The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-21

ton, TO taxation, as soon as its net in
come shouId exceed six per cent. on
ito c,,pital invested and also to all of
her citizens the right of riding and
transporting, as cheaply per mile, as
citizens of ohio or other States. She
would have done her own citizens great
injnstice if she had not secured them
This right. Taking the figures then, as
you have given them-and, doubtless,
correctly-that the average net income
of the Company for the last three years,
has been rising % per cent, and for the
last nine years, rising l6 per cent, on
the luhOJe capital invested-pray tell
me where there can be any question,
at all to be compromised ? Cannot any
tax payer in the State ask for compTO-
mise and release with as much grace
and show of equity as this mammoth
Company presumes to ask it? It
strikes me he can. The facts as stated
by Mr.. King, their auditor, for the pur-
pose of raising an equity in their favor,
seems to me to make the other way.
Their road from Baltimore to Harper's
Ferry would hardly pay for the oil and
fuel, If it had stopped there, and had
not an extension over our territory to
the coal fields and the Ohio river and
so will the fact that the Company have
invested s., IA, 430 OS in the North
Western Virginia Railroads. Com
pany organized under "a distinct and
independent charter from Virginia,
dated February IA, ISL years after
the act in question was passed-and
which investment, he says, is unpro-
ductive. Still, this amount, | infer,
| forms u part of the COmpany's aggre-
gate capital invested, on the whole of
which it has received the large net
profit before stated, Notwithstanding
the unproductive investment in the
North Western Road. Deduct the un-
| productive amount from the aggregate
| investment and the remainder which
has been expended on the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, the only Company
or Road that West Virginia, in view of
| the legislation aforesaid of the mother
| State, can have any concern with-and
| the net income would obviously have
| been much larger. The language of the
acts making the grant, with their dates,
| makes it absolutely certain that the OBJ
] legation to pay taxes arose whenever
| the net income of that Road, taken as
a i1hole, exceeded 8 per cent, on the
money invested in that Road. The OBJ
/ legation then to pay taxes is as clearly
attached to that Company as to myself
or any other citiZen-and what
release? 1 ask for the poGeT'
| in the Legislature to do it2 The moth
ar State Legislature possessed such n
power, and we all know, to oursOrrow,
| how she abused it. If the majority in
the Convention that framed the Consti-
tuition, had any ii xed determination, it
was to put an end to that enormous
evil and fraud, and make taxation
\ cqItuL. The first section of the eighth
article of that instrument did the work;
/ and the particular enumeration of the
/ kind OF property in the last clause of
that section, that the Legislature may,
| in its discretion, exempt from tuxation.
] Tlnur1Ny liDNilG rho 1nsyialafiH-a -
| thesubjects therein enumerated-which
are property used for educational, lit
erary, scientific, religious or charitable
purposes, and public property" hard
| ly think this mammoth corporation
will attempt to bring itself within eli
Their of these: and still it would be
scarcely less absurd and presumptuous
than the grounds they have put forth.
| The contemplate subterfuge heretofore
| practiced, i'll attempting to avoid the
manifest spirit and meaning of this
section of the Constitution, by first
making an equal and just assessment,
ana then going 10 IrOTE and releasing
/ certain frrOrite parties from payment of
tGrcs, teaviHy the burden still on others,
/ Will not long be tolerated or submitted
TO by II just and Intelligent people. OF
| course, all errors that occur in making
Ne assessment, are correctable. II is
difficult to see how the granting of any
rights withheld by this company to citi-
zens living along the road, can give the
Legislature a power, which the Consti-
tuition in express terms denies. If
any OF our citizens are being wronged
by the company, it is the duty of the
State through her Legislature and
Courts to provide them relief, by Conf
StitWtioHdE means, which she clearly pos
sesses.
don't believe, therefore, that our
Legislature will feel itself called upon,
or justified, in giving much OF its lime
to Il claim so utterly groundless and so
clearly beyondits power-though press
ed again, as L saw it last winter, with
all the appliances usual on such occa-
sions and by such company. The on
| ly question, it seems to me is, have the
authorities of West Virginia the courage
and nerve to assess and collect this Just
tax off this rich corporation? If not,
our people and the world should know
/ II. Respectfully, G.P.
/ JANUARY 10, 1867.