Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1890-07-19
THE old question of consolidation and re-


irenchment is cropping out quite abruptly,
and several Of the State papers are advocat-
ing measures to lesser the expenses Of our
State and county governments. Some OF the
measures are good; all Of them, in fact, we
think, except the consolidation Of counties
There is such thing as OVERRIDING the matter
of reducing expenses. A consolidation of
certain Offices in the counties and looping
off Of many deputies in State offices, we be-
lieve would be good idea, but when you
come to consolidate tie counties in connec-
ton with the above move 1t will make them
50 large that it will be impossible for one
man to do the work required in his Office and
there your expenses will be raised again. A
Legislature composed Of thirty members in
stead of sixty could do just as much and as
good work and do it just as well and thirty
day session would be ample time to transact
all business every two years. There is no
necessity Of Supreme Court, whichifit was
done away with would be considerable Of a
4
officers are not too high as fixed at present,
we think, if the officials were only made 10
do their own work. Our idea is to pay good
wages TO good men who are capable of at
tending to the duties Of their Offices. If it
was law that the officers should do this.
and no deputies were allowed, it would pre-
vent a whole lot of incompetents from seek
ing Office. The way to accomplish all this
is 10 call a Constitutional Convention. 1t
never will be accomplished by amendments,
for the reason that men who are elected to
the Legislature will not favor move that is
going to decrease their time and pay, as has
been shown on more than one occasion. A
Constitutional Convention, it has been esti-
mated by some, will cost $50. 900 to $40, ooo
We believe that it will cost the State not less
than 500, 900, but consider that it will be Of
such benefit in the end that the sum ought
not to be considered at all
There is another thing that ought to be
done to make our State appear better 10 the
eyes Of newcomers. A person seeking a To-
cation in Nevada naturally inquiries about
the value of property here and the rate OF
taxation. At the present time he finds that
values are low and taxes high. Now, if it
were the other way, and property was high
and taxation low, would not people DESTROYS
of locating somewhere with few hundreds
or thousands. Of dollars prefer the latter con-
ditions. The property in the State ought to
be assessed at as near its full value as posi-
BILE and this would make the rate Of taxation
much lower. A single county>o or two cannot
do this for the reason that they would be pay
ing greater proportion of Stat tax than
the other counties, but it is law that should
be general throughout the State. Then we
could say to people tive are in prosperous
condition" without fibbing. Another advan-
,tage Of this system Of taxation would be that
the poorer classes would not have to pay the
bulk Of the taxes. Small pieces of property
are now assessed at very near their full val
ne while larger owners do not pay taxes on
more than half of their possessions. AS
before stated, what this State needs is Con-
stitutional Convention to do away with a
whole lot Of now useless laws that are ex-
pensive to the State.