The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-07-26
Taxation and Mr.. Lyle.
FRU1TLAND, FLA, July %, 1884


whatever concerning the taxation OF Mr..
Lyle; SO far as l am capable of Judging,
the ''heap of trouble" is on the other
side. In former letter of Mr. LIS to
THE NEWS he said | had discovered a
| wonderful mares nest; that he owned
hundreds Of acres of land, etc, and that
he explained to the board that the land
referred to was a part of Clay county,
think that the land is still in Putnam
county.
will give the list, with book, date and
page of record, all the deeds made to G..
w. Lyle; Book G, page S1S, December
26, 1875, land in sec. 81, twn. II s., range
26 e. 40 acres; Book G, p. 321, December
%, 1876, lands in secs. 18, II, 16 and 10,
twn. 8, range %, 480 acres; Book G, p.
324, December 26, 1876, lands in sec. 81,
twn. 10, range %, so acres; Book H, p.
922, January %, 1878, land in sec. II,
twn. 10, range 20, 40 acres; Book H, p.
628, January 80, 1878, lands in secs. 3and
s, twn. 8, range %, 100 acres. None of
the above described land is in Clay coun-
ty, and none in the Hernandez Grant, of
which Mr.. l.. returns 1000 acres. My
purpose in showing up Mr.. Lyle's return
as compared with the record is not to
bother him, but to show to the public
what kind Of men it is who have made
such broad and sweeping charges against
the commissioners Of Putnam county
| and against the people of the county for
UphOlding these officials, if the commits
siOners are what Lyle asserts and charge.
l have always supposed a man was ''in-
nocent until he was proven guilty" and
upon the parties complaining rests the
proof of such guilt. | have carefully
read all the letters of the Lyles bearing
upon the matter. and l cannot find one
iota Of proof or argument that the board
OF commissioners are partisan or discrim-
mate against republicans. Lyle strains
himself to defend his own returns and to
show that there are discrepancies of val
| uation in last years 1888 assessment.
No one has denied that it has been ad
mitted. The problem in the Lyle letter
of the 18th inst, as published in THE
NEWS, is easily solved, and proves by his
own words and figures what | stated in
my letter of June eth, that the 90 acres
lot that is returned by his AGENT is not
fully taxed. AS he says OF this lot, 1T
is not, in fact, one-eighth
of the value of the whole 900 acres.
They tried to assess my place 81 900, that
being so per cent more than the place
adjoining, or double tho tax paid by Col.
D. Now, if $1,000 is 30 per cent, or
double the value of place adjoining or
Col. DIS, $4,000 represents the value of
either place, and the proportionate value
of the % acre lot the value of said lot be-
| ing less than one-eighth value Of the
whole. / will allow margin of one
| fourth, and call it one-sixth, and the
value of the 100 acre lot and groves
would be 50, 100 more in valuation than
any other grove in this county. l don't
think the Putnam county commissioners
| dad as they are) would place the value
quite so high"
| said in my last letter that it was CON
sidered at the time of the raise in value
of q. w. Dyles property that the % acre
| lot was embraced in his return. 1t was
so; but was not the only consideration
which led to its downfall. Nothing in
any of my letters can be so construed as
to mean, directly or indirectly, that the
name and politics of the owner must be
known before just and true value can
be assigned to property.
The charges were made by the Lyles;
now let them prove it; they have been
repeatedly asked for facts and figures, for
facts they only give their word, that is
worth nothing. The figures don't turn
out well for them. 1t may be because of
the old adage, figures won't lie." For
/ the charges l make, those interested can
look at the record and decide. will not
attempt any more efforts at stupid wit. +"
l viii concentrate my intellect" in COM
posing sweet bit OF poetry that may hit:
One G. W. Lyle lives way up the river,
| A wondrous wise man and mighty lawgiyer;
Has untold wealth. and the public to grind
axes,
But it's too hard on the man to make him pay
taxes.
His wisdom is great, and he cuts a big figure,
Small on the white man but big on the nigger-
+ In official position he made a big splurge-
/ He's transposing Yankee Doodle TO a demo;
cratic dirge.
4 So, now fare you well, my dear Mr., Lyle,
I By dodging your taxes you add TO your pile;
lie upright, straightforward, and keep your
head level
/ And youT finally succeed in dodging the devil
Individually yours,
j. E. MARSHALL.
! The Cow-Catcher to be SupDIanted