Arizona silver belt., 1884-05-24
COUNTY TAXES.

pervisors, Messrs. Westmeyer and Robertson, took occasion to indirectly criticise myself and others who signed a petition respectfully requesting the Board of Supervisors, when they levied the taxes for 1884, not to exceed two per cent on the assessment, &c.: and that they seriously consider the pres. ent financial condition of the county, and, if possible, spare the tax payers from onerous duties.
 This petition, signed by fifty-six of the principal citizens of Globe, was read in open session by the Board, and "laid on the table, accompanied with remarks from Messrs. Westmeyer and Robertson, in which myself and other signers of the petition were severely criticised, for presuming to intimate to them our wishes. It was claimed by Mir. Westmeyer that many of the signers paid but an insignificant sum of taxes, and that he himself was one of the heaviest tax payers, but he failed to state that he was also one of the largest '!tax eaters in the county. He failed to state that he has drawn from the county treasury, in ready cash, the past year, the sum of $695. .15, fully one-half of which was for per diem services as supervisor, and the balance for rents and merchandise at large profit.
 Now Mir. Westmeyer paid the sum of $47.46 into the county treasury, and if all the taxpayers of the county could liquidate their taxes by serving the county few hours monthly, and Estill have good profit for a margin, they would not object to have the tax levy double what it was last year. This fling at poor men, who pay but small amounts in taxation, does not become Mir. Westmeyer, who daily eats the bread of the same men. The right of petition is a sacred right, and no one is so poor and humble that this right should be denied him, for we live in republic that knows no distinc- tion between the rich and the poor. Mir. Westmeyer's fling at me about wishing to secede from the county with a fortune, regardless of the fu- ture, is also unjust. l brought more capital here when 1 started in Globe than Mir. w. ever had, or will have, and this capital is here yet, and will stay here as long as am able to at tend to business.
 This is not the first time the tax payers of a county have deemed it prudent to make suggestions to "the powers that be" for it is a notorious fact that officials often get into a groove from which nothing short of giant powder will move them. Almost every county has its ring who eats the taxes of the county with a ratenous appetite, and under which the people groan and complain at their excessive demands. MT. Westmeyer, in his great ardor to show the wisdom of the county supervisors in levying and col lecting the oppressive taxes of 1883, amounting to S34,000, failed to show why this large amount was necessary. Thirty-four thousand dollars for about 15o0 people, is certainly too much, and there are lots of counties of twenty, thirty and forty times our population which get along on an assessment of about S30,O00 per year. In Pinal county the Board of Supervisors are pad for about thirty days for the en- tire year, and receive $50 per year. The assessment of Pinal county is about S1,800,000. The assessment of Gila county for 1883 was little over ,$l ,OOO,0 ,0O0-nearly one-half less than Pinal county, and still our supervi- sors draw more than double the pay that the supervisors of Pinal county draw. The very life-blood was drawn from the people to pay this amount of taxes, as every property owner knows, and it is strange that no itemized ac- count of the expenditures of the coun- ty has ever been published, so the tax payers could sec who are the "tax eaters"
 MT. W. coolly says, "They appear to find fault with us for having money in the treasury. They call it surplus. Yes, Mir. w., "surplus.' There is not a county in Arizona, and for that mat ter hardly a county; in the. United States, that levies and collects more than IS necessary to meet the obliga' tions of the county for the first three quarters of the year. County war rants are issued to meet the expenses of the last quarter, deeming it sound policy to permit the taxpayers to keel their money in their own pockets rather than pile it up in the county