Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-26


Some minor questions incidentally arose
IN the trial of the California cases. The
attorneys for the State claimed that in the
special case on trial (the Santa Clara easel
the railroad companies should be adiudged
liable to pay the taxes Notwithstanding the
discrimination, because the mortgage in
that case given by the company contained
a covenant that the corporation should paw
all the taxes and public burdens and
charges levied upon the property On this
point Justice Field says:
The covenant cannot affect one way on
the other the right of the plaintiff to re-
cover. The power of the State is not en-
larged or diminished by it. 1t is not made
with the State, and could not be enforced
by 1t. 1t is matter which concerns only
the parties. They can by arrangement
vary 1t any day they can enlargeit, release
it or qualify it whenever they choose. 1t
would be strange, indeed, if the States
power of taxation depended in any way
upon the stipulation of third parties, or the
validity of a tax could be affected by it..
The covenant is necessarily limited to such
taxes as may be lawfully levied on the
mortgaged property, and cannot be con-
strued TO extend to any taxes levied in dis
regard of the Constitution and laws"
In other words, Justice Field held that
the States sovereign authority to levy and
collect its taxes did not depend on the pri-
vate agreement of its citizens. and if tax
was unlawfully levied a private contract
could not give it validity. A position
which is unanswerablel
Another point made by the States at
torneys in the California cases was that the
word person as used in the Fourteenth
Amendment did not apply to artificial per-
sons or corporations; that it simply meant
natural persons. In other words, they
claimed that when natural persons associ-
ated themselves together and conducted
business in the form of companies or cor
porations they lost those rights of equality
and the protection of The laws which they
would have otherwise enjoyed They
based their pretensions on the fact that the
Fourteenth Amendment was adopted as a
protection to the negro Justice Field
held that while such was undoubtedly the
origin OF the provision, the language was
unequivocal, and it extended its protection
to all persons, natural and artificial, of all
colors, creeds, nationalities and conditions.
The Supreme Court evidently concurred on
this point, for in the recent decision they
held by implication that corporations were
entitled to equal protection, and decided
the case on merit, without regard to this
technical objection.
In the face of these patent facts it is diff
cult for any reasonable person to comIre-
bend how the Supreme Court can do any
thing but affirm the unanswerable logic
and convincing conclusions found in the
opinions Of Judges Field and Sawyer in
the celebrated railroad cases. OF course,
these remarks do notapply to your genuine
hard-shelled anti-monopolist. The flatter-
ing hope OF yet "cinching" the railroads
is his guiding start is the beacon light of
his political career and he watches it with
pride, as the delusion which keeps his
fragile bark from Gashing to pieces on the
solid rocks of truth and Justice. If the
railroads should submit to the extortion
and discrimination that he and his ilk are
enabled to practice upon them, through the
Ignorance and prejudice of his deluded
constituency, then his occupation would be
gone. While his battle cry is the railroad
tax question. he secretly prays that the
railroads will never pay their taxes. On
the rostrum and through the press he ex-
horts his followers that the railroads should
pay their taxes " the same as other folks -
and that all voluntary contributions u
offered in the shape of taxes should be in
dignantly refused as beneath the sovereign
dignity of an outraged people The mask
OF hypocrisy can be retained but n short
time longer by the demagogic element. for
speedy decision on this question by the
Supreme Court is a contamination devoutlv
to be wished.
\ wRETCHED SYSTEM OF TAXATION.
The whole system of laws i'll California
for the collection of taxes is sadly out of
joint. a statute which allows ten per cent.
additional for lawyers fees to be paid by a
taxpayer who may have good grounds for
contesting the payment of his taxes is a
species of extortion. 1t is this statute which
has created all the devilment in the present
cases. Visionary lawyers fees aggregating
over 100000 have been piled up on the
railroads more than an ordinary fortune,
if they were able to collect them. tits this
enormous prospective consideration which
has encouraged such an aggressive and per-
scouting spirit in the railroad tax cases, and
enabled grasping and selfish leaders to carry
the matter into political conventions, and.
indeed, its baneful influence to permeate al
most every department of the State Gov
eminent! They have gained almost abso-
lutte and tyrannical control of one political
party in the State, which, led on in its blind
zeal and devotion by its vicious and dan
gerous leaders, is pledged for the extortion
of this money from the railroad companies,
even if it has To be taken III defiance of the
judgments of the Courts and in defiance of
law. ~ political party attempting to pre-
judge the decision of the Courts and pledg-
ing Itself to eXtort these so-called taxes,
whether legally levied or not is disgrace
to the civilization of the West Had it not
been for this len per cent. statute the tax
question would have been settled years ago,
and the Democratic party of California left
without an issue
What difference does it make in the rev.
enue of the State if the railroads were
assessed and taxed the same as other prop
erty? Not one farthing. The same amount
of revenue would come from railroad tax
alton, but would come from different
sources. Instead of the moItgagors paying
the full amount, the mortgages would
bear their just proportion of the public
burden, as is the case with all other mort
gagged property. As the taxes on the
mortgage would be lien on the railroad
property, the payment could be enforced
as in all other like cases. 1t would be
simply shifting portion of the burden on
the shoulders of other owners; if the
mortgage covered the full value of the road,
the owners of the mortgage must pay all
the taxes-such is the law as it operates on
others, and there is no good reason for
making an exception of any person or class
of persons.
When the news of the decision in the
Kentucky cases reached us, Mr.. Dunn
authorized the announcement to the world,
through the public press, that - the decision
settled beyond any controversy that the
same Court will decide in favor of the
State" Mr.. Delmas, his legal adviser and
first lieutenant, also authorized the an
nouncement that he regarded it as a vic
tory for the State, and most complete de-
feat of the railroad companies" Perhaps,
Mr.. Delmas also thinks that Justic Field
overruled himself; although Justice Mat
thews quoted the same authorities and fol-
lowed the same line CT reasoning that Field
did in the California cases. Time will tell.
Hope told tiattering talel In the mean
time, Delmas and his followers can lay the
fiattering JUNCTION to their souls that unless
their cause is sustained, next years Demo-
cratic victory, and ten per cent. counsel
fees will vanish into thin air, like the base
less fabric of vision LEX.
December s, 1885