and when thus charged, he can only
have a credit on the books of the Au.
ditor, by paying the amount into the
State treasury. By failure of these re-
ports, this important check upon the
Receiver at Chilico,he has been en-.
tirely lost. The known integrity ofthe
Receiver, affords good ground 10 believe
that there has, as yet, been no pecu-
mary loss TO the State on account of
this neglect. He has regularly come
forward and made his quarterly pay.
ments at The treasury of the amount
which he reported as due, and for
which the Treasurer gave him a re-.
ccipt, upon the production of which TO
the Auditor, the Treasurer was charged
with the amount. The Register Of
this land office has, also, for more than
twelve months failed 10 send up to the
office of Secretary of State, or make
quarterly returns Of the certificates
showing the purchasers of those lands:
consequently no patents have been is
sued for lands sold within that time in
this district; nor can the purchasers of
these lands obtain their patents until
this duty of the Register is performed.
Steps should be taken to have the quar-
terly reports from this office sent up to
the Register of Lands. and the Audi
tor should. he invested with power to
settle and square the accounts Of the
Receiver with these reports, and also
that the certificates should be forwar-
ded TO the Secretary of State, in order