The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-02-11

ton at this time in a political seuse is
the assessments, which are wellk
TO be padded bundle of fraud, espe-
ciaily In the two districts controlled
by the Democrats, and In this connec-
ton another question arises, shall
fraud ruler The nature of tho fraud
has often been pointed out in these
columns, but they cannot be referred
TO too often until the people get fully
to understand them and see the enor.
nifty of them.
Everybody should be honestly as
sessed according to law, and every
body should be given every opportuni.
ty afforded by the law to qualify for
the exercise of the elective franchise.
To do this well we'll defined laws have
been formulated and put upon the
statute books. Amongst these provis-
Ions is tho division Of tho city OF vii.
mington into three assessment dis
trlcts, SO that assessors may not be
crowded nor hurried with their work,
and so that the people may have easy
and intelligent access to the Assessor.
Such thing as voter In the First
District getting assessed in the Third
District or voter in the Third get
ting assessed In the First or Second
Districts was never contemplated, but
the law does contemplate that when a
voter removes from one distrAt to
another he can have his name trans
ferred either by the assessor at the
proper timo or by the Levy Court at
Its March session. Common sense
without any law about it would lead
to the conclusion that voter should
only be assessed in tho district in
which he lives. But that there should
be no mistake in this matter, and to
guard against assessors asse ssing
persons not residing in their districts
the law is very specific on this point,
and provides fine of not less than
one hundred dollars nor more than
five hundred dollars to be collected
from the assessor who wilfully or
hhOuAhBl1 doSG5bGD Il NOLtL ia III b us
trict, residing in another district
Should this not be conclusive that q
voter in one district, assessed In an
other is illegally assessed? The cri nj o
OF violating this law is not small one.
The fine is not ten, twenty or fifty dol
lars, but one, two, three and as high as
i've hundred dollars. Does anybody
pretend to say that a voter assessed
In this manner is legally assessed2
Yes, there are some foolish enough
to say that they are. They say that the
assessor Is to bear tho brunt and the
voter stands legally assessed. Then, ii
these voters are legally assessed, why
should the assessor be punished?
Ii the assessor has given the voter a
legal assessment, why shonld he be
visited with fine OF from sl09to $500?
But, says some one who wants to de.
fend the outrageous fraud OF the
assessors, the evidence that the voter
Is properly assessed is the fact that
he 10 not punished for being assessed
outside of his district. That will moi
work. The voter has no option in tn,
case. He cannot help it il an asses
Bor assesses him wrong. ard thereto orr
could not be made amenable for Ii!
act.
Clearly the two thousand names
dumped on the two Democratic as
sessment districts are placed there il
legally. That SO many should b,
placed there not residing in those dis
triets Is evidence of clearly concoct
ed, deeply planned scheme of fraud
Shall the fraud stand Com mon de
cency says no and honesty saws no
The Levy Court is given the power tt
strike of tho names illegally assessed
and honesty demands that it shout,
exercise that power. A great hue and
cry Is raised about the Republicans II
the Levy Court going to be goyernel
blythe Republican block books The
intend to do no such thing Fail op
portunity will be given to verify til
assessments.
The men objected to can prove thei
residence before the Levy Court. l
these two thousand men claimed to b
Illegally assessed Will come TOrwar
before the Levy Court and prove tina
they live in the district in which they
are assessed that Will end tine matter
but unless it Is proven beyond u rea
aonahlp donbr TINT thaaa man r,ai,J,
whore they are assessed the Levy
can perform no more honest duty {
the public than by striking them iron
the lists.
Assessment frauds sanctioned b
law have ruled Delaware since III
Bayard assessment iuws OF 1878 wei
passed, and those iniquitous laws ha
ing been swept from the statute bool
shall assessment frauds that have n
sanction Of the law, DO permitted I
rule? The voice OF honest public OPT
ion will say down with tie outrageol
fraud, let honesty now haze chane
The Eighth ward Republican Club I
live organization Of earnest workin
Republicans, There should be such
club in every ward in the city Th
Republican InvIncibles in the Tent
ward are also q solid, hard workli
organization. When organized fittcC
months ago, Democratic papers pr
dlcted that they would soon BIO Il