The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-29
Vaxing Pro-

THERE was a question decided on Monday
last in the Supreme Court, by Justice WooD-
WARD, which it seems hard to see bow any
clear-headed lawyer could have had the least
doubt about. But lawyers bring suits some
times which, for their own credit and the in
terests OF their clients, they should never con-
sent to bring at all, and this fact is one of the
opprobriums of the profession. The first
duty of an honest counsellor is to advise his
client as to the real character Of his cause,
and if it be one which has no legal merit in
it, and which he clearly cannot possibly pro-
secute successfully, he should tell him so and
decline to undertake it. If this course were
more frequently pursued there would be
much less purely vexatious litigation, which
is always injurious to the litigant par
ties, discredtabIe to the bar, and profta-
BILE only to attorneys who are either too igno-
rant to know, or too venal to do, what is
strictly and obviously right.
The case to which we have referred was
that of "Maltby against the Reading and Co.
lumba Railroad Company" There were
three points raised, as to two Of which the
attorneys for the plaintiff may have had some
doubt, and this circumstance only can excuse
them for having instituted the proceedings
The third and main point was so clear in
respect Of the principle on which the learned
Judge decided it, as to have needed no argu-
ment to make it clearer to legal mind. 1t
involved only the question of the right of
State to tax the personal property of nom
residents "for aiding the revenues of the
State"
Judge WOODWARD, with his usual per-
spicuity of statement and iorce of reasoning,
probably settled the question for all future
time, in this Commonwealth at least.
He said that "where the property taxed
is within the jurisdiction and enjoys the pro-
lection Of the State Government, it is Justly
taxable, and it is of no moment that the
owner, who is required to pay the taxes, resides
elsewhere" He then proceeds, in explanation
of that principle, to say:-"The duties of
sovereign and subject are reciprocal. and any
person who is protected by Government in
his person or property may be compelled to
pay for that protection. This principle of
taxation as the correlative of protection, per-
fectly just in itself, is as applicable to a nom
resident as to resident owner, because civil
government is essential to give value to any
form of property without regard to the owner
ship, and taxation is indispensable to civil
government"
This is sound common sense as we'll as
sound law; and it is to be hoped that no
doubt hitherto entertained by our State su-
thorities as to the liability to taxation of such
estate Of non-residents as lies within our juris-
dction, has operated to exempt it from bear
ing its tair share OF the revenue raised for the
support of the State Government. It. is, of
course, notorious that large amounts of real
and personal property situate within the bor-
ders of Pennsylvania are owned by citizens
of other States of the Union, and also by
citizens of foreign countries and it would be
eminenLly unjust to make our own people
contribute to the support of the State Gov
ernment in consideration of the protection it
affords their rights of property, and yet ex-
empt aliens, who to the extent that they own
property within our limits, enjoy equally the
benefit for which resident proprietors are
taxed.
1t is nevertheless true that millions of dol
lars worth of personal property in this State,
owned by persons domiciled beyond it, enjoys
practically, if not legally, immunity from
taxation. The reason given for this fact is
that the property, being invisible or intangi-
BILE, cannot be reached by the tax collectors,
though there is good ground to believe that
much effort is not made to trace it up and
bring it forth from its hiding places. Be all
this as it may, however, there can be no doubt
that the effect of allowing so vast sum of in
terest-paying investments, in the form ofstocks,
bonds, and the like, to escape their proper
share of the burden of taxation, is to rob the
State treasury, and also to impose greater
rate of taxation on our own citizens, who are
made to pay for the protection Of their own
property and that of foreigners into the bar
gain. Now, therefore, that the Supreme Court
has determined that non-residents owning
personal estate in Pennsylvania are liable to
taxation in proportion to the assessed value
of that estate, some effectual method of reach
ing it for that purpose should be devised by
the Legislature, and those appointed to col
lect the taxes should take special care to
faithfully execute all such measures when
adopted.
The New Jersey SenatOrshiD.