The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-10-25

taxation. He told YOU that this bill
would put all the taxes of the coun-
try on your poor farmers, and tha;
you would have TO pay at least twice
as much taxes then as you do now
Fellow citizens. Mr.. Simmons may
be ignorant Of the truth about tins
matter. | hope he is, and if so, |
Will inform him what the facts are.
Senator PETER never introduced a
bill anything like the one that Mr..
Simmons charges that he introduced,
but he did offer a resolution looking
towards the equalization of taxation
and in that he offered among other
remedies that if all personal property
could not be taxed justly, that then
all taxes should be placed on real Is
tate in proportion to It's market
value. Now let us see If somebody
else besides Mr.. PETER does not APP
prove this. | hold in my hand re
port Of the Committee on \ AgricuIIure
in Congress. II is dated February
10Th, 1894. Let us turn to page lUl
and read. Listen Mr. Simmons, II is
as follows:
And if it be found that lusr
system of personal property taxation
cannot be enforced, let it be aban-
doned: abolish all personal taxation
and place taxes on land exclusive Of
mprOVemeDtS, so that a 20-fOOt lot
IN a city that is worth. for mere han
dising or manufacturing, 100000
shall be taxed at one hundred times
n, +tor
improvements, Is worth only | 600
dollars"
The above are the exact words Of
the Committee. Why did the Com
mittee make this recommendation
Because subcommittee had been
appointed to investigate the subject
of taxation, and that committee
found that the wealthy men of the
country were not paying taxes on
their personal property, while the
poor were paying on everything,
down to an Old pitchfork, cant or
plow. The committee found that
the Jay GOu'd's estate with personal
properly amounting to $50, OGO 900,
was paying taxes on less than one
half OF a million. The committee
said that these things should be rem
edied, and said that if it could not
be done in any other way, that it
would be better to put all taxes on
real estate which could not be hid
den. Mr.. Peffer's resolutions was
along this same line, and if his reso
lutIons had been framed into Il bill
and passed instead of your having
to pay more taxes on your poor
farms than you pay now, you would
have to pay less. Why? Because
that bill required that the high
price of dirt IN big cities should pay
a very large part of the taxes. Ii a
bill Of that kind was passed, one
block in the city of New York would
pay more taxes to support the gov
erument than every farm IN North
Carolina put together. Besides if
you had such a law the men who
own lots in the cities would then be
gin to pay their fair share OF the
taxes. and when this Is the ease you
will find the men in the cities de-
mandiug economy in our govern
ment just as the farmers are now
doing.
| MR.. SIMMONS CALLS FOR CALF ROPE.
! Now let US look at what Mr. Sim
mons said III his reply, he said that
/ the Peoples party existed only in
/ pockets. l don't know what he
m=ant by that. but if it is so, then
| let US tell him those pockets are
mighty thick n North Carolina. and
they are getting bigger every day.
/ He said l invited him down here
among my friends ard tried to take
/ the advantage of him. / call upon
any of his Democratic friends here
to-day to say whether or not thai is
SO: this was my appointment. | ex-
pected no one here to reply to me.
| The Democrats in this neighporhood
asked my friends if | would agree to
a division of time. They invited Mr.
Simmons to come, and | am glad be
is here, but | did not challenge him
but he or his friends challenged me
These are the facts.
WHY THE ELECTION LAW WAS NOT
REPEALED IN 1891.
He said that I made a great fuss
about the present election law, but
if there was anything wrong in it
that | ought to have offered a bill
when | was in the Legislature to re-
peal or amend it. will tell you al