The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1870-06-11
The Ill. Central r. r. 2 Per Cent.

southern parts OF the state, are considerably
artatcd in reference To that clause OF the new
constitution, submitted separately, which for.
bids the legislature forever from releasing the
Illinois Central Railroad Company from pay
ing : per cent. OF its gross earnings into the
state treasury. In consideration OF this per
cent, the railroad company. as the reader is
aware, is exempted from all other taxation
state, county, township or municipal. The
counties referred to complain of this as gross
injustice to them. All other railroads in the
state are taxable, and afford Il handsome rev.
enue to the counties through which they pass
But counties through which the III. Central
road passes are deprived of this source of rev.
cnue, and must levy their taxes off other prop
erty. The case is thus stated by the Etfing-
ham Register, of the I'd inst:
To snow the extent, in dollars, to which the
80 counties along the line Of the Central are
affected by the operation of the present system
let Us take Ethingham county, tor the purpose
of Illustration. and explain how it works. Ell
tinghan has about 20 miles of Central track
not subject to taxation rs other railroads are.
BY this exemption. the county is annually de-
prived of 81 800, beng II per cent. for coun-
ty purposes. on 500, 900 the track being
supposed to be assessed. like other railroad
tracks, at about 5000 a mile. The with.
drawal of this amount, from her taxable coun-
ty resources, Year after year, and the conse.
Quent necessity of having to make up this
deficiency by levying an equal amount addl-
tonal on other property, is felt to be a great
hardship. Yet this hardship is now proposed
to be fastened on the people Of Eifingham
and 81 other counties by constitutional en-
actment
And further along, the same paper adds:
"Besides this question OF local taxation, there
is another consideration of equal Importance
to be taken into account. We should not for.
get that so long as the Central Company have
this : per cent. tax to pay, so long will the
people of 50 counties have to pay at least 90
per cent. more for fares and freights on this
line than OH Others. 1t is insisted by some
that the company would not reduce their rates
if released, but this is not probable. As we'll
might we insist that the merchant would still
continue to charge as high for imported goods
after the tariff was taken off The day is
close at hand when the the Central will be
glad to reduce their rates to enable them to
compete with other lines-to maintain great
cheap line between the north and the south
butihow can they do this, if they are hampered
bya constitutional burden! The per cent.
contract was made Years ago for the purpose
of securing road and the settlement of Gen.
trail Illinois. Those objects being now secured
the burden begins to weigh more on the IS
counties than on the road, and it is not the
time to continue it by constitutional provis-
ion''
This matter was very deliberately debated in
the constitutional convention when the clause
in the new constitution referred to was under
consideration, and the decision was largely
against the validity of the points made by the
Register The per cent. paid by the Rail
road Company into the state treasury yields
about 100000 annually. Were this tax re-
mitted, and the road taxed in the usual way,
an average tax OF . per cent. OH the road bed
and its property would not yield over $50, 900,
of which but half would go into the state
trasury. 1t is asking too much OF the state to
forego Its princely revenue of half million
year, to benefit the counties along the road to
less than tenth OF that amount. Besides,
the counties in question have been already
benefited immensely by this road over any
benefit derived from 1t by the other counties
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