The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-28
AN ALDERMANRIsEsr TO sPEAK.
The Historical side Of the Ground Rent
Question

! ssA VIII be ROT WltbO1t interest, paTtlcl-
larry 70 the ''caus.icr Capt. Gaerard aud
ex-AideTman Purse, the same Capt Purse
Whos at the recent nesting where Capt
Guerard was so ''caustic," was in favor Of
raising 5000 10 fight the city. Indeed, !
would not be surprised il some OF the re-
cent hearers Of ether ex-aldermen viii fnd
tae facts about 70 be stated worth their
attentive perusal and SINE resulting
| cogitation-
| 81 turning to the minutes OF the meeting
| Of coEnc-l held April ,, 1873 (ninutes which
| are subject 70 ne Inspection Of any citizsn),
md that Alderman Purse offered a resc-
luton. OF which the fol- owing is al exact
/ COPY:
| WHEREAS, Grave doubts exist as to the rizht
OF lns CITY authorities. under the present con
s-L-utioh OF the slaie. 70 l1nZer refrain frein
taxing those lots known as around rsat lots
heretofore not taxed.
AND WHEREAS, Further. the failure to place
| upon these lots the same ass .Ssnsnts and bur
thens Tor the maintenance Of tue city govern
Hlent as are Imposed upon other lots in the city.
| ana, os are expressly PROVIDED in tie ci-Y's
ufeIs conueNf1l9 them. iciA b ila 3ts and very
probably eInoarrGss the city ia providing reve-
nue. Tor its support and the payment of its debt,
| AND aE8EAs, further. in the present 1eces-
sly Tor extreme taxation, justice alike to the
t4Apayers and ths creditors requires that il be
equally and equiiaby distributed upon every
class OF property not exempted bY state law. or
Chartered or vested rights; therefore % il
hes 1iUed, That the board OF city assessors. in
accoruancs VITA section OF the ordnance for
raising revenue, etc. passed in council Dec rs,
700, o. and they are hereby instructed 10 place
VaIle upon the lots commonly known as ground
| rent lots, according 10 actual market value as
placed upon other real estate in the city subject
70 taxation, keeping in view. however, the effect
upon TINS value by reason Of the burden now
placed upon them, and from which they have
heretofore been exempt,
| The same minutes also show that Alder
| man Johnston Offered an amendment to the
effect that the lots be taxed to the extent
| OF & one-hfth interest only, but that this
| amendment was defeated and the Purse
resolution was adopted By vote of to 8.
Inc aldermen at this meeting apparently
| split upon the ex5eat of the taxation, six
| out of nice favoriug, however, the taxation
OK these lots at their full value.
This same official record also shows that
at the meeting of May 20, 1878, when the
ordinance which proposed to tax these los
as other property came up on Its passage, il
was passed by vote Of o to 2; that Alder
man Purse called for the yeas and nays tine
| alderman seemed determined to make a
record, with the following result: Yeas,
Aldermen Purse, Rowland, Freeman,
Hamilton, Duncan, Hamlet, Reilly, Will
link, and Lowell. Nays, Aldermen John.
ston and Waring. All the aldermen were
In your local columns of April 4, 1878, the
proceedings Of the previous evening are re-
ported, and IN the notice Of the ground rent
matter the following quotation is given
/ from Alderman Purses remarks:
In the recent conference Of council with
| prominent members of the bar, there had
been thorough discussion of this matter
and the opinion WAS generally endorsed that
| the city had the right 10 50 tax this prop
! erty," Gin the manner proposed il his reso-
| lutioD). There were some contrary views
! but the best legal talent Of the city had heen
| invoked, and this action was in the main
| sustained"
The inquiry becomes pertinent, to what
conference did Capt. Purse refer? What
prominent lawyers" were present and
what was tie advice Of the best legal
talent in the city" on the point the discus
| sion o! which now makes "plain-spokenn
Capt Guerard so extremely 'caussic" and
| puts Capt. Purse on the warpath for large
"slnsws Of warp find that on March 20.
1878, just five days before Capt Purse in
troduced his resolution, there was a con-
ference held at which there was q
thorough disuc sion Of this matter. 1 get
my date from the letter of ons of the attor-
neys now on file in the office of the clerk of
council. This attorney thought he would
be able to he present only for few minutes.
ana, therefore, wrote a letter emb1dyipg
his opinion. The attorneys who met c0un-
Gil for The purpose Of advising tbem as 70
whether these lots were taxable were the
then corporation attorney, Maj. Basinger,
and Messrs. Lawton, Guerard Che
same severe Capt. Guerard who
| now, in discussing this matter
scorns ''euphemism1, Mercer, Sgu,sv,
| Garrard aud Richards. These able lawyers
came to advise council about a ver3 i'm
| portant matter, in which there was in
| a n Of
which good many of their fellow-citizens
felt keen, personal interest. 1t was to be
| presumed their character and reputation,
forbid any other t5ought) that any opinion
they might express was well-considered aud
duly weighed after full investigation of
all the facts, including such mayors reports
as were in their possession.
They knew that ,ths Ipractical question
before council was whether they sh 5uld tax
these lots; that, if they were taxable, the
council, under the constitution of the state.
was obliged to tax them, having no alter
native, and that, therefore, the advice that
| they were taxable necessarily meant that
council must tax them. At this conference
the corporation attorney, Mai Basinger.
and Messrs. Guerari, Mercer, Garrard and
richards, five representatives 'of the best
| legal talent in the city, advised tn t
these lots were subject to city tax
alton. Gen. Layton would not exp ress
| am Iega! opinion, as he had not sufficiently
considered the matter bat stated that his
decided impression was that the lots were
not exempt. Mr.. Saus5y (he being alone in
this opinion) expressed "the contrary
views" referred to in Al herman Pur 3e's re
marks; but the alderman thou yht never
theless that the action when he proposed to
council was Sin the main sustainedn-this
action being to tax these lots at their
full value, bearing in mind only
that their value would be Deprecated
las is the case with every form of Or opertyl
by the new burden Of taxation. The f cts
as to the conference, the lawyers present
and the advice given can be proven by a
! number Of Giving Witnesses and are fully
borne out by the action Of council,
taken in pursuance of this advice.
few days afterwards. I will no:
| now venture an opinion as t. why
the action was not carried out, nor is this
relevant to the purpose Of this communion
ton. The fact is that the resolution was
never rescinded. and the ordinance was
never repealed. 1t seems that Capt.
Guerarl afterward paid some taxes on his
ground-rent property. l suppose he felt
bound TO pay, aud for this reason paid. 1t
is not likely that the captain meant to run
his hand in his pocket aud give the city
money as present BE simply "pracficed
what he preached" and showed his "faith
| bV his works " sh 1VYilf- IL in tho Ynoef mr.,