The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-10-03

JACKSONVILLE, September 9th, 1892
The Editor of The Tinass

ton by comparative statements of State expenses
before and since the war, is briefly shown in the
following paragraph which l cut frnm an edito-
rial OF the FLORIDIAN:
I'm 1850 the population was 10000 nearly
one half Ol which were slaves the votes cast in
that wear were about 1900. The total value
OF taxable property was $67, 529 231, of which
500, log 632 was The value of the slaves and $3S,
322 500 was the valHe of all other property. The
State tax IS 2-3 cents ON the hundred dollars
OF property. There was no debt Ia speak ot,
and consequently no tax was imposed for inter
terest- There was no school system and no tax
was assessed for schools. There was no State
institution like the Lunatic Asylum Ia be sup
ported by taxes, and the criminal costs were
trfing for the reason that the overseer was gen
orally judge, jury and eXecuiioneT in nine tenths
OF the cases and this saved large outlay from
the State treasury for jurors and witnesses"
The editor might have further stated that from
the inauguration of the Stale Government, in
1S4S, down 10 1861, when the State went into re-
belun, there were no accounts bv which the
people could be informed of the expenses of the
Stale The State officers the government
private corporation OF their own, and made no
exhibit to the people
This fact We have from the official statement
"f the Comptroller In his report in 1861 says
Since the year 1913 there have been no ac-
counts kept showing the eXpences for which the
State has been liable. For instance there is no
Executive no judicial no military and no con
tingent nor other necessary expense accounts 10
be found from the year 1913 down Ia the year
ending November l. 1860"
And in 1866 it was found necessary for the
Legislature TO appoint commission 10 ascertain
the debt ol the Stale, from which il would APP
pear that the same gross neglect had been con-
tinued during the period of secession, in which
all the funds were squandered, and the State was
turned over to Republican administration with
every dollar exhausted and AN underlined bonded
and floating debt, which was Immediately gath
cred up aud provided for by taxation under the
new Constitution, so that in 1876, when The Stale
was turned over by the Republicans to the " Con-
Servalivc (heaven save the mark admnlstra-
ton Of Governor Drew the State was in sound
financial condition. H.
We find this precious document in the
jacksonville Times Of the both ult 1t
will be observed that " III J" which is short
for Ho"riSon, quotes paragraph from an
editorial in the FLoRIDIAN of last Tues
day, headed "The Difference between
Then and Now" but that cunning old
fox, for purpose of his own, leaves out
that portion of the editorial which
showed the Difference between Now
and 7Hen He gives the Iheit but omits
the No~, and this piece Of adrOitness
deprived the readers of the Times of data
for an intelligent comparison between the
condition Of the State in 1850 and its con
dition in 1882, as bearing upon the ques-
ton of taxation between these two pc
riod> and the necessity for higher rate
now than was imposed before the war
However, We supply what :" Ii omits:
In 1850 We had 269 900 population, all free; in
that year voted IL 900; our debt was about
! 81 300 900; our annual interest is $4,000 our
! State school tax is ten csnts on every one hun
/ dred dollars Of property our Lunaic Asylum
costs US annually $1,000, while our criminal
| costs are much greater than they were under the
| old system before the war.
The FLoRIDIAN showed further that
the change in the States condition result
ing from the war and 1--WE now add from
the extravaganza of Radical administra
tons, imposed burthens on the people
which made it utterl impossible to run
the government, without taxable resour
ces were very much increased, on as cheap
basis as before secession. 1t was shown
that had the burdens now existing existed
in 1860, and had there been no slaves
then as there are none now, the same rate
of taxation now imposed would have
been necessary in 500 to meet expenses.
Nobody, however much they pirate about
the old days, disputes this or can dispute
it.
But our object in copying the whole
| communication Of " H." was more to cor
rect his misstatements than to show that
he had garbled the FLoRIDIAN's editorial
1t is not true that from the Inaugural
ton of the government in 1915 mot IS4S)
! down TO 1861, "there were no accounts
by which the people could be informed of
the expenses of the State" The state
ment quoted from Comptroller's report
to this effect in 1861 was shown by the
report of joint committee of the two
| Houses, of which DIR. Baldwin of Jackson
Vile, then in the Senate, was a member,
to be utterly false. The Comptroller who
made the statement quoted left an unsa-
worry reputation as an officer The com
mittee referred to reported a mass of tes-
timony duplicating him in the fraud con
nected with the issue of some 81 20, 900 of
COmptrOller's warrants on bogus Indian
war claims and he had to " step down and
out" All these facts were known to
" H." and his concealment of them was
disingenuous if not dishonest
Equally disingenuous is the statement
by " ii. relative to the appointment OF a
committed in 500 to ascertain the debt for
which the State was to be responsible
under the new order of things The com
mittee consisted of Colonel John Beard,
Judge j. d. Westcott and j. b. Gal
braith. 1.-The Johnson plan of recon
struction under which the State govern
ment was then organized and Governor
Walker elected required that all debts
contracted Gin aid of the rebellion "
should be repudiated, and what were war
debts to be repudiated and what were
Legitimate debts to be paid could only be
ascertained after examination by com
mittee. This is all there is of that. The
! committee found after Spnaratinu the ono