Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-01-18

OUT0Rnn 1DDO8-
ed upon anunicipantie Ia afforiinr Are and 10
lice protection to this property. nor the other
expenses of local government I All other nrtn
erty not entirely exempt ia compelled to bear
Is iust proportion of such burdens and no goAd
reaAon can be assipned for the re,ease NJ raii
road property, therefore am aware of the ar
guments that the entire country through which
. road runs contributes to it's business, and
each locality has right to- share equally per
mile in the revenues derived therefrom to the
extent, at least, Of its own levies. This argtl-
ment proves too much. If all that contribute
to the business of railroads are to participate
equally in the taxes derived therefrom, those
counties and townships which themselves have
no railroads, but whose traffic is constantly
poured into the neighboring counties for trans
shipment, have perhaps even better claims to
participate in this character of revenue because
the business they bring to the road costs them
more than it does their more fortunate neigh
bOrs directly On the iron way. To be logical,
the present law should be so amended as to di-
rect the entire railroad tax into the state treas,
ury. Then, as all the State contributes 30 the
business of railroads, so all the State would par
ticipate in the revenue derived from the taxes
on railroads. 1t is proper that the rolling stock
should be considered as belonging to the entire
line, and the valuation thereof apportiOned pro
rata; and perhaps the right of way and track,
should be SO estimated. But all other railroad
property ought to be assessed, valued, and
boring mechanic, merchant or farmer. ~, al.
tr tst BANKING. f.,.
b. The Auditor calls attention to the imperfce-
tions of our banking law and recommends q
revision thereof. This recommendation de
rives additional force from, the repeated fail
ures OF banks thrO'Out the, country, OF which
failures, fraud has been too often the produc-
ing cause. q The act OF 1874, In regard to say
ings banks, seems to have q very beneficial e.
feet in securing better institutions for that,
purpose. . Similar, q, improvements in the
statute governing all banks Of deposit would be
gladly hailed by the lbusiness Community, Tie
present statute makes no attempt to regulate
-unincorporated banks Fl It Ia believed To- he
necessary that these also be placed under some
sort OF supervision II gi,eray.s s,f ,.r,,@,1. =.
ne ExPENsEs oFLoCAL eovrRN,RNr.
The constantly increasing expense OF county
and municipal governments demands early and
earnest attention. How to reduce such ex-
pense can hest be determined after the causAs
of increase are ascertained.1 The augumenta-
ton of the cost 1of court proceedings ia pei
haps the largest item in the budget Of increased
expenditure. believe it the duty of the leg
islature to prune these expenditures vigorous
To- Tho ooTo ~ 1879 roo,fros tho oo,,ntr u
nav ali the witnesses for the defense. Since
the code went into effect. court expenses have
increased alarmingly, having more than treb-
led in the last five years, the amount for the
wear ended October 3lst last, rising to the
enormous figure of 1918. 32277 exclusive of
the amounts paid the district attorney. against
SS7,62O, in 1872 The law of 1858, superseded
bv the code, was sufficiently liberal in this re-
spect 1t provided for paving material wit
nesses in certain cases. The criminal returns
compiled bv the secretary of state, have en-
abled that officer to prepare a valuable table
showing the number of convictions, amount of
fines imposed, and cost of criminal proceedings
for series of wears 1t appears by this table
that this cost, exclusive Of the amount paid
district attorneys, made the expense of each
conviction in selectad years average as follows:
In 1862 1884; in 1857, S92. Is; in 1876, $685.
A.: in 1871, $3.50 377AI canuot but think the
excessively, liberal provision of the, code re-
ferred to has much to- do with such increase
expense. This Ia rendered the more probable
because Of the well-known fact that this nbef
ality is most grossly absurd, and witnesses are
summoned, and even brought long. distance4
who know nothing of The controversy In which
their testimony is required. and not unfrequent-
" never put upon the, stand. The Judges Of
one of the districts fave adopted rule calcu-
lated to put stop to this abuse But It would
be well for the legislature to undo the work Of
1873, and restore the Law OF 1858 or even the
prior one. Ri quo" iFa" nT.d3h'i r. nofiH1
Another saving may be by requiring tfle4
courts to set apart as many Of the daye OF the
earlier term as may seem necessary for the
dispatch Of business not reQuirfngA Jury, and
have the Jurors summoned for only the time
they will probably be needed. The pfactics-
bility and deeirablenees Of such legielation are,
I think, too apparent to meet argument. 'u27
1u' TRAFFIC IN INTOXICATING LIQUORS.
The subject of the regulation OF the manu-
facture and sale OF Intoxicating liquors is one
81 paramount interest to every citizen Of the
State, and especially TO those who are called on
to make It's laws. When we consider the fact
that It il the profound conviction Of large
number Of the best thinkers that intemperance
is the direct or indirect cause OF much Of the
Z Al Il