Litchfield enquirer., 1875-12-23
Taxes.

b9AGSs
 A Washington contributor sends us a comparative statement of taxes paid in that town in 1900 and 1875. with the que r.s.Is here a case for reform and retrench- ment." Reform and retrenchment are al- ways in order, but brief view will show that much of this additional expense isun- axoidable. We have no Washington town report before us. but. judging from Litch- field. about 90 per cent. of the ordinary town expenditure is used for roads. 9 per cent for interest of railroad bonds; ten, each, for schools. state tax, and paupers; leaving only about IS per cent. for misceI- laneo1s expenditure.
 In 1890, if we are not mistaken. the highSaYs were maintained by a highway tax payable in work, not in money. The schools were maintained by the respective districts; the State tax was light; burying ground and some other expenses now borne by towns were then defraye6 by School Societies. Still there remains the fact that the amount appropriated by a town for paupers, official salaries. .and oth- CT miscellaneous expenses. is at least eight times as much as in 1900. This seems an extraordinary difference, but we must not forget that there has been e good deal of ''inAation" slnce 1900. Even the gold dollar will hardly buy half the work now it would at the close of the eighteenth century. How does the ordinary farmers income and expenditure in 1900 compare with his income and expenditure in 1875? We imagine that he handles much more than ten times the cash now that he did then; nevertheless, even with the limited cash income of the time, taxes must be vastly heavier proportional burden now than then. On the other hand it must be remembered that the business of our day calls for facilities that were unnecessary thrse-quarters of century since. A town of line of railroad is declining town,in 1875. Land is proportiOnally lower, we judge. in Goshen, to-day, than in Wash ington. though the tax of the latter town is about double that of the former. Be- fore railroad transportation. even, comes the need of good highways. No town would think the common roads of 1900 endurable to-day. They were frightfully located. badly made, insufiiciently repalr- cd. Till the turnpike system sprang up Connecticut hardly knew what a good highway was. So, too. with regard to schools and every form of municipal work.
 The real question is whether the value of our improved roads, schools, &c., has increased in proportion to their increased expense. even making due allowance for the decreased purchasing value of our currency: With largely increased ex- Penditure invariably comes n less careful scrutiny of incidental items. an increase of official salaries. and general tendency to sxtravagance that it is very hard for even economically disposed officers to withstand.
 There is also political question involv. ed in this matter of town finance. We cannot in fairness charge the Democratic boards who manage the affairs .nf fnnr- nftns oI the towns m LIEcuneld county with corruption or wholesale extravagance. Still that town will be most economically managed in which taxpayers have repre- seatation. at least in proportion to their numbers. in the boards of officers which snbstantialIv cont-.i town expenditures. -SUUE1ng over the list of twenty persons nov paying the highest taxes in Washing. ton, we notice that two are disfranehised on account of their sex; thirteen more are Republicans if we are not mistakne), and are therefore practically disfranchised on account of their politics, leaving only one- fourth that have any voice in the choice of town officers. This is neither just nor judiciOus. We need woman suffrage to give women their due voice in local affairs, and minority representation to give the Republicans their fair influence in Demo. cratic towns. and Democrats their fair in. huence in Republican towns. How long VIII sae setnsonesA or malorltles and the prejudice of males deny these much need ed measures of reform?
 The suppleness of mind and conscience that helps man into office are about the poorest qualifications possible for the eff. feetiVe administration of that office after he has got in. The Springfield Republi- can traces the history of MT. Jason D. WArd. lately removed from the position of U. $. district atty. in Chicago. He helped Butler with his Force bill and presented minority report in favor of upsetting everything in Arkansas because the presi. dent happened to favor that mode of pro. oedure just then. He was rewarded by the district attorneyship. and a miohtv