Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-01-23
Gov. Pattison Inaugurated.

crowd below, who yelled Turn on the
Light"
After prayer by local preacher tne
certificate of election was read, Jusucs
Paxson administered the oath of office, and
LIT. Gov. Davies proclaimed Mr.. Pattlsor
Governor.
Gov. Pattison, then made length!
address, beginning by declaring that ne
should take care that the laws were faitn
fully executed, and then referring at length
to what he called four especially important
ms-Constitutional Enforcement,
Ballot Reform, Taxation and Municipal
government
Uuder the first head he spoke ofthe non
l enforcement Of Article XVII of the con
stitution, which relates to railroads ano
canals: under the second he spoke in favoi
of the Australian ballot system, which
NAV be needed in the cities but is not II
the rural districts, under the third he made
an argument for the taxation of personal
property, and under the fourth he spoke oi
the abuses of municipal authority referrin
particularly to such abuses in the city OF
| Phira.
| His remarks On the subject of taxation
are interesting to all and are as follows;
"Of scarce less Importance is the equali-
zatiou of the burdens of taxation. For
| many years there has been well grounded
complaint against the insuficiency, the in
| equality, the ineffectiveness and the par
| tiaIity Of the tax laws Of the state. :,
The burdens of the government should
be equally shared, or at least as nearly SO
"a human laws can contrive. Since our
| legislative policy is to tax property rather
| than persons, there can be no possible ex-
cuse for selecting the houses and farms OF
| the neople to bear 10 times as much of the
burdens as personal property. If things,
and not persons are to be taxed, common
| eou.tv would dictate that the aggre-
gate Of a mans possessions, irrespective OF
! their kind, and simply according to their
| value. should bear the infiction- What
deIingr ency has real estate been guilty of
| that it should be thus unfairly discriminst-
| ed arainstf 1t is the most productive, the
most needful and the most stable form OF
prop erty. 1t adds most to our wealth, re-
mains always with us, shelters and sus-
tains our people, and at once attracts, and,
if Justly treated, retains and multlplles
population. There is baleful vice IN the
| form of government that inflicts q penalty
upon lands and houses, and makes tneir
ownership difficult and burdensome. The
farmer and householder has no right to az
exemption from his fair share OF the pubic
EXPENSE. but he has right to just and
impartial treatment that cannot be ignored,
except at q cost Of social tranquility. The
inequality referred to is patent to every
eve. There is not citizen in the Com
monwealth paying tax upon his home or
farm who cannot point to some neighbor
owning many times AZ much in personal
goods and idle capital who yet pays an i'm
measurably less amount Of tax. 1t is use
less to answer s1ch undeniable facts by
any intricate theory as to the ultimate
distribution of all taxation. Such unjust
discrimination is working untold evil to
our people; is expressing the poor; IS
exempting the rich; is day by day establish
ing unfortunate social distinctions that are
foreign to our principles of government,
of men, and blasting the hopes that we
have all prayerfully entertained Of our
country becoming the home Of q contented
and Happy people.
The State tax on corporations fills all the
requirements of subject for taxation that
can be uniformly assessed upon established
standards of valuation, and which can be
cheaply collected The machinery for its
assessment Is simple and the cost of its
collection is nominal Corporate wealth is
purely creation of the State and fifty
bears the burden of its expenses. But
since this and the collateral inheritance
TAX together produces ample revenues for
the State expenses, l suggest that the
revenue law be SO changed that the State
remit to the counties all other taxes and
license charges now levied by it. Every
dictate of public policy suggests that taxa
ton be reduced to the bare needs of the
government. BY enforced economy the
taxpayer is protected; his burdens are
lessened and thrift is promoted. A
revenue in excess sof the actual needs of
the State puts q premium upon extrava-
gance and wastefulness in legislation.
With these present sources of revenue,
now wholly or in part at the service Of the
State, ,remitted to the counties, the problem
will still remain Of SO ascertaining and ad-
justing the different subjects Of taxation
that all classes of property will bear their
equal share. To this end o revenue com
mission, which has prosecuted its work
laboriously during the past year, has pre-
sented diverse reports for the consideration
of the people and their representatives. /
will not anticipate the discussion which
must attend an examination of the several
bills and plans offered. except to invoke for
the whole subject thorough consideration
and deliberate action, and to indulge the
hope that the outcome will be o measure
which will materially relieve landed prop
erty in the Commonwealth from the
burdens which have too long lain upon it,
The authority Of the State in regulating
local taxation should not, however, extend
further than the constitutional requirement
for the enactment of general laws to secure
uniformity upon the same class of subjects
within the territorial limits of the authority
levying the tax.
A multiplicity Of taxing officers is also
vexatious and wasteful. The people de-
msnd the abolition Of the Office Of mercan
tile appraisers. All mercantile taxes are
levied upon subjects purely of local con-
cern, and ought to be applied, if applied at
all, for the benefit of the counties from
which they are derived. In advertising
mercantile taxes and in collecting delin
quent mercantile taxes the State needless
ly expends thousands of dollars.
Then he referred to the safety of the
public funds, the apportionment, the civil
service Of the state, the regulation Of state
and private banks, the duties of the Audi
tor General, and closed as follows:
"The task before us is far ar-reaching, com
prising within its scope the whole field of
material and political improvement. In
administering the affairs Of the Common
wealth we must seek to enlarge the sources
of it's strength, to expand its resources, to
increase its comfort and to promote its
prosperity and greatness, so that the peo
pie, IN harmonious progress and fulfilling
peaceful destiny, may illustrate, in the
grandeur and wisdom of their self-cOntrOl
and in their majestic movement toward a
more perfect society, the power of pure
democracy to solve every problem that
taxes the intelligence or strains the virtue
Of civilized humanity"
After the address the scene was trans
ferred to the Senate chamber, where Judge |
Simonton, of Dauphin county, administer
cd the oath to 1t Gov. Watres; who made
q short address, then came the parade, |
which was witnessed by the Governor and |
his party from the reviewing stand erected |
on the public grounds; then the two houses
Of the Legislature met and Gov. Pattison
sent in his appointments as follows:
Secretary of the Commonwealth. VIM. |
Harrity, of Philadelphia.
Attorney General, William U. Hensel,
Of Lancaster.
Adjutant General, William McClelland,
Of Pittsburg.
All Williams, and presumably all good |
men, and the Senate promptly confirmed |
them.
That avenin0 there waa q hall NJ tba |