The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-07-11
The Governor and the Taxeg,

Mr.. EDITOR: The man who has been
elevated ~ by the votes OF seventy or
eighty thousand ignorant negroes to the
position of Governor of this State, came
ont, in your paper OF the 9Th, with an
article in reply to . note previously aa-
dressed to him by three of the Taxpayers
OF Columbia. in which he makes weak
effort to justify the course of his State
Board OF Equalization in nearly doubling
the value of the taxable property of the
State. His first ground of excuse is the
ignorance, which he oharacterizes by the
milder term inerperience, of the assessors
Of the taxablefproperty of the State.
Now, II ignorant end unsuitable men
were appointed to assess the property,
who is responsible for their appointment?
Why. Robert X. Scott, and he alone; for
it was he who appointed them, and it
was his duty to know that man was
competent before appointing him to IN
Office OF 80 much Importance. The writer
of this article happens to know that in
many instances competent men were re-
commended to him Ivy the Representa-
tives to the Legislature from various
Counties, and that he paid no more at
tention to their recommendations than
he would have paid to the barking Of
dog. Now. the presumption is fair
one, that these Representatives. knew
better than did his Excellency, who, of
the citizens of their Counties, were pro-
perly qualified for the discharge of the
duties of the Office of assessor Why,
then, did he not give some heed to their
recommendations? Simply, because these
Representatives, who made the recon-
mendations, were Democrats, and repre-,
sented achite constituency, and there
were in their Counties few contemplate
scalawags, who had to be fed from the
public crib, no matter whether they we're
qualified for an Office or not; and SO they
were appointed to tho Offices for which
they possessed, according to Gov. SCOTS
own showing, no qualification. The Co.
vernon voucEsafes, in his article, the in
formation that the bonds of the State
have risen in value, in comparatively
short period, from 25 cents to 73 cents on
the dollar. But there is one point, on
which he makes no revelation, on which
some of the taxpayers would like to have
little light, merely to crafty an inno-
cent curiosity; and that is, how many
thousands of dollars worth of these State
bonds r. K. Scott, the carpet-bag stock
jobber, bought while they were down to
% cents, about the payment of which
Governor Scott is so very solicitous, and
expresses SO much patriotic determina-
ton, now that they have so greatly ap-
preciated in value. Perhaps revelation
on this point might tend to enlighten us
little as to the cause of Gov. SCOTS
great anxiety to have the property of the
State assessed at its maximum value.
Rut the Goverpor coano 70 houa bo
come somewhat inflated with the idea
which gave rise to q somewhat famous
declaration by one who had rather sud-
denly attained to a position of eminence:
II am the State" He seems very con-
fident that he has all the trumps in his
own hand, inasmuch as he proceeds, in
very dogmatic manner, to inform us how
he intends to operate the machinery by
which to squeeze the taxes out of rs.
He hints, by way of inducing the eels to
lie still and be skinned quietly, that the
operation may become much more pain
full, should they happen to squirm little
under the in6iction. He says lit may
be that repressive measures of tho cha
racter alluded to, should there be ne
cessity of resorting to them, will add
largely to the burdens of the taxpayers,
and be productive of agitation and ex-
citement. BY way of administering q
counter anodyne to the Governors
nerves, we would merely suggest to him
that. should he attempt, through the
machinery of a corrupt and venal Legis-
lature, to substitute his dictum for law,
in order to torture the already over-bur-
dened taxpayers of this impoverished
land into q compliance with his avari-
cious designs, and thus produce "agita-
tion and excitement" the tendency of
such couree might possibly be, instead
of running our State bonds, by the 1st
of January, up practically to par" to
run them down to twenty-five cents, or
even less, on the dollar. "Let us have
peace. TAXPAYER.
Jon OFFIcE.-The Phosnir Job Office
is ,rnnnrol 70 oxnnnin nuo..- nI.lo &c