Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1855-08-17
From the Mansfield Herald.
TAXES-WHO is RESPONSIRLE
The StateSm 1nShip OF the Present
Stnfa Adminisfr.lffnn,

AAe StStcSuA slA~tlAp Ot the PFcSCu
v state administration.
That our taxes are enormous, increasing
crushing, Ia their amount and weight, tn
e people need not be told. We know al
this because we feel il. That the part
nov 10 power should be held responsible
Tor this, would seem 10 be Just and proper
because that party has had the entire con
troll Of the State Administration, in all it
departments, Executive, Legislative, ant
Judicial, for the last six years, unchecked
by any other party whatsoever. Our en-
tire State Government, Constitution anC
all, is the creation of the party in power
and 1t has had exclusive control and direc
tion over il.
. But, attempts are made to throw of thu
responsibility FOR the burdens under which
We groan from the shoulders of the Stat,
Administration upon the local municipa
bodies Of The State--the county, township
city and village corporations.
Now, admitting, for the sake of the ar
gument, that much of the burden of oul
taxes is due to the action Of these loca
bodies, the question comes up legitimately
in reply-whose Legislation organized these
local bodies ?-who clothed them with the
power thus to crush US by taxation? VIII,
neglected. in their organization, to provide
checks and balances which would prevent
such abuse of power as we now see, ant
above all, feelf And the answer is-tht
slave-Democracy! They made the Con
stitution, and they are the authors of al
Legislation under it. This plea then by
which the State Administration seek t.
take refuge behind the municipal bodie,
is "bad on demurrer" for it is the pareu
of that very ili-begotten offspring which i
now attempts to make the scape-goat of it
sins.
But, aside from all this. we aver, ant
will prove by its own official documents
that the State administration has burdened
US with an enormous and wholly unneces
sary and unwise State tax-!StGts tar prop
er, and with which the local municipal au,
thoriIies have nothing 20 do. And now fol
the proof. Article s, Section z, of the
Constitution is as follows:
''The faith ofthe State being pledged
for the payment Of the public debt, in or.
der 10 provide therefor, there shall be ere.
ated sinking fund. which shall be sufi-
cient to pay the aceruing interest on such
debt, aud. annually to reduce the principal
thereof by sum not less than one hund-
red thousand dollars, increased yearly. and
each and every year, By compromising. al
the rate of sir per cent per annuHs The
said sinking fund shall consist Of the net
annual income of the public works and
stocks owned by the State, Of any other
funds or resources tha: are, or may be,
provided by law, and Of such further sum,
to be raised by taxation, as may be requir-
ed for the purposes aforesaid"
With this section of the Constitution we
have no quarrel We approve of it; and
so, We believe, do the entire people of the
State. BY its operation, in conjunction
with another clause in the same instru-
ment prohibiting the contracting of any
further State debt, the credit of the State
is placed on an impregnable foundation
and. ifthe minimun fixed by it were not
foolishly and recklessly oFerleaped, it would
s6cCuI6 Tue GAtilg uiSHHlenL vi tAe eullIS iS
deemable debt Of the State within reas-
enable period, and by a process so gradual
as to be scarcely felt-the increase of pay
men;s each year just fairly keeping pace
with the increase Of the public wealth.
This, evidently, is what the trainers of that
instrument designed; and this is what the
State administration, as we shall see, has,
with idiotic fatuity, disregarded
The new Constitution took effect the
FIRST day Of September, 1851, and the year
. 1852, therefore, was the first year over
which the above quoted constitutional pro-
vision, in reference to taxation for the pnr-
pose Of a sinking fund, would be extended.
II then the State Administration had done
what the Constitution required it to do to
wards raising funds to be paid on the prin-
cipal of the State debt and had stopped
there, there would have been, and would
be raised BY taxation for that purpose: