The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-03-23

yranized people In existence, were
escorted to for the purpose of retain /
ng the power they now hold, and /
lave most shameiully abused.
After Mr.. WALKER had finished,
ir. JOHN A. REITZ was introduced,
nd among other things, said:
In regard to the assessments. the
pcaker said that the city of Evans
lille could not collect one dollar if it
vas contested. for il is illegal to have
Reconstructed Council to assess
rour property for twice its value, in
order to fill their pockets, and help to
make fine roads around Heilman's
The law requires an Assessor to do
such duties, and that body which ar
rogatas to-itself the power of assess
ing the value of property at twice its
valuation is corrupt, and ought to be
brought before the tribunal where
poor as we'll as rich mems rights are
That body has been in
power too long, and the injustice
which it has done can only be atoned
for by It's retirement from public life,
aud donating their spells to the pub
lie good.
This matter OF assessments on
property is one to which we desire
especially to call the attention of our
readers, as we may have something
more to say on that subject when we
examine the assessments made by
Mayor WALKER and his Council of
six.
We copy two more paragraphs from
the Courier of April Sd, 1868:
Mr.. Steele, the upper school house
contractor, is running in the Second
Ward for Councilman. What ak has
he tor grind this time? Has he learned
that Mr.. Walher l0as an faUOr OF
building nel1 school house TOR the
convenience of the people of LGn10scO
and wishes 10 be on hand? Ii we
reeollect Alright. he got more out of
the city for building the upper school
house than his first contract, which
shows he is not behind his cotempo
rary contractors in modern fnancier-
ing.
It is a question with certain irrit.
able tax payers whether they have
suffered more from fancy " assess
msnts or from the " condemned
gravel"
Some of us-the least obnoxious,
of course-have escaped the assess
ments, but all of @-not excepting
the Mayor-are troabled more or less
with 1.-THE gravel His Honor is Sc.
riously- affected.
In the Courier of April 4th we find
the following juicy paragraphs:
Mayor Baker, the model iinancieI
and shrewd manager of city affairs
stood by while lowry was bowldering
First Street, and saw him violate the
contract with every bowlder be laid
without the slightest protest. Know
ing that the contract had not beer
complied with, he allowed property
holders to pay the contract price
This, fellow citizens, is the way Mayor
b Iker has served, and, as he says 10
his speech, will serve your best in
terests," and this is the way he will
work as hard to serve you as ever he
did"
Voters who have paid Lowry larg,
sums of money for the bowldering o
streets, will not be apt to forget, OF
election day, that Mayor Baker stood
quietly by and saw them swindleC
without word OF remonstrancc.
In the Courier Of April 9TH, anC
repeated April 9th, is long article
which is ironically called Defence
of Mayor BAKER" From that art
Gle we copy the following paragraph
TAXEs.-To our regret and morti
fication, loud complaints have bee
made, on account of the sO-calle
heavy taxes that the Mayor has beer
compelled to levy against our citizens
| They claim that the expense of bowl
| dcring and graveling the streets, an
of having alleys and sidewalks, durin
| the last two years, amounting to tn
ineonsiderable sum Of about 5000, 00(
| though not shown on the tax books
is really a tax, and one sensibly fel
by those who have had the amount t
pay. And, although the books ma
show that the taxes have been re
duced, say from 81 10 to 81 90 on tn
800 of taxables, it has not afforde
the relief expected, since the tax
payers have been compelled to pa
more than double the tax at the re
duced per centage, compared with tn
amount they paid before this reduc
ton was made. They cannot under
stand why, when the taxes are re
duced, it should require more moEe
to pay them. One citizen argues, 70
instance, that few years ago he pal
$40 tax for his house and lot, wherea
COW he is required to pay owe
500 for the same property. Ii, b.
this reduction of the per centage, tn
amount of his tax is increased, he dc
clares himself unable to see the ad
vantage gained by reducing it. But
here again we step forward and assur
such men that their arguments ar
scarcely worthy of being cousideret
respectable sOphistry. Is it not plai
enough, that the only fair way of de
| termining the amount of taxes a mai
has to pay, is to estimate the rat
"per voter" or on the per centag
on valu ation?" As we do not wish t
deprive the JOURNAL of having mad
! this great discovery, we hereby Civ
the deserved credit to that print
which has proved itself so ready i
| figures, and we are even willing TO &C
knowledge if desired, that its views
on this subject, may be considered re
spectacle sophistry!
From another article we select th
following paragraph:
The Baker administration has don
much to crush the expanding ener
gies of the city. An oppressive system
of taxation, corrupt and injudiciou
system of Improvement" and
laundering and extravagant fnancia
policy, have cnrbed and confined tht
natural expansion of our commercia
influence; and this, reacting-as