St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-30
THE BILL SHOULD PASS.

lhere are two conflicting reports In
the house of representatives Oh the bill
| of MI. Dearmond to define the duties of
federal courts regarding contempt,
which provides that state, county or
city officers shall not be punished for re-
fusal to collect faxes OIL assessments nn-
derJudgments rendered by federal courts
against states, counties or cities where
the levying of such taxes or assessments
shall be contrary to the laws of the state
as construed by Its highest courts. The
majority Of the judiciary committee,
Democrats, have reported the bill ia
vorably. while the Republicans. consti-
tutlng the minority, have reported
against the measure, ~denouncing it as
an attempt to place the state above
the federal authority. 1t is alleged to
be the old doctrine of state rights first
promulgated by the ab%olitlonists. and
subsequently adopted in a new -garb as
the shibboleth of the Southern Confed-
eracy.
The right to local self-goyernment Is
guaranteed by the constitution to the
several states of the Union, with the
sole limitation that certain rights of
citizens shall not be abridged or i'm
periled. The right to be taxed is not
II of those ~inalienable privileges
guaranteed by the federal law, but is
one ofthoSe regulations of government
which, by the express terms of the con-
stitutiOD, are reserved to the states. AS
a consequence we have. and always
have had, widely differing laws relating
to this subject in the different states,
II few have thought to question the
authority of the states to enact them.
In Illinois, for instance, it is expressly
provided that no community shall levy
a tax amounting to more than two per
cent upon the assessed value of the
property. This regulation has been
oundn necessary in order to check the
extravaganza of the county and munich
pal boards that, in former times, in
volved the people in bankruptcy. The
MacOupin county court house scandal
had much to do with the enactment of
this amendment to the constitution in
Illinois. The supervisors of that county.
which contained at the time less than
twenty thousand inhabitants, contracted
for and had built a court house costing
over a million dollars. Payment for the
structure was successfully contested by
the taxpayers. and in order to ciinch the
matter the limitation of taxation pro-
VISION was Incorporated in the new on
%stitution adopted in 1870. The contract
ors for that structure obtained their pay
in bonds Of the county, and transferred
fhQm tn 0thar narfioc Inf ftn hnndc
have never yet been paid. nor will they
ever be paid in the future.
But perhaps the chief prompting
cause Of the Introduction of the bill in
question has been a more recent occur
renee in Missouri. About four years ago
the judges of the local courts refused to
issue a mandamus requiring the officials
to collect a tax levied by doubtful au-
thority. These judges were cited to
appear before the federal court, and,
persisting in their refusal to issue the
required writs, were committed to the
county Jail for contempt. Since then
II has died and a second has become
insane and has been transferred to an
asylum. Two others are still in the
Jail, and are likely to remain there till
the day of doom unless congress shall
interfere, for the courts have persist
emily refused to liberate tn EN-.
That such shames are not more COM
mon is due more to the lack of oppor-
tunity and to the humane instincts of a
majority of the federal judges than to
the consideration and protection af-
forded by the law. That it is possible
to perpetrate such outrages is a suf-
ficient condemnation of the existing
statute. The most fragrant crimes
against the liberty of the citizen and the
welfare of a community are possible
under the law as it now stands. 1t is
the duty of congress, therefore. to pass
the pending bill. and thus control and
curtail a power that may be so abused
as to become an instrument of the most
odious despotism.