The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-09-06
Another Nut for Hnrtrnuft.

The CT of 1911 requires the Auditor
General to
"rhe auditor general shall annually |
report to the legislature list of the ac-
counts which remain unsettled, and the |
reason therefor. ."--dct Of 3OM March, |
1911, sec, J0th.
In the Evans case we have seen that
HArtranfs openly disregardcd this law |
by conccaling from the Legislature for |
three ytats the fact that Evans mad col |
Icc,ed several thousand dollars belong |
ing TO the State.
But more conspicuous still is he fact
that for SIX years he has allowed the
corporations of this State to retain
millions of dollars belonging to the
common wealth In the shape Of taxes
aud never has reported the facts to the
Legislature A committee at the last
session Of the Legislature, composed of
three II pubicans and two Democrats,
unanimously agreed upon report in
which il was demonstrated that the
heaviest carrying companies are making
no returns ,ohdteuer of tares due The
State, and that the auditor Gene at 8
office had no Information as TO the
amount dte.
In one instance the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna e Western II. r., owed the State
over s33 600 as tax on a dividend of
81 ,100, 600 In the Morris &c Essex road,
yet il was not known at the Auditor
Generals Office that such tax was duo,
although Me fdct Of The dioidehd hdUing
been declared ,cds puJlished IN the Aud-
itor Generals report Of The gear before.
This amount was promptly paid by
the company, the day after the com
mittee called attention to the subject,
with the excuse that the blank form
for furnishing the report had not been
supplied by the Auditor General, al
though 1t had been demanded. The
Auditor of the company testified that
the amount stood to the credit of the
State Treasury, and was ready to be
paid at any time, and that the return Of
the tax due had been regularly made to
the State Treasury.
A few facts will illustrate the i'm
mense loss of revenue to the State from
the tax on corporations, since Gen.
Hartranft took possession of the Aud
itor Generals Office.
We quote from the report of the sub
committee of last winter, which exam
ined this subject, and take the D. l.. &
w. II. R., rs an example,
1866, Tax on capital stock. .$19S, ,951 10
1871, Tax on capital stock..... 54,6S1 IL
Loss TO the State.............. 144 ,270, ,01
1866, Tax on gross receipts... 3,72S,72
1871, Tax on gross receipts. 1885, 80
Loss to the State............... 2,030,33
This loss, too, occurred in the face Of
the fact that in 1866 the receipts of the
company were So, 252 ,4l6.73, whereas in
1871 they were $11,7O9,146.97 In
word, the revenue of the company had
increased three and a half millions of dol
lars, and the tares of the State acre de-
creased more than one half.
1867, (no report for 1861 Ton
mage Tax..................... s., l77.9O
1871, Tonnage Tax................ 1,6S5.S4
Loss TO the State................. 8,492. .06
The above facts illustrate why the
ring desire the continuance of Hart
ranft and Allen in office, aud why
Cameron & Co., are endeavoring TO pre-
vent full and fair investigation. The
people are being mercilcssly robbed,
and they no,o demand honest officers,
and full inve ,tigation of the books at
Harrisburg.
New York settled its Tammany,-it
is time we commenced at ours.
Honest men should have no doubt as
to which way they should decide.