The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-03-23
NUMBER Al.
[From the St. louis Republican
Who Pay Taxes and Who Vote,

Who Pay Taxes and Who Voter
We have before US two rather interest
ing lists Of names and figures, which be-
come doubly interesting when viewed in
connection. One is list of the counties
OF Missouri, with the amount of taxes for
1869, pald by them respectively. into the
State Treasury up to March. 1859: the
other is a list Of the white male pop-
ulation, and the number of registered vo-
ters in each county We would commend
a careful study of the two documents to
the gentlemen of the ruling party in this
State, now in the Legislature. We prom
Use that they will find them worthy their
attention, and that they will discover in
the lists much information that should
| guide liberal and enlightened legislator.
| The registry law of this State, examined
IN the light of those lists, will appear to
be piece Of legislation that any fair min
ded statesman would have reason to be
ashamed Of They show that in Missouri
| those who vote are not the ones who SUD-
port the State with taxes, and those who
support the State with taxes are not the
ones who are allowed to vote. Those nom
ulous counties that contribute most mu-
nlhcently to the maintenance of the State
ought to do the heaviest voting, and those
| sparsely settled counties that contribute
least to the State, ought to cast the light
| est votes. But, as rule, the registry
law makes the fact exactly the reyerse-S
Take few examples.
Barton county has 628 adult white
males, OF whom 527, or IS per cent are
registered voters. Boone has 4, ,290 adult
white males, Of whom only AIS are allow
ed to vote-less than ten per cent. Bur
ton Pays $4,000 State tax and Boone pays
$l3042
Putnam has 1885 adult white males. of
whom ,653, or 80 per cent are registered
voters. Galloway has 2,162 adult white
males, OF whom only 678, little more
than 80 per cent are registered. Putnam
pays a State tax of 1884 and Galloway
Grundy has l $50 adult white males. of
whom ,5l2 are registered voters. Mari
on has 4,5l5 adult white males, of whom
only 1900 only 40 per cent are registered
voters. Grundy pays State tax of So
| o21 and Marion pays $l5,40l
Pike has 1886 white adult males, but
only 2,844 registered voters. Sullivan
has only 1922 adult white males, of whom
1,OO9-nearly all-are registered voters.
Pike contributes $l5,245 to the State
Treasury, and Sullivan only $8,943
Nodaway has l,765 adult white males,
OF whom 1878 are registered voters. Lin
coin has 4, ,o67 adult white males, of whom
985, about a per cent are registered vo-
ters Nodaway pays to the State only
1886, while Lincoln pays $11 900.
Worth has TIA adult white males of
whom 724 are registered voters, and Rails
has ], ,984 adult white males, of whom 582,
less than one third are registered voters.
Worth pays $2,072 State tax, and Rails
1859.
Vernon has l, ITO adult white males, of
whom ], ,039 vote, while Platte has 3,745
adult white males, of whom 1,249 only
vote. Vernon pays the State So, 1882, and
Platte $l2, 1882
Scotland has l 1858 adult white males, of
whom l ,53S are voters. Ray has 2.466
adult white males, of whom ], ,498 are al
lowed to vote. Scotland pays to the State
81, $40, Ray pays $11,7 ,778.
Cooper has 1906 adult white males. of
whom only 1926, little more than one
half are allowed to vote. Jasper has 2, 2,132
adult white males, of whom ,69l, about
four hfths, are registered voters. Cooper
pays to the State $12,1s1, and Jasper $3-
Mercer has 1855 adult white males. of
whom l 1,62l-nearly all-are registered
voters. Saline has 1887 adult white males
Of whom l, ,l07-not one half-are regis
tered voters. Mercer pays a State tax of
$3, ,l62, and Saline pays SIC, ,039
Lafayette has 4, 161 adult white males,
OF whom ], 1888, about one third are voters.
Pulaski has 459adult white males, of whom
432 are registered voters Lafayette pays
Yl3, ,746 State tax, and Pulaski pays only
s., ,054. - 80
Here, then, we have tWenty-four eoun-
ties in all twelve of them, with an aggre-
gate adult white male population Of 49,
O35, Of whom 16, 426 are registered voters,
paying only $4l, ,782 in tax to the State
while the other twelve, with an aggregate
adult white male population of 40,6S1. of
whom only Is, ,913 are allowed to register
and vote, pay $149, $50 in the State taxes
The first twelve are made to cast 513 votes
more than the second twelve, while the
second twelve are made to pay more than
three and a half times aA much in State
taxes as the first. One county, Galloway,
pays into the State treasury the good
round sum of $l0,724 although only 67S
of its 2, 162 adult white male population
are permitted to vote, and even this small
number were practically disfraBchised, two
years ago, by the election from the legisla-
ture Of the members whom they had chos.
en- to represent them. At the same time.
Vernon, one of the smallest counties both
IN population and wealth in the State,
which pays only one-third as much tax to
the State treasury, was allowed to have
86l more registered votes than Galloway.
Pulaski is permitted to have II more reg
istered voters than Boone, although Boone
has eight times the adult white population
that Pulaski has, and pays to the State
thirteen times as much in taxes. Howard
pays $14, ,455 to the State, although only
1858 of its citizens are allowed to vote.
while Putnam has only 1854, and cast
the same vote as Howard. Webster casts
as large vote as Lincoln, and pays about
one-sixth as much in State taxes. Saline
is made to pay $15 ,039 to defray the ex-
penses of the State, although less than one
half of its adult white males are permitted
to indulge in the luxury of saying how it
shall be disposed of, while Lawrence pays
only one-fourteenth as much money and
casts 200 more votes. st. Louis brings to
the State the magnificent contribution of
S3O2, ,539, although "a, sol of its 56,442
adult white male citizens are debarred from
voting. st. Charles contributes $l2,675,
while $50, one-third of its adult white
males are denied the same privilege, and
Buchanan contributes $17,458, while g.
7S4, one-third of its adult white male cit:-
zens cannot vote,
If these things are just and right, then
justice and right require new definitions
and if there are any considerations of pub
lie policy of safe government that demand
a continuance of the fragrant inequality,
those considerations ought to be stated
for they certainly have never yet been
stated.