Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-09-21
The Whig ON Finances, Bank Taxa
& tom and the CrOwbaF Law.

ing the merits of the real question in issue that of
Bank taxation, but on the subject of finances it
assumes to be very much at home. 1t does not,
however, attempt to deny the facts in article
this subject, but endeavors to breaksthe force of
them by claiming that "t is neither fair nor hon
est to charge the Wings with being in power in
1851 although John Woods was Auditor, for the
Legislature was strongly Locofoco. 1t will be
news undoubedly,t ito readers as we'll as those of
the Wing to learn that tho Legislature of 1851,
which elected B. F. Wade U. S. Senator, was
in the hands of the Democrats.
1t is an old adage that t'fgures will not lie
but in this instance the figures of the Wing are
grossly deceptive. It gives table showing the
amount of taxes collected each year from 1847 to
1862 in order to show that the taxes have been
increased under Democratic rule, but in this table
the State, county and township taxes mixedup
in one common tumble, so that it is impossible to
show to whom the increase is chargeable, when
fair exhibit of the matter will show that it orig
mates mainly in the townships themselves, and is
a matter entirely beyond the control of the
thorties of the State or county. sez
To show how totally unreliable and unfair are
the figures of the Wing let us take single exam
the whole, for we have neither time or room to
take up each item and each year and follow them
through in the same manner. The Wing repre-
sents the countys proportion of the taxes collect
ed in 1851 as being $s27,7a2 80, when IN fact but
$1s,4O4 96 was levied by the Commissioners.
$4,000 90 of this amount was on account of the
additional fund for school purposes for that year,
and $3,7l6 81 was levied to pay to the State the
remainder of the county S proportion of the Sur
plus Revenue Fund, loaned by the State to the
county long years before. In order to make up
the ss27,732 80 quoted by the Wing as being the
county's proportion of the tax collected in 1851,
is included the township and school funds levied
by the townships themselves and over which the
county authorities had no control further than to
collect and pay over to township treasurers. And
yet the Wing charges the whole over to the coun-
ty. This example will serve to show how little
its figures to be relied on.
And again, the Wing charges that the Auditor
and Treasurer received in 1880 and Isl, a larger
amount than for any previous year; that the fees
of the Auditor and Treasurer are regulated and
fixed by law, and the pay depends upon the
amount of labor performed, and cannot be chang
ed but by the Legislature The Prosecuting At
torney received in 1852 says rhe Wing $500, but
the Wing is aware that this the pay of 1852
and 1853 included with the exception Of $1O0, yet
due him.
In relation to the tax law and the tax on the
the Ravenna Bank, the law of 1851, taxed Banks
upon their Capital and undivided profits only
But the new Constitution provides that the rule of
taxation shall be uniform, that the banks should
be taxed as the people are taxed upon their Cap
atal and profits but upon their PROPERTY, the
Legislature of 1852, in accordance with the
Constitution, passed law taxing all PROPER
rT employed in banking .'with view to prof
ft," and that is the reason why the tax of the
Ravenna Bank is increased from $500 to $4,000
or nearly. Tax the farmer upon his profits m ere
ly and the difference in his favor would be re-
markable, as the law of 1851 was for the Banks.
Now the Wing is aware that there a
law by which the people were taxed upon their
CAPITAL barely, but they have always been taxed
upon their PROPERTY, and this is what the De-
mocracy require of the Banks, and that for which
the law of 1852 provides. The law of 1851 did
no such thing, neither was that law passed by
Democratic Legislature, but by the Legislature of
1851, which elected B. F. Wade, U. S. Senator,
and it was passed with view to forestall the c.
ton of the Constitutional Convention, then in
session, upon this subject.
| In place of any observations of our own upon
the remarks of the Wing on the subject of the
F"Crowbar Law we publish the following article
from the Statesman, to which we invite the atten-
ton of our readers, and especially that of our
neghbor of the Wing, ..,....
CRowBAR LAws.-To those who watched the
growth of corporations and the gradual increase
of their pretensions in our own and other lands
the observation is old one, that daily and hour
priuiIeges asked by them aohich aoouzd be
sidered IN an individual aep0rdonabe presumption.
If this askamg had not SO frequently been follow
ed with recieUipg, corporations would never have
become so odious in the eyes of Democratic peo-
pie. But thank heaven, at last the eve of cor !
poration supremacy has rapidly waned. They
are all coming down to the level of the same
privileges it is treeman's lot, under our well Or
dered institutions, to enjoy and no more.
If anything could demonstrate the truth of the
first remark we have made, it is the candor of the
Banks of Ohio and their hangers-on in regard to
the croa0bar law of last winters Legislature. It
is said that the ancients had proverb that whom
the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad
How far on the process of self-destruction the
Ohio banks have gone, we do not pretend to dis
Germ, but to the madness is added the blindness of
starless midnight. 1t is creeping over the fac
ulties of the bank leaders.
1t is melancholy to think that bank NAV be
reduced to the level of others in community, so
that it will be in enjoyment of no more privileges
than ourselves and our neighbors;-but it is GER
tainly very fair We wish to present this view
of the subject. -
Let US suppose that JOHN JONES is merchant,
1hni 10 favn ION all hoI, in