Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-10-02

I UdTUy
| is in power in this state, the expenses of
state government are always more than
| they are under Republican rule. This
table is from the auditor of states report
and gives the appropriations made annu-
ally:
1880 90. s?,4l3,9O9 % 1896 ... s3,O7s S5a SO
| 1881 80. 2,464. 500 O6 1887 49,. 1885, 45l %
1882 .... 2,767, ,437 10 1888 80. 3Og9sa3 10
1883 .... 1929, ,236 81 1889 80. 2,29g S31 So
1884 .... 2,SgS,7 ,7l3 90 1890 go. 3, 80, ,0O7 70
1885 go. 1924, 14j IS
You can see by this that the last Demo-
cratic general assembly, which was in
session in 1885, appropriated more than
three and half million dollars to run
this state government-more than ever
was appropriated by any other Legislature
in the history in the state. The present
legislature comes within only $1,000 of
making the appropriations of the coal
oil" Legislature, and is at the same time
far greater than that OF any of its Repub-
Hcan predecessors. Compare these Demo-
cratic appropriations with the apprOpria-
tiOns of Republican legislatures and you
will find striking difference that carries
with it lesson and Il warning to the tax
payers of this state
The Democratic regime of 1884 and 1885
placed upon this state an era of misrule
that threatened embarrassment to its
financial integrity. If the present admin
lstration keeps up its appropriations as it
has started out, it will steer Ohio into a
whirlpool of bankruptcy, and will lelve
her where the Hoadly administration left
her, with deprecated credit and bank
rupted treasury. All this, my fellOw-citi-
Zens, bears upon your shoulders. From
your farms and from your property comes
every dollar of this expenditure. Year by
year the amount of money raised by taxa
ton in Ohio for all purposes, both local
and general, has been constantly incre s.
ing. There has been such a rapid stride
as to make every question which looks to
an economical management and eXpendl-
ture of money in state affairs, really the
greatest question in Ohio politics.
The people of Ohio paid in taxes in the
year 1881, 81, ,6O6, $50; in 1889 they paid
SD, 1861. The general fund of taxation
was raised from duplicate which in 1881
was 81 ,5S7, ,207 ,579 in 1889 the state dupli-
cate was 81, 754, 1871 ,344. Just analyZe those
figures, and what does it show? Why it
shows that the amount raised by taxation
in this state since 1881 has increased nearly
SO per cent, while the taxable valuation
of the state on its tax duplicate has in
creased but per cent The burden of
taxation travels with the stride of
giant. The tax duplicate creeps with the
pace of a snail. With these facts in view,
my fellow-citiZens, can there be anything
more important to you than TO know
which party spends more economically the
money you pay into the state treasury?
Can anything be more important to the
taxpayers of Ohio than to know the fact
that the Democratic party in this state
mas been extrayagant, has been careless
and reckless in the expenditure of the
peoples money!
There is another subject to which / de-
sire to call your attention, as being an i'm
portant one in arriving at the expenses
borne by the taxpayer. That is the Ques-
tion of local Indebtedness or taxation i'm
posed for purely local purposes. 1t is one
of the greatest sources Of complaint
among the people, because its presence is
directly felt by the taxpayer, and he is
constantly made aware of its presence by |
the semi-annual drain upon his pocket |
book. Local taxation is the hardest bur-
den that the farmer the business man or
the manufacturer must bear. Compare |
lively speaking, the taxes imposed by the |
state are light. Four fifths of the taxes |
imposed in Ohio are levied by local au-
thorities and for local purposes.
Because they are levied and created in
generally small amounts, their burden is
not at first perceived, but an aggregate of
the outstanding local Indebtedness of this
state is absolutely astounding. 1t has
grown from S45000,00O in 1882 to more
than S600O0,000 In 1889. And in, this re-
gard we find the same lOOseneSs and reck-
lessness prevalent in the Democratic gen
eral assembly to a degree which far sur
passes anything ever contemplated by a
Republican general assembly. At the
single session of the first three months of
this year the present legislature increased
the local indebtedness of this state S.
S93, Coz, making the already weighty bur
den of outstanding local Indebtedness
more than SO, 100000.
Yet the Democracy of Ohio are pleading
with the farmers Of this state for conf
dence and support, on the ground that
they are the sole possessors of a panacea
which will relieve them of all their ills
and take from them the burdens of an ex-
cessive taxation. And in this connection
can be given one of the strongest argu-
ments against the free trade doctrines of
the Democratic party, now SO far adopted
and prese ted by them in this state. III.
as Democracy desires, the protective tariff
is destroyed, and the rate of import duties
lessened, even to the ultimate result of
free trade. where is the government of the
United States, which requires 81, 100000 Il
day to pay its expenses, where, | say, is
the government to obtain its revenue?
Not from internal duties, for the Democ-
racy repudiate that system.
1t must come. then, by direct taxation
upon your farms and your property,
thereby adding a weight which it would
require modern Atlas to uphold. The
same spirit of reckless imposition of taxa
tiOn would, under the Democratic ideas
OF tariff reform. transfer to the shoulders
of the farmer and other taxpayers the eX-
pense of maintaining the government of
our nation in addition to that of the state.
give you this thought in order that you
may elaborate it in your own minds, as
one that is closely allied to the question
of taxation. Enough has been said con-
cerning the present administration in
Ohio, and say this with especial refer
ence to the general assembly, to demon
strate to any candid man that from the
beginning to the end
THE DEMOCRACY HAVE NOT PERFORMED A
SINGLE ACT
of common Denpnt the DeODle of the
state. They have not passed single law
which adds dollar to the revenue of the
state government. Not a single law that
has increased the efficiency of the public
service or the public institutions. Not n
single law that has reduced the rates of
taxation in this state Not a single law
that has diminished to the extent of n
dollar the public bebt in Ohio. No law
looking to the elevation o. prote tion of
the ballot has been passed. In a word,
my fellow citizens, the state of Ohio or its
people have not been improved a single
iota by the accession TO power of the
Democratic party. In striking contrast
with this record the Republican party of
Ohio can fearlessly compare its four
years control with the results which
have given you of the Democratic !min-
IL you pass in review what the
last Republican legislature of this state
has done, you will be astonished at III,
quantity aud quality of its work as evil
denccd by its
VALUABLE, PATRIOTIC AND WISE LAWS.
They decreased the rate of taxation and
thereby reduced the amount necessary TO
be raised by the taxpayers of this state
more than S300O0 annually. They passed
revenue laws which pay to the people OF
the state nearly 8, 100000 annually. They
and built soldiers home in or
hat hn nf ~