Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-12-03
COMMUNICATIONS.
Can Anything be Done to Lower the
Rate of Taxatfon2

Rate of Taxatfon2
To the Editor OF the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
Tits estimated that the local tax of Lon
don is $5.85 per capita. The local tax of
New Haven is about $1,000 per capita, or
more than double that of London. There
is no more direct way of excluding from
ers, and men who employ large capital,
than by the increase of taxes. The more
burdensome the taxes the more will tax
payers seek to invest their capital else
where, or by various methods of conceal
ment seek to avoid the unreasonable tax of
a badly governed city. New Haven is in
debt, city, town and school district, and a
large interest account is yearly added to
the ever-increasing and often unnecessary
expenses. Until these debts are paid and
taxation reduced lat the highest rate) to
fifteen mills on its valuation, it has no
moral right to build sewers. purchase and
lay out parks and build expensive school
houses and conduct them by the unlawful
use of public money.
It is said that in the new portions of the
city of Paris there are no sewers. The
garbage and filth are daily gathered and
applied to vegetable gardens, with great
advantage both of health and wealth. Let
the board of health transport by rail the
contents of sewers and garbage-wagons to
the sand plains of North Haven, SO trans
forming that which has become nuisance
in the rivers and harbor into a means of
riches.
One way to diminish taxes is to appro-
pirate all the license fees for the selling of
beer and liquors to the payment of the
police and the support of the town poor.
The police force and the town-house are
the necessary complement of the saloons;
| the one should sustain the other. No por-
ton of this money should be given to the
police, who are well-paid class, and with
prudence may retire from the public ser
vice in comfortable circumstances. 1t is
both unwise and unjust to constitute an
army of pensioners of the retiring police
men and others whose services have been
abundantly paid. This is of the
chronic curses of England.
The expenses of the fire department
ought to be paid by the insurance compa
nies, by percentage on all premiums paid
by those whose property is insured. The
department is sustained by the city solely
in the interest of the underwriters. TIL,
citizen who pays to secure his property
from loss by fire ought not to be taxed tt
be provided by the party already paid tC
insure against loss. The fire-brigades oi
4 London are controlled and paid by the diff
ferent insurance companies. Perhap:
New Haven, after being over-burdened by
taxes, will become wise by accepting thu
experience of better governed cities.
The board of education increases tn
rate of taxation by using money for pur
| poses not authorized by law. Too mucl
money is expended in ornamental school
houses. The building and support o
training schools for teachers are not i'm
piled in the laws relating to the pubi
schools. Supplying the schools with FIRE,
textbooks at an expense of thirty or fort,
thousand dollars is the result of a dema
gogical trick. Supplying the High schoo
with textbooks has no color of law to jus
tify it. The laws relating to common o
"public" schools have no reference to an,
do not include the High school. The Law
authorizing free books allows them to b
furnished only to the "public schools.
The High school is not a public schoo
within the meaning of the law, but is pro
yided for by special enactments. TIL
''parochial" schools are not public schools
and are not established or carried on b.
the laws of the state. They are estat
lished by the express order of Leo XIII
Mr.. Pecci, living in Italy, and the stud
les are not those required by law, but ar
prescribed by the ecclesiastical authorit
of the Roman church. There is, there
fore. no law which authorizes the town
supply free text books to such schools. Il
3 therefore, the police and fire department
. can be sustained in the way indicated, an
the board of education be made to use th
school money economically and only {
authorized by law, the annual expens'
will be diminished by about three hundre
Q Thousand dollars.
: Taxation is increased by continuing IL
separate government of town and cit,
The most active opponents of consolid
ton are those who seek Office and generol
4 pay for their useless services.
a The radical remedy for excessive tax
ton and other forms of bad governmel
Il both of town and city is to be found
Q those who constitute the governing poy
ers. o. A. Brownson, an influential mel
o Der of the Catholic church, said in b
Review Gin 1852: ''The worst governs
9 cities in the union are those in whit
N Catholics are the most influential in ele
tions and have the most to do with muni
ipal affairs. They furnish more than o'
share of the rowdies, the drunkards al
the vicious population of our large cite
, The majority of rum-sellaxs in the city
3 New York are Catholics, and that porti
or the city WQere Iun-selLuS,
ness and filth most abound are those chi,
se ly inhabited by Catholics" Said Mr.. FL
ID OF, a Roman priest of New York, 81 d
like to acknowledge it, but the lamentai
fact is that in America pauperism a
ce crime are largely identified with the Cat
n ole church." The Catholic World
. September says: "From Catholic dor
NJ ciles-miscalled homes-three-fourths
at the public paupers creep annually to
almshouse, and more than half the crir
nails snatched away by the police to pris
er are by baptism and training members
ne our church"
M But worse than these things is the q
w slant meddling of the italian priest of
n, Vatican in the political affairs of t
country. In late encyclical, claiming
be inspired by the holy ghost, this "ini
In lible teacher" says: "The faithful sho
.se always relgiously take as the rule of th
Il conduct the political wisdom of the &c,
IN siastical authority" giving to the bis
- and priests power "to order and regul
he the action of Christian citizens in view
81 the realization of their eternal salvatio
wa This gives them a "corner" on vt
which brings candidates to terms.
who receives his political orders from
cir ly is incapable of understanding the
nd ture of our government, and therefore
a Il a u II = - IA -