The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1862-05-16

.StstadLes-Address TO the PeopEe--ffes
/ olutions, dc.
Quite gathering Of tax payers, the
s bone and sinew Of Milwaukee. assembled
| AT Turner's Hall in Fourth st., in that city
! on the Sd inst, in accordance with the
call for such meeting, published in the
: city papers.
On motion Of Francis Huebschrnann
Clinton W alworth was chosen as chairman
for the evening.
! Mr.. Walworth made few remarks on
taking the chair, explaining the object oi
/ the meeting, that it was to devise some
method for bringing about system Of uni
versal and uniform taxation, that the war
into which We had been precipitated wo'd
be such heavy burden that it was Jus,
: and necessary that none should escape bis
proportion Of the burden, that the propos
+ ed tax bill Of Congress imposed the tax
+ per capita, which put Wisconsin on a par
r with New York City, whereas the latter
B possesses value worth ten or twenty times
= as much as all the values in Wisconsin.
r &c. He suggested that while we could
lot, perhaps, Influence Congress, we could
: through our Legislature, regulate our
State Constitution and laws, so as to make
+ taxation more uniform.
| The following gentlemen were chosen
/ Vice Presidents: First Ward. Chr. Prus
ser; Second Ward, Je.per Vliet; Third
Ward. Thos. Keogh; Fourth Ward, Al
. exander Mitchell Fifth Ward. John Rose
! beck Sixth Ward, w X Wilson: Sew
enth Ward, Dr. JAS. johnson; Eighth
, Ward, Jno. L. Burnham Ninth Ward,
A c. Cron
2 Mr. Boden, Of the .SseBote, was chosen as
Secretary.
It was moved and carried that a com
mittes Of five be appointed to draft resolu
tions and prsoare an address to the people
Of the State.
The committee consisted of Messrs Jo-
siah A Noonan, Francis Huebschman, ].
H. Tweedy, L. Schmidtner and John Ser
comb. who Immediately retired to an ad-
joining room TO consult together.
James S. Brown having been called up
on for a speech, came forward and said
that he feared the Importance Of the ques
tion involved was but little appreciated, or
there would have been a larger meeting
present TO night. We are now for the
first time to try what other nations have
long since tried, that of using, wearing.
eating and drinking taxed articles As in
other countries, our food, clothes, beyer-
ages, &c, are now all TO be taxed
So far as the Government Of the United
States is concerned, we in this little gath>
ering, can perhaps have bu. little influence
but we can affect our own State Legis-
latures and State laws We may find that
the shrewdness Of Eastern capital NAV get
the start of US. and The burden of the Ma
tonal tax may fall more heavily upon US,
because we may have forgotten to protect
ourselves, while laboring to protect the
government Experience shows that the
portion of the community who escape tax
alton are they who always favor expendi-
lures and extravagaBce Have you not
ALWAYS found it so! The Constitution has
declared that taxation shall be uniform -
Take Railroad Company do YOU think
they have no need of Government protec-
tlon' Look At the courts and see what
proportion Of the expeuse Of our State GOV
eminent Is due to Railroad Companies -
On what principle should they be exempt
from taxation? In accerlance with the
spirit If the Constitution the Supreme
Court (of which many Of YOU know am
no verv great friendly have declared that
thernle of taya'on must be uniform, and
all men bear the hurien equally But un
fortunately there are two and perhaps
three classes of men in the way One
class is directly interested in exemption,
since they are exempted another though
not directly interested, still take advan-
tage Of techniraIities Of law to escape tax,
alton; still another consists of the hang
eIs-on who enjoy the petty patronage Of
railroads and other corporations.
We cannot atfor to neglect public in
terests We could DO so, perhaps. when
we were all young and growing rich. But
now taxation is matter Of life AMI death
TO US, and We Dust feel that we have a per
soraI interest in government drew up
last winter a bill to re-assess the city taxes
from 55 to SO inclusive, those wears hav
ing been declared Illegal. | heard then.
and have since. from able LAWYERS. that
there cant be a re assessment. | have
seen politicians panderng to that feeling
tell you there can be re-levv. The
constitution contains no provisions agan-
levying tax this year where there was
neglect last year We should call on the
Legislature to see that those taxes are re.
levied. that the rule of the constitution a:
TO uniformity is carried out, and that al
bodies are made to feel they have an inter
est in good government by being taxed
tie same as individuals
II, l.. Palmer came forward, on beino
called for. and said he was present as
mere spectator, and had come because ht
felt anxious TO hear whatever NAV be sale
with reference 10 the taxes which the Su-
preme Court had declared void. Their.
might be an impropriety in his giving hi
views on the subject since he happened t,
he on the Committee which j. TO provid,
for a re-leyv Of taxes for the wears name,
and to provide for future assessments =
Since the adjournment of the Legislature
the Committee has been more or less il
consultation, and they have commenced
bill TO carry out the object Of their con
suitatiopS 0fcourse he was not author