The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-12-03
NEED OF HEASSEGSSME NT.
Even Governor Brown Begins to
Realize 1t.

Realize 1t.
Gov. Frank Brown on Monday gave out
for publication letter addressed to the
people, III WHICH he seeks to cry stnllize
sentiment on ,eassessment bill 1t will
be remeu beied that he vetoed the Hayes
assessment OIL alter il had been passed
| by the Legislature, and his plan project
cd in this letter is 10 get tho public
;.pinior upon the subject before tho / ext
session % the Legislature.
! L. Is unier : crd that the Governor has
J had the IN sitter undor considel alton for
| soms time ANA that The PRONUNCIATION of
this letter Is only the first step in au
elaborate scheme to got at the sentiments
Of the people On the Ieassessment
question. The letter is as follows:
$40 the people Of tile State Of IMryEand:
No general valuation of real and per
sonal property i'll this state for the pur.
poses vi state, county and municipal
taxation has been made since 1876.
in the long period o! time which has
since inteTvansd it is known to all of you
that the market, or cash value of all
real estate within our territorial limits
has g eatly changed. In many localities
in many counties the cash value of real
estate has materially declined. Iu
csrtain localities OF oIher counties it has
| increased. The chSnges i'll values in the
direction OF decrease and increase are as
notable i'll the cities and towns of the
state as else where, and are plainly
observable in the City of Baltimore.
The corrections made from time to time
! of the valuations Of assessabie real estate
have not been sufficient to check the
progress of the evil, and certainly have
not remedisd it. The result is that the
actual burden of taxation upon real estate
is very unequally distributed among our
people.
Il need not say to You that the valu-
| ations of personal property, made in tn is
state in 1876, and corrected f:om time to
| time since that date by county COM
missioners aud the Appeal Tax Conrt of
Baltimore City, do not, in their aggregate
| approximate even to the real value OF
such holdings in this state, and that a
very large proportion of this description
| of property escapes taxation altogether.
1T is perfectly true that no system of
| taxation can DO devised which will al.
| together remedy this evil, for our people
properly resent and resist the general
application Of iuquisitorial methods to a
whole population, in order to enforce the
disclosure by few persons of their real
wealth. But we ought to be able to
devise a system OF taxation which will
ascertain approximately the amount OF
personal property Owned by each indi
vidual residing in the state and lible to
taxation without exciting hostility to our
method of doing it.
The subject was generally DISGUISE
in this state in the summer aud autumn
of 1891, and all parties were agreed as to
the necessity of new act for the reassess
ment OF property in this state. You are
aware that bill for this purpose was
passed by the House of Delegates, almost
unanimously, at the session of January
1899. after considerable debate. It was
not acceptable to !he San ate. That body
| brought forward and adopted a very
different and far more stringent bill.
When this Senate bill was presented to
the House it was for some reason, not
fully discussed or debated. Tue exigency
of other business and the unwillingness
of the House to adjourn without passing
an assessment bill probably inclined that
body to defer to the Judgment of the
Senate, and it therefore passed the SEN
ate bill.
1T became at onco apparent that the
bill, thus passed, whatever may have
been its actual merits was not salts
factory to the psople of this state. This
was made apparent to me bs the protests
of men of all opinions ard OF widely
different interests. The methods of the
bill were bitterly complained Of Il was
evident to me that it would if approved
create a feeling OF widespread discomfort
and prejudice unfavorable to the growth
of the State and to the increase of its
prosperity. Unfortunately the rejection
of tho third constitutional amend me MT
at the elections held in the autumn of
91-srsde the cor -r';tv of the
act, limiting the assessable values of
certain descriptions of personal properties
which was Intended to be supplementary
to the proposed assessment bill, ex-
tremely doubtful.
"UDder these circumstances l deemed
it to be my duty to withhold my approval
from the proposal assessment bill aud
from the auxiliary bill referred to, and
to await your further action in the
matter.
My veto Of the particular m sasures
probably imposes upon ma the du7y of
| making some particular recommendation
to the next General Assembly upon the
| subject OF nav assessment law, which
| ~ 10 uOoSiohholyf iuI IdC lcdSuES L
have given, and for many others, the
duty OF the next General Assembly to
enact | am unwilling to undertake this
task without feeling that am when do
ing it in touch with the deliberate and
we'll founded opinions of all classes of
the people of this state No method
occurs to me better adapted to afford
this ASSURANCE than the convoca alton by
me of a limited number of thoroughly
| representative msn from each county of
the state and from tia city Of Baltimore,
TO consider in open discussion in the
winter of this year At some convenient
place IN Baltimore City the proper
details of such a measure. Deleg ates
from the leading agriculture i Commercial
manufacturing and other industrial
organizations ought TO form part of
such advisory body.
"In consultation with such delegates,
aud with the ample time now before us,
| ought to be able to direct the framing
OF bill sutfi Gent for the purpose but
open to the fullest cousid by you
before the meeting of the General
Assembly in 1894. Such bill When
modified by the General Asse mbly to
correspond with the will of the people
plainly expressed, ard with it's own
judgment. ought to yield satisfactory
results.
THE expense of oonvocation of such