Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-15
WEDDING OUT VOTES.
Under the New Law Lists Will Be
Cut $4,000 in This County.
SOME SOFT SNAPS GONE FOREVER.
Heelers Drop Tear Over the Vanished
Fire Plug Registry.
VIGILANCE NEEDED IN SEPTEMBER

1t is estimated that tho assessment of
voters taken under the new registry law
will reduce the poll lists about $1,000 names.
1t seems to be taken for granted by some
people that this reduction represents the
surplus foisted on the wards by political
heelers for repeating purposes, but County
Commissioner Mercer says this conclusion is
at most only partially true, and in this Com
missioner Boyle, who is suspected of know
ing something about politics, agrees with
Mr. Mercer. The latter called attention to
the fact that with 100000 registration in this
county there were only 5000 votes cast, SO
that if the lists were padded there must
have been an immense number of people
who did not vote. The explanation Of the
falling of in Philadelphia this year,
which is likely to be found here also,
is that heretofore the registration
for voting purposes has been very carelessly
done and in a perfunctory manner, for If the
assessors had done their duty under the old
law the lists would have been substantially
correct. Registry assessors are allowed Is
days in which to do their work, and none of
them put in tull time, though some would
have but about five names per day to get to
put in fill time.
Making Hard Work for a Bluff
The explanation given in such cases is
trict in the county to get over" Some of
them have an awful time and frequently
one who charges his full time for getting go
to 100 names comes in to make his report in
8 terribly exhausted state, while another
who has 900 to LOCO on his list makes no COM
plaint whatever. He probably feels that his
exhibit needs no excuse and so makes none,
feeling, like Uncle Jerry Rusk, that he saw
hls duty and he done it," One who put in full
time had l2O names, or thereabouts, on
his list. about a day being necessary to get
six names and a fraction. y CONSCIENTIOUS
assessor had - names on his list and he only
charged l. days time. making five and
fraction names day. He is supposed to
have had star route" district \ Mchees-
port official who got in on time, and gave no
evidence Of having turned hair, had
nearly !, 100 names on his list.
The trouble under the old law was that it
required the Commissioners to furnish the
registry assessors with the list of taxables
listed by the property assessors. This list
the registry assessor was required to take
out and verify. He was expected to mark
the names Of all aliens and non-residents.
If he had sufficient pride in his work and
were conscientious his list would be alto
gether, or at least measurably. correct, but
If his conscience were elastic voters who
valued the purity of the ballot need be on
the alert to stop fraudulent voting.
Then, too, the property assessors do
not always exercise the care necessary
which makes the return of the negligent or
lazy registry assessor still more faulty. For
instance, the former might find in his
district 20 names of property owners who
lived in another district and they would also
be gotten by another property assessor i'll
the right place, and would figure in both
lists, though one of the officers would be
blamahle in not making the discovery that
the owners were non-residents.
Greatest Trouble in the Cities.
The trouble, however was mainly in the
cities. In the country districts the asses
sors. both property and registry, generally
know enough about the people personally to
avoid mistakes. They also know who came
or went out of their districts so that the
registry list might with comparative safety
be taken from the duplicates furnished by
the Commissioners.
But under the new law the registry assess
orr do not have pudding, rs they are not
only liable to be trlpped up on their errors,
but they really have some work to perform.
They are not furnished with duplicates of
property holders names but are required to
find these property holders and so specify
their residences that they can be identified
Unnecessary. and they are required to furnish
q record which viii be useful i'll case il must
be consulted. They must know that the
people whose names they return are really
in the district, and specify that they are
voters or Will be eligible by the time the
election is held, or non-voters, etc. The
Commissioners say the care required has
produced work far superior in general to
that heretofore gotten. Another thing that
DOthers assessors under the new arrange
=
mlssiOnerS, must fix the probable value of
the voters occupations, and they, the as
SCISSORS must nail their lists 10 the doors of
the polling places themselves, so there |
ls.nO chance for lodging lrate taXables. In
one ease an assessor was much troubled. He |
knew that in his district was manufa cturer
whose yearly income runs into tens of |
thousands of dollars, but he didn't know |
what it was and he didn't like to ask the |
manufacturer how much he did make He |
wanted to assess him high enough and |
III n nj no n GOT AT fh.aa
figure.
How an Average Was Obtained.
After taking advice on the subject the
plan was devised of learning how much
salary men who managed such business got
and assessing the owner accordingly. His
occupation was to run the business and it
was not his income that the officer wanted
TO get at. and on this basis it must stand
unless a rule TO show cause could be
made good. The occupation of the late
Captain William JONES' of Braddock was |
assessed at $4,000 year. Captain Jones |
thought 1t relatively too high, and it |
was, after conference with the Commits |
sionerS fixed at S, ,OO0 There has been
much complaint of the occupation tax and |
il is more difficult to levy it eQuitably than
to find the value of real estate or personal |
property, and the clerks in the Commis- |
stOners Office, whose salary was known and |
fixed accordingly, felt q tendency to squirm |
when they came across the name of man |
times as much salary as they, assessed at a
less rate Even dividing occupations into |
classes, though an Improvement, was not |
equitable, as for instance, LAWYERS whose
occupation is uniformly valued at $500 a |
year, and the lawyer whose practice does |
not yield him office rent is assessed as
highly the one whose income from
the same source is $50, ,OC0 year. But not
until the golden age, when man shall walk |
transparent like some holy thing can the |
burden OF taxation be properly adjusted ac-
n he fpN
Fortunately for politicians it is matter |
the average man knows but little about, as
most people who are taxed as common |
labOrers at SlOO a year, and who own no |
property that can be reached, think the 30 |
cents they pay directly the full amount OF |
their taxation.
Father of the New Law.
1t is said that Mr.. Harrity is the man who |
is the father of the new law the old one
being known in Philadelphia, where he
studied it, as the fire plug registry" from
the fact that often when register assessor
got his duplicate from the commissioners he |
called about him a few personal friends, and |
after getting them to scrutinize it and |
give him the benefit of their knowled ge he
was supposed to sit down on a fire plug and |
make out his list and after keeping il out |
for the 1ull number of days for which the |
law allowed him pay, turn it in and get pay 1
for three weeks work which possibly cost |
him as many hours. That snap has now gone |
glimmerlng.
The Assessors books have not vet been
returned to the Commissioners in sufficient |
numbers TO determine whether last years |
list Of voters will be much cut down Or not |
but it is expected that it will be consider |
ably reduced in the city districts, or in some |
of them at least.
There are some skeptics, however who
are not disposed to admit the explana tion of |
our County Commissioners. They ask: "If 4
these things be done in the green tree in |
june, what may be done in the dry tree in