Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1890-10-02

to be so feared. The people will not
Cypress themselves.
Suppose the clause in question had
been omitted from the constitution-the
power of the legislature would have
been just as great. There is hardly
Legislature, if any, in the United States
which does not have as ample powers
on this subject, and yet where is there
state in which any attempt to levy
such taxes as are imagined by the anti
statehood men, has ever been success
fully made?
The construction given to this clause
by it's critics is not sound. The legisla
ture is prohibiting from levying high
er rate of taxation than 1 per centum
on the value of taxable property within
the state. While taxes upon particular
articles may be levied, yet they must
not exceed 1 per centum on their value,
A tax upon billiard tables, for example,
might be imposed, but it could not
exceed 81 for table of the value Of
! 500.
But there never will be any need Of
1 any taxes beyond the per centum on
= the value of property in the state, even
e for the first year. After the first yeaI
= the tax for state purposes willfall below
= that limit The business OF a prophet
= is very uncertain, but when we see what
statehood has done for territories to the
O north of us, no man will hesitate tC
: agree that admission to the union mex
it winter would give us an assessed valua
o ton in 1892 of property in the state o
is not less than SS0,000,00O, as agains
1t about 100000 now.
= For the first year the [ per cent ough
RS to give us S47O,00O; and allowing 70
or all possible defalcations in ColfaN, SAINT
Fe and Grant counties, the only coun
J. ties to be feared on collections, not les
IN than $350,O0O will be actually realized
H. The appropriations for the present yea
r. for territorial expenses, amount
ks $224,5l5. With margin of $4,000
ot for additional expenses under sta
government, we can feel safe Mr.. Y
he E. Kelley, of Socorro, in recent lett
ed to the press, make the following est
,al mate of the additional expenses require
he for the state government:
he To pay the legislature, seventyo members at
81 per day sixty days, once in two years, Sl1,- -,
I'm 0ij or the Of 8, 5) year.... .......,S S5H
Cu- Members mileage s8OO6per session. or $l,50 per
,ia d'S
ilo' Governor 3UW
$50 Three supreme judges l5,WS
"a Four district judges l?N'
Secretary of state. 2u
CHI State superintendent of education. ....... 80
Ne. $50.
ew To this, however there should
ode added something for that portion Of t
on miscellaneous Legislative expenses NJ
ese paid by the United States, viii
Mo amounts to about $4,000 with a legis
nal ture of 3G members. With legislat'
ere Of : | members, such expenses might
hat as much as $l5,O00-certainly j
oso much more-which would make t
,ior total $62 1920.
If If we view this limit from the pc
ira of view of comparison with oil
.ust states, we will see its wisdom.
O. a this we quote from the AlbuquerC
,ote Citizen:
Won And in fact, the people only nee'
to have their attention called to
,rr. fact to see that this 1 per cent lii
was one of the wisest provisions Of
1ies constitutional that would guaran
art economy in the administration of st
the government, and be safeguard to
pom people against excessive taxation.
Gus 1t is just such clause as is C
der tanned in the constitutions of nearly
lxes the western states, and, as the Cit
ug- has already said, if the trainers
lily the pending instrument had not inc
re- porated such a provision, the Democl
had would have raised deafening howl
any account of its omission. We have
i'm amined the constitutions of some tel
,uf fifteen states, within the last few ds
are and find such clause in all of the
us We find, also, that none of them pl
so the limit above l per cent, while m;
,der of them mt If considerably below