Daily Republican., 1880-02-04
The Campaign ConmeuoeS.

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The Campail.H "a Commenced.
Owing to the iu;ri3ate and devious
assessment and tax collection laws Of
this State the political campaign really
commences when assessments are made.
The assessor ia elected on the first Tues,
day Of Oc,ob7r every two yeara, and
from that tims forward to he first o.
April, period Of six months he may
assess persons who are entitled to vote,
which assessment l. virtually a regis
tra'ion Of voters. Exe-p! ia general
assessment years which cOnfAs every
four, the next being after October ns1t,
he is not bound to hunt up and pu. upon
the assessment lists, any who mly,have
been lef. off, or any who may become Of
OF age, but at the sans tim. he is bornd
to place tbs name of suy person apply
ing upon the lists, provided the appIi-
cant ID entitled to be assessed. The
assessor can assess such persons up to
the frst Of January at which time he clo-
ses, and according to the law makes out /
five Guplcates Of his a, Sessnent made
from October to January and posts one
in each ward in his d3tric; for inspec
tion. Three months are thus given in
which parsons may take the first inita-
tory steps towards being qualified to
vote, and this in the absence of any
well defined registry Law in the State,
becomes a registration of voters and
dates the commencement Of the election
campaign back to October. 1t is un-
fortunate that so few persons apply to
get assessed from OctODer to January.
II it was done then there would never
b. any occasion for such scenes as were
witnessed at the City Hall on Saturday
and Monday. But there being no Law
to compel the assessors to 60 around
through the wards and assess even
those who are entitled, tho people
mostly let the opportunity 90 ny and
prOcrastiLate Until it is often toe late
and they lose their votes.
From the frat to the ffteenth Of Jan
uarv the assessors have for posting
their duplicates in the wards, and from
the fifteenth to the last Saturday the
people have an opportunity to examine
the lists and see whether their names
are upon them. The next unfolding of
the assessment programme is on the
day or days appointed to meet at the
City Hail to correct errors and add
names that may have been omitted. |
The rush to get assessed upon that oc-
casion when the people are fully
aroused needs no portrayal from us. It
has just been witnessed. 1t is evident
however that the original Law never
cOnteup plated such a scene. The more
reasonable construction of it is that it
contemp plated that the people were
nearly all assessed before the time came
for meeting at the City Hall, and that
meeting was merely to correc. errors in
the transfers of property, and if any
names had been omitted from the az
sessmeut before that time TO have th.m
then and there put on. The original
Law certainl y never contemplated tn
disfranchisement Of people by the thou
sand and then only allow a foV hours
in which to pace their names upon the
again. The amended Law
which not only i.sf'aucLiae1 thousanl.
has made it ve7y difficult to get upon
the assessment, after the three frst
montls have pass7l. During that time
any person could s.mp' y apply IL per.
son 20 the assessor aud have Lis name
PAT On tie lists, bat when the uu-
for meeting at he City Han to get as
ssss7I cias5 tho difficulty is iucrsa 81
by tue requirement of a freeh2ld voucher
to be qaa.G, that the applicant isi
really ,4e q-raoa BE- rpres-uts bin'elt
to be.
The fa1ur 20 get assps,-d at the
meeting Of the last oi Jlnu.Ey, does no. |
exhaust all tn" charc.a providsd for I
BY tI4 Law. The next resort i3 the 9
Levy Court which mpe.3 l4c Grst 5
Tu .sday Of February and again ou TIE q
first Tues lay Of March, It is q moot,t t
lnestion whether tie Court la, a ri, lit Fl
10 put extra Eames On the tsscsSmsnt l
At the February session but W. beiiey- l
there is no depyi0g their right to asses {
a. tae MqrGh session. Here again the t
f., ,eYoli YOU her i, required &a to the t
ID nifty oftre person maalo5 appI.ca, :
ion u b assp~sci. SAouIi the Levy }
Court aIro" t. place the name upon d
;h4 assas s3meut, it still has to run he I
gauntlet Of 4 l.. D5-r Of clerks noted d
tor tuyir propensity to spell names t.
wrong, oef.r" It r-ts OF the tax dupli h
cate, wh.cti' s!netime in Nay fit C
gets there It aIl.Thi- brings the time up il
!, June, which leaves two or three G
months to still further qualify by pay e
ing the tax assessed. TINS spreads the a