Daily Republican., 1881-04-07
FRAUD ABLY DENOUNCED.
sss--a~-
BRADFORD ON THS tNIQUITOCS
AssESsMENT IA WV.
Mr. RrRdfOrd's 4 rG,a ment that the
DriR~arr AsNcssaicnt Laws are
li0o al ai-WeightS
AutbNrjtjes liicd.

~
bDvr thp, sir. considered the ST of
i''I., in connection with the peHdlnS
wills, upon she merits disclosed "ipon
it4 fnre, und tl,o In its practical Tp"'1-
tior. II opE rrmpius tor me now 10
ipnuir, hns Tar that net is justSkcd by
any provision Of the constitution OF thi5
STATE.
what i~.;t4 relation 10 the c'nSiitu-
ZION Of thi~ State? IL the act constI.
.utionul eri' am clearly OF She opln-
ion that npOn one ground it is pnc0hSii-
tutionm and nm crtbrimprrsHon
ihat upon . distinct ground Il ~ hlHo
nnrun LtitutionHl. ltyou will take, Sir,
thn amount OF taxes lost Is she public
under tn. operation Of the srt "f 1873,
yur will lind very IarG" sum, thou
sands u! dollars, lost every year under
the operation Of this act; thousands or
dollars which, were il not for this act,
would be- paid by men whose names are
stricken from tho assessment lists. HOW
far. may ask, is it constitutional tor
the legislature to impose upon one class
Of citi2nns Il tax which should fall
ruually upon all? How far has the
legislature the right 10 say that the
;aNr. OF the " whole peOp'c shall b" pad
hY ,inc-trnths Of the people, or one-hali
o. the people, or une-tenth of the people?
The question il one and the sumo, II is
simply difference OF degree. 1t makes
no difference in point OF principle
whether the poll tax Of the entire class
of citizens bc impos"G upon nine-tcDths
ni the people or One-tnth ot the people
The fact still remains shat, under the
nci of 1873, the citizcns that promptly
pay thoir poll tax are obliged during
ilr Succeeding year n OF only 10 pay thell
own pnil tax but n +hare OF the taxes
thai should have been paid by men that
tho law >lya shall not pay their taxes.
L. that right? Is il legal" Is it CON
s,itutiOnal
There Is such II ing rs taxation, and
there i, smch u thing as coniiscatioh OF
lrxiorti0n The power of taxation IL
possessed ny every sovereign state,
whether expressed in the constitution
or not. 1t is necessarily implied
, bower, without Which no sovereign
| State could exist But taxation means
something. II will not do 10 ss,' that
| the legislature, USdcr the prctGncr OF
taxation, ran cXtS-t frolu the titizen'
any amount Of Ing Icy il desires Thrr,
| is a provision in ID" constitution which
iorbidS the deprIv'ng of any nav OF hi
| property without due course Cf law
| and, only in ~ ta- as an indi' iduals
property is taken under the legitimate
exercise Of the power OF taXafP n, can
| his property he taken without due
course Oi Inv.
! Now what j. ta xution? 1t E.ust ht
reasonably fair; reasonably eqMl. ] dc
not mean IL aay there must be absolute
equality; you car never attain that; but
there must be no gross departure from it,
1t j. not Il lpgit' mate exercise of tht
power of taXatiGn to impose gEDon the
people sum Of monry which 81 ould be
raised from the people in their entirety,
| do not mean 10 affirm for an instant
that the Legislature may not diScrimi
nate as between trc different objects OF
taxation, but d. mean to say that il
is extremely quest tionahlc, in my judg
mcnt, whether tke legislature. can dis
iinguish between man and man with
respect to poll &.N, and put a sum,
, which should he raised by pdli tax upon
all th" citizens, upon one-AalI, 1"'~tGnth
or nine tenthS of them.
Upon this polGt / have se.,le very
good authority, and the firstauthority
that ask the attention of the Rouse tc
is no less distinguished q Democrat
than Chief Justice Black of the Su'
prcme Court Of Pennsylvania, formerly
Chief Justice Of that Court In the
case of Sharplcss ~. Mayor, Of phila
drlph,a, XXI PcpH svivania, l47, drcid'
ed in 1853, Chief JGStic" Black says:
The whole Of a & uhlic burden cannot
h" thrown On single individual, undel
Drrtcncn of taxing HIM, nor can one
/ county be taxed Is pay the debt U
another, nor one p0' ton Of the State t'
J pav the debts Ofthe " hole State T'heS,
/ things are not cXcey ted from the pow
/ crs Oi' the Legislature because the diC
not pass to the Assoc bly, by the genera
grant Of Legislative yower. A pr0tibi
I- ion was not necrssar'. An Act Ot Az
rcmbly, commanding or authorizing
them to be done, could not be law
kut an attempt 10 pr0nounCc "A judhia
~ ntcnce, order or deere"
! refer also to ,Indr Agncw, alSC a
Democrat believe: WIZ }, in the caSt. OF
I Washington Avenue. INlX Prnnsyl-
( vaNia State reports 49,, ,I'"cided in 1871
! says
IS admit that the poker to tax is u9
! bounded by any express limit in the
! cnnsE .tution-that il ma: be exercised
! to tlN, full extent of the Ft.1lic cXlGency
/ contede that it differs irG1n the power
of rmGuent domain, and HIS no thought
of c0in, ensation by way @.S return foi
thut wlfich it takes and angles to th'
public good, further than all derive
benefit from the purpose 10 which 1t is
applied. But nevertheless 'ttXation Is
bounded in the exercise hy its own
nature, essential characteristic and pur-
pose. IL unust therefore visit all alike
in reasonably practicable &ay OF
which the Legislature may judge, but
within the iust limits of WHAT'S taxa
! tiOn. Like the rain it may fall npon
/ the people in districts and by turns. but
still it must @e public in its purpose,
aud reasonably just and equal ia its
distribution, a2d cannot sacrifice indl-
vidual right by palpably unjust eX'
action. To do no il cOntiscation, mot
taxation, extortation, not assessment,
| fi'i iNi'' "hpHii tL' Ni''tl y IN fii " ~
striction in the Bill of Rights.
Laws which cast the burdens Of
the public on few individuals. no
matter what the pretense,or how seem
ing their analogy to constitutional en-
actments, are in their essence despotic
and tyrannical, and ii becomes the
judiciary to stand firmly by the funda-
mental law, in defence Of the general
great and essential principles of liberty
and free government, for the establish
mcnt and perpetuating of which the
Constitution itself was ordained"
refer to another very good authority
a distinguished jurist and one of the
most reliable judges we have i'll the
land, a Democrat also, Judge Shars.
wood who in the case of Hammett w.
Philadelphia, l.. y. V. Pennsylvania
State, l46, decided in 1870, says;
: There is, indeed, no clause in the
Constitution of Pennsylvania which re-
stricts the power OF taxation in the
| Nria alature as Ia TO ba found in the