The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-01-03

i ~, .enIfh,a ATTORNEY I'D 143
Il TO Sheriff Wagner! S9aSS al
4 TO Sheriff fSSS n
i To Clerk Burt OF. SUn NM
] No Clerk Waddfl.. 5 5Go ~
4 To commissioners OF revenue......- bsSSg ga,
! TO superinteDde OF me poor wa 0Ga
4 TO clerk board 0verzetrs OF the poor aS ~
10 Clerk of board of supervi'ors..... S N m
4 TO supervisors ......-...' 10 90
i TO, purchasing bni.ding on Court = z z 90
j Green ....... !'SSgg S oS
4 To expenses OF asS 2S
\ TO road expeus !,SIS
4 To miscellaneous xpenses......-.. f,oaaSS Saaa
! To refunded tax.r..,.. ......o...''' RIO oS
i To jury service .'......'.'.''' = ~
...s.z commissions, sS sfsss 81 g
i ~ APPROVED by. board February II, 1877. ~
The Club viii not fail to- observe the
! Dower Vested in the Board OF Supervisors
i and the County Court. The. former fixes
| the salary OF tile Judge, and the latter the
i aIlowanee of Ills officers OF court, and the
lieyy made accordingly. For this authority
4 pide, section II, chapter 10; section Z, chap
ter ISL, and section SO, chapter aSo' eoae
NV, to meet the inquiry as to how these
expenses com pare with that OF other coun-
1 ties, we are able to make only one. com paI!-
4 son. The area or the county OF HenTico y
4 200 square miles; the assessed value OF ner
i lands, 1925 per acre; and. pop llatlo On "a
4 1870. is, al, and her. county icyy' ;aao'-
140BS. b.. ~, $500. 10, 10,
/ 'Thc area OF the county OF Louisa is 494
. square miles; her assessed value OF land was
ST. per acre; population in 1870 was IT,
! 332: her county levy in 1876 was S4,92I.5
| But Louisa county pays her county Judge
800, Commonwealth's attorney $500, county
clerk 5000, and sheriff $500 per annllm.
We have not had the opportunity OF max
ing the necessary calculations, but refer
ence to the records will show how great the
difference OF taxation in the year 1860, Tor
instance, and the present time. How light
The taxation then. when rich with go much
| taxable nroperty, rs compared with the bur-
dens we now bear in our days OF poverty.
In performing this duty eDjoined by the
Club, no person will imagine That we intend
any reflection upon the honorable and etfl-
cient officers of our county. They take not
one dime more than is legally allowed to
| them under the law we refer to. we COM
plain ONLY of the ta11 giving authority for
| these allowances and expenditures, Whlch,
| il necessary, yet in this day Of our poverty
we consider excessive; and il it be in their
power to relieve us in any way we arc as
sured they will do so, for no county has bet
ter or rurer officials, and we impute nothing
wrong to them, and believe when we call
their attention to the facts, possibly
uot fully realized, they will all unite with
--0niy in assai:ng, as we do, an expensive
! municipal county government, made so I'M
der the provisions OF constitution that may
suit the dense North, but in our sparsely-
settled country entirely unsuited to our
wants and necessities, and in which Virginia
really had no real part in making.
We claim to know something OF the wants
Of our people, and when in their distress
they cry out their inability TO meet in
creased taxation to pay the honest obliga-
tons OF their country, we insist that 1t Is
not because OF their State taxes proper, for
this is not excessive, but it is this expensive
and unwieIdy county government, with its
multiplicity OF officers and its great power
OF levy upon the people.
Reform this we. say. Let the Govern
ment cease to be phslanthropists and cease
diverting the peoples money. Remove, If
| we ever can, the heavy hand OF The Federal
Government, pnralyzing our industries (but
a subject out OF our provnce), and then.
regal dlcss OF the wild talk OF extreme poll
ticians, the people OF Virginia will be able
to do, what is their real desire to do, which
| is in honor to remove this burthen from
| their shoulders and save their Common
wealth.
| The mighty issue we are struggling with
snow is our State debt. We must not stand
fidly by when rushing into the dreadful yor--
| tex OF reputation. Ii by rctrcnchment,
then. we can take of 25 per cent. OF our
| county taxes proper, and give it to the
| State in the interest OF honorable retdluSt-
ment, and IS per cent. can run our county
government, it will make Us no poorer;
| and ought we not to do il? Then, II it be
vital to our existence, will rot the people
rise and even say delay also cur public
schools until this. present agony Of our old
State is over? Forany attempt to increase
kpresent taxation is unwiSc and impractical
NbIe. The people cannot stand it.
\ We grant you that there may be a num-
Der OF other counties where the rate OF tax
alton is as great as ours; possibly on &c.
count OF their small amount OF taxable
property 1T may be greater. But this Is no
argument against the view we fake. 1t but
strengthens the position, and but shows the
greater and crying want and necessity OF
Ie1renchment, not only here, but over the
whole State 0or we are not asSaiing Hen
| rico county. but only necessary expensive
government, extending all orei the State,
and that alone. We are only glad II it APP
| pears that Henrico manages the cumber-
some machinery better than elscWhere), and
il thus relieved, il but demonstrates what
this entire people might do, under different
circumstances, in the struggle for the life
OF their State.
We close, repeating our confidence in the
integrity and honor OF our Board OF Super
visor<, Judge OF our court, and every officer
OF our county. They are upright and consci-
entious in what they do and all they do, US
we all believe. They no doubt consider
these expenditures as necessary to our pre-
sent government; then, il it be, we car only
say there can be no hope for this people
until it is removed. Then why not at once
meet the issue squarely! Will not such
facts and such necessities as are now upon
US silence the voice OF the demasogue:
| With but one party in this Stale now, are
they all politicians, that they should be
afraid to speak out? Let Us strike the evil
where it exists. 1t is not in our county
alone. nor with any of our administrators,
but its germ is in that instrument which
spreads itself over the whole State. 1t may
be too late WHOM the bondholders and non
taxpayers unite 10 against the property
. owners, and taxation then reaches to that
paint of confscation which we now feel so
steadily approaching.
4 - Respectfully submitted,
- u.&gi 80: j. A. LYMAN,