Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1869-05-24
THE rAy-ADyERTI~ENENr

Elsewhere will be found a Communication
from a citizen complain ing of what he terms
the s-extcrtions" practieed upon taxpayers
under the present system of adyertIsi ng the
tax-list. He saws that his house and LOT were
advertised 10 be sold for taxes; S1O73 being the
amount due, and that the bill was swelled to
>z5.7n by the advertisement. The item of
Sle97 for advertising a tax of sos he thinks
pretty steep and he doubts the legality of the
whole thing. We still hold TO the opinion
heretofore expressed by us that there is no
doubt Of the legality of the transaetion-we
mean the publication of the tax-list advertise
rer'.Or portion clifton supplementary sheets
Itvould efectits legality seriously. however, If
Itcould be proven that the supplementary sheets
were not delivered to the subscribers. In the
case of the Aldermens committee in vestigation
We hear that some Of the subscribers TO the pa
per testified that they did not get the supple
ent but to Offset this the carriers testified that
they delivered it. and the committee held thst
the testimony Of the latter ought TO rule as be-
ing positive and direct. In this too we believe
the committee were right Accident mig pre-
vent the supplement reaching the hands of the
subscriber when delivered, and if the carriers
prove that they delivered IT with the main
sheet AT the usual place Of delivering the latter
would be sufficient.
something radically wrong in the publication
of this advertisement in papers that the parties
interested are not likely TO see. There should
be law requiring its publication in the paper
having the largest circulation We do not say
this from selfish considerations, but because of
Is manifest propriety and Justice. The pres
ent party in power is not responsible for
initiating the bad practice. Very rarely. under
any municipal administration, has this adyer-
tIsement gone legitimately to the paper whereit
would reach the largest number Of tax payers.
And for years il has been the practice Of Col
Iectors of Taxes TO use r. advertising columns of
the STAR toinfor@ the public .chat paper the tar
advertisement lcas 10 be found
The complaint by our corr espondent OF the
cost Of the advertisement has force. This
heavy cost to the delinquent taxpayers Is &C.
casioned by the practice adopted at the Col
lectors office of late Of describing the property
to be sold with much minuteness, and also In
using words instead Of figures, whereby the
bulk Of the advertisement is greatly increased
The practice is defended on the ground that
this smplifcation Of description is needed in
order TO ensure a legal sale. The knowing
ones about the City Hall, however, do not
place implicit confidence in this theory. We
imagine that if the advertisement and the work
OF making 1t up was gwen out by the Job, it
would be found that legal description could
be made occupying considerably less space
Our correspondents suggestion of a circular
letter TO the taxpayers would not serve in
place of legal advertisement of sale, bat
would be proper thing enough as q reminder
TO the DELINQUENT tax payer, who might not
Otherwise see II in the paper in which 1t is
published. But there ought to be prov ision
requiring the Collector to serve a personal
notice upon every delinquent taxpayer some
time before the tax advertisement is made out
Judging from the many complaints made, we
tnin tie Councils could not undertake a more
acceptable work to the taxpayers than the
devisipg OF some means Of reducing the cost of
publishing the tax-llst