The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-01-09
The Misses Smith of GlastOnbry and thei1
Taxes.

To the Editor of the Cotrdat:-Several
having read my speech in your paper
have requested to know how it was re-
ceived by the town, and if you would
publish the sequel, / should feel greatly
Obliged. The collector called the second
time this evening, as we had told him
our paying the tax depended entirely
upon the encouragement we received
about voting, after addressing the meet
ing. We told him tonight we received
none at all. We thought no man had
spoken about it, for what could they
say The facts must be admitted, and
their not speaking of them showed they
did not intend we should vote. Now
what would you do, Mr.. A, said we, If
some men should get together and agree
that you should pay them q certain
sum, every little while, and without
your having the least advantage by it;
would you pay it, or would you let them
get il as they could? This is precisely
our case; there is no difference between
us; il is just g wrong to take ii from us
as it is to take it from you. Therefore we
had come to the conclusion if the town
owned our farm, (about 1870 acres) it be-
longed to the men to get out of it what
they said we should pay, for lce never
could, and it surely did not belong to us
to assist them in any way, having no
voice in the matter. AS to the expense
of selling it off, il made no difference to
us by what name they called it, expense
or anything else, so long as they could
take the whole. Our money we
owned, and we were not willing any
more, to take what we owned to pay for
what We did not own. Our father,
. NnN.sa h fIv-sa 81 -, l. Il r
said, "Gou need not cultivate il, but il
won't run away from you" It did not
seem TO enter his mind but what we
might hold it as securely as the men
/ held theirs, but being lawyer he must
! have known that as soon as he died il
would pass into the hands of the men OF
| the town, and not be secured to us by
the laws of the land, as the men hold
their property. The collector inquired
/ IL we wished to begin at the east end
| first, the farm is three miles long and
| twenty-five and a half rods wide.) We
said we should be glad to, to save OuI
homestead, while We lived, but then oul
homestead did not look so we'll to us as
I it used to, when we thought we owned
it. The movable property would not &c
very far, for We believed they must leave
us, as they did to the poor man, one
COW and its keeping, and part Of oul
furniture. Mr.. A., the collector
said, as many do, he thought women
that had property ought to vote. We
said that those that had none needed il
more. If they could have the power tC
vote against the grog shops, theil
drunken husbands would never dare &c
abuse them as they did, but they could
do it now with impunity, for the town
officers would not punish voter; women
have no redress for whatever injury
they may receive from a voter. If the
women could have voted, the town
would never have been so in debt. 1t Is
very hard for them to earn their money
and they are more careful whom they
trust, and would never have employed
those men who have brought in such
enormous bills against the town. We
inquired of the collector If there were
any in the place that are taxed higher
than we are. We know of one that was
but never paid any money; he tool
much more from the town than he paiC
| it. The collector mentioned but one
other that was taxed higher, but said hC
had orders on the town to pay. o
course they have orders on the town Il
pay-those that rule-and many worI
out their taxes on the roads, bridges
etc, and then there is rotation in of
fice that gives them all chance at tn,
money which is taken mostly from tn,
women. The town is six miles on tn
river and eight miles east from tn
river, seven miles from Hartford. An,
now, If my sister and 1 pay the highes
taxes, in money, of any of the inhabi
tants in this large place, how does i
look as to the administration Of its jus
tice? The town is doubtless nanage'
like our school district in which we pay
the highest tax, double to any of th'
men, but one. The voters decided rev
years ago to have a new school-house
and contractor offered TO build Il fol
the same price he had just finished one
a few miles of. But the men rejected
the offer, for they said they wanted . .
work out their taxes, which tney ulu an
more too, charging what they pleaseu
to the district, which made the eA
to the women nearly as mueh again .L ~
what the contractor offered 10 ao tne
whole for. There is not man ouI WIas Eas
knows it is perfectly just ana rlgns ioI
us to have the same protectlon, unIel ,-
the laws. that he has; neither does ne
fear Judge Hunt, but it is haru 10 give
mn mower. Some of them mention the
CathoIics. forgetting that all the COM COM
n1and which is given to man is, do
instiv ,; God alone controls the con-
Seo, SaSnsneas The collector said, when he
/ left, he should call again' e,,,n,,,
ABBY II. SAITH AND SIsrkk'
Glastonbury, Nov. %, 1878