Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-01-12
GOVERNOR BAKERS MESSAGE.

THURSDAY, JANUARY II, 1871.
GOVERNOR BAKERS MESSAGE.
Having neither time OF room this week
10 publish the Governors message. We
transfer the following review of it from
the Indianapolis Journal to our columns;
which gives the most interesting points OF
the messages Il is one anosgst the most
able State papers that has ever been given
TO the people OF Indiana. The following
Is the article referred to:
Governor Bakers Message. which we
publish In full this morning, should be
essf BY every tax payer in Indiana. The
exhibit made OF the resources and wealth
or our State, the satisfactory condition ef
our finances, and successful management
OF ou- benevolent institutions, State pr;-
sons and reformatories, W i'll be gratifying
10 our citizens Indiana is practically out
Of debt, and we are in q condition to
adopt and pr sesice the wise rule s'pay as
you CO." in the future conduct of our
State affairs. There can be mo- reason for
the creation Of anrther State debt, as our
people will cheerfully bear all taxation
necessary to raise revenue as we need IL.
For nearly forty wears Indiana has been
burdened with taxation 10 pay the inter
est ant principal of State obligations TO
foreign creditors, and now that we are free,
Yet us remain free. Let every proposition or
effort, however urged or by whop.Soeyer
supported, which looks to the creation OF
any interest-paying liability, be resisted.
Our public institutions are organized upon
= liberal scale, anu when additional out
lays are required Tor their enlargement or
support, let necessary taxes be levied AT
once.
The defects and inequalities of our
method Of assessing and collecting taxes
ars clearly pointed out by the Governor
wda judicious suggestions as TO the refor
nation of existing abuses. The Governor
Clearly shows how honest taxpayers are
burdeued, how dishonest men escape tax
alton, and how the credit and reputation
OF orr State suffers In consequence of the
loose and Irregular manner in which the
regular authorities levy and collect the
State taxes The action of the Boards of
Equalization has been rendered nugatory
by the refusal of the local authorities TO
be governed by their decisions. In coun-
lies where The decisions of the Boards
have resulted in a Iessening of taxation
they have been oheyed, but where an in
crease would have followed, the county
Auditors have uniforms.lly disregarded
their decisions The Governor RECON-
mends legislation which shall correct this
dishonest practice.
The part of the message referring to The
'-0ld International Improvement Bonds
will be read with interest. By a section
of the Butler bill of 1916 a., it was Ell
acted that no provision should be made
by the State for the payment of the bonds
not surrendered under the provisions of
that act The holders of 19I bonds,
amounting, exclusive of interest. to the
sum of S19l 900, refused 10 surrender and
still own their own bonds. In a case
decided by the Supreme Court Of the
Uni,ed States, in Second Blacks Reports.
page AS, these bonds are declared to be
lien upon certain pubic works formerly
owned by the State, including a part of
the Wabash and Erie Canal and others
mentioned in the Governors message
These public works have been sold by
The State or pledged to creditors for the
payments Of their debts If the lien Of
these old bonds is not extinguished by
u
and the State will be called upon 10 REIN
btrse the purchasers, who will be depriv-
ed OF their property. The Governor
states that Mr., Garrett, President of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, has already
instituted suit in Carroll county 10 sub
ject q portion of the Wabash and Erie
Canal to sale to pay these old bonds In
the light ST the facts, the animus of Sena
,'trfsn
for the payment Of these old bonds is
apparent. Ii they are not paid. the hold
ers will persecute their suit TO a fofeclo-
sure and sale OF the Wabash and Erie
Canal, IS their lien Is prior in time and
right to the holders of the canal stock IS
sued under the Butler bill. To allow the
canal to be sold Under CARROTS proceed
ings for foreclosure will give the canal
stock holders a just claim against the
State for the value Of the property which
will thus be taken from them. This is
what the canal swindlers want, and this
Senator Browns resolution proposes to
accomplish for them Honest Senators
win see and expose this trick.
The Governor does not underestimate
The beneficial results which will undoubt-
sdly accrue 10 our State from the survey
and reports of Professor Cox, the State
Geologist. Until Professor Cox had col
lated and published the facts our citizens
were una S are Of the extent of the hidden
wealth es su- State. Oar blsck coal Is
almost pure carbon, and is used 10 the
smelling and manufacture of iron and
steel without cokIng, and Of tide coal
zoe hare q field one hundred and fifty
miles in length, and three miles ia
1rfdth. A proper use of this vast store
house of wealth alone, would make In
diana rich and prosperous State.
But when to this is added our splendid
forests of the choicest timber, soil as
fertile as the valley of the Nile, and sys
tenn of railroads which brings market to
the very doors of all our people, it is
difficult TO overestimate the unrivalled
Advantages we possess If the wise policy
that has been .persued in the management
of our State affairs during the last ien-
wears shall prevail far tie next decade,
Indiana viii advance in population,
vr.th ard prosperity with a rapidity
that VIII astonish the most hopeful oil
our people
The message is entirely free from the
sIiehest tinge of partisanism- No one
could tell from reading it whether the
Governor was Republican or Demo.
crat, and ia this respect il is in fine con
trast with the recent performance of Gov
ernor Hoffman, of New York. Although
Il is an able and instructive document
highly creditable to the Chief Magistrate
of our State, and il viii add to the already
hixh reputation of its author.
or other matters touched upon by the
message. we shall have occasion to speas
more full Iy as they shall come up for legis
latiye action.
NJ Tr5;anan,l;e Lozx1soI SAYS