The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-08-22

TALLAuAssns, August 81,

1
set that he intended to give credit where il was
due for having accomplished such an end. as
well as an advertisement for our State abroad.
1t is certainly credit to any institution, either
private or public, to have their paper bankabe
and at par. But this was too much for him.
Following the instincts of his nature and disap-
pointed pride 81 not going into the Cabinet of
Governor Bloxham, as well as q soured DISPOSE
tion he is forced to refer to the burdens OF taxa
ton, and in such q manner as to embitter the
minds of as many as he can influence against our
true statesman and popular Governor by laying
the blame on him. When he states that the
taxes for 1876, amounting to SITS, 92S96, were
paid in scrip at so cents on the dollar, making
the amount actually in cash equal to only 1887,
961.9 he knows as well as do that he is stat
ing an untruth, for he was then taxpayer in
this county, and knows too well that there is but
one item in State taxes that could be paid in
scrip-that is Estate Tax Proper" and the cor
responding one for the county. County Tax
Proper These items only were payable in
their respective scrips, and were only small
part of the enormous taxes we had TO pay to the
Radical government
am surprised that a man with such honest
intents as he claims, and with the intelligence
that one should possess who aspired TO the hon.
orabe position of Attorney General of the State,
should make such statements as he did in this
article. Mr.. Hilton, "when a Democrat" pro-
claimed from the stump that Stearns and his
carpet-bag assistants were taking all the money
from the treasury. 1t is not possible that they
nil
only realized so cents on the dollar, for not only
did they get their pay In cash, but bought all the
scrip as il was issued. So that it was almost
impossible for a poor taxpayer to find enough
that he could buy at discount to pay the small
portion of his taxes that he was allowed TO pay
in scrip. 1t was in this way that most of our
State bonds went into these peoples hands,
they being the ones to issue the scrip, at the
same time buying it at almost their own price
and converting it into bonds at par
Mr.. Hilton never once makes the statement
that of the amount of taxes for 1881 which were
in total $642, 692.61, the county tax, which was
$780, 1854, which was $7S,S37 more than the
whole State tax, was levied by and collected en-
tirely by orders of the County Commissioners of
the different counties, spent by them, and that
the State administration had nothing to do with
it, and certainly cannot be held responsible for
it.
lie never makes an explanation why our
county taxes are as high as they are. He knows
that most of the counties were left very heavily
in debt by our Radical rulers Take our county
(Leon) for instance-he knows that there was a
very large amount of scrip outstanding, and still
is. He knows that there was large debt for
bridges left for us to pay He knows the school
fund was left most fearfuIly in debt. He knows
that the railroad debt was put upon this county
long years ago, and is not the work of this
county administration All these debts had TO
be paid as fast as possible. He, as we'll as every
one else in the county, knows that we have been
unfortunate in losing our courthouse, and the
only way to have another was to levy tax to
build the same.
Why has he not honesty and fairness enough
to admit these matters and explain them to the
taxpayers, and not give vent to his dis
likes and prejudices by constant abuse and mis-
representations. He knows that Governor Blox-
ham has nothing to do with The county taxes taxes;
eddy expecting no one to read them but persons
of no minds or opinions of their own. / would
like to see where Governor Bloxham would find
the authority to order the County Commission
ers TO only levy a certain amount of taxes and
no more. The County Commissioners would.
without hesitation, notify him of the fact that he
had nothing to do with it. Still Mr. Hilton
blames the administration for the county part of
the taxes. II any one will take the trouble TO
look at these figures and the books are in the
Comptroller's Office to prove themselves, they
will see that in this county Ueon) there was
less than one-haf the amount assessed for total
State taxes in 1881 than there was in 1875. Total
State taxes assessed in Leon county in 1875 was
$29, 91609-in 1881, $14 ,10S "a, making differ
ence of $15,81275. There is also difference in
the county tax iniavor of 1881 of 81, 9OO.4S Now,
with these facts staring him In the face, why
will he allow his prejudices to control his know-
edge, or if he has not taken the trouble to obtain
such knowledge, he certainly ought to do so be-
fore publishing such articles as the one that ap-
pears in his issue of the 10Th
l am free to admit that our county taxes are
high, but ii is from unavoidable circumstances,
and our misfortune of having had such a set of
thieving officers up to 1875 that left us in such
a fearful financial condition. These debts that
they bequeathed US will have to be paid or repu-
dated, and certainly no honest man would ad-
vocate that. The only way l can see to pay them
is by taxation, and that is forced to take time,
for while We are paying for the work of these
robbers, we have to support our county institu-
tons. They are being, am sure, as judiciOusly
managed, with such a man as Colonel John
Bradford chairman, and with his associates
the remainder of the Board, as they possibly
could be, for they all honest men and large
taxpayers. don't really believe the that add-
ton of Mr. Hilton TO the Board would be an i'm
prOvement.
Let me say in conclusion, il is to be regretted
that any one should become 80 disgruntled as
our honorable editor AMI then get mad with
every one else because they do not see things as
he would like them To do.
Let me beg of you. Democrats of this county
and the State, not to be misled your principles
the least bit furnished by such writings. They
are not correct They are unkind, and certainly
not Democratic. TAXPAYER
80. Teresa.
Editor FloridiGn !: As ST. Teresa seems TO be
all the fashion this summer, few of us not long