The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-02-08

| of his friend Variants eloquence, ne
could convert the majority of the
House against the bill. man who
lived thirty years ago said it was q
bad time TO swap horses when in the
middle of a stream. The country has
been suffering too much from adverse
| financial legislation. Shall the Leg1s-
llature add to their burdens? 1t is
better to defeat ten good laws rather
than enact a bad one.
| The question is not one so much OF
expediency, as it is one on which the
best financial minds that have con
sidered it have agreed that non-taxa-
ton is for the best interests of Utah
If | were not here speaking in the in
trest Of 10000 mortgagors in this terri
| tory l would not be on this side of the
lquestion. The author of this bill sai6
this was a campaign question. 1t may
have been so in general, but it was moi
| in the Eighth Representative district
The speech made by my friend from
Salt Lake on the bill, no matter how
eloquent was not sound, and if it hac
been made as campaign argument
land the papers had reported it, his
majority would have been much re
Iduced. l congratulate my party thai
it was not made in the campaign, bu
on the floor of this House.
| He held that the law had not been z
success in California, and read from
the report of the state board of equal
ization to prove it. He held that the
bill would not prove a success, as il
will not bring in any revenue and viii
send away capital from the territory
It will send the moneyed men out OF
! the territory instead of keeping then
here. The best thing that can be done
for the people is to encourage the
bringing in of capital that will develop
our resources and furnish tangible
property for assessors to levy on. Chi
cago, after the fire, was built up or
the money from Boston and New
York, and what a grand transforma
ton was effected
He spoke of distrust that would b.
excited by the passage of the bill anC
cited as an instance of what he alleged
could be done by distrust to the sup
posed effect of the Wilson bill
He said he was in dead earnest OF
the proposition. He believed that tn
prosperity of the territory would b.
best subserved by bringing in capita
and putting it in permanent improve
ments. He did not believe in goini
back to the days when cattle should b.
herded where our choice business
blocks now stand.
/
Wins said that after week of wait
ing for statistics that he expected to b,
brought forward. by the previous
speaker he found himself still unsatis
! fed. He believed that q little practi
cal experience is a great deal bette
than whole lot of theory. He wished
to give some personal, practical eX
perience. Revenue laws are harsh, bu
they should be LID 80 70
they will bear equally on all. The bill
the taxation OF money, whether II Wd
called for the taxation Of mortgages o
anything else. Under the Old law TO
the taxation of mortgages he found
as collector of one of the southern
counties, that he could tax money
But since the passage Of the law o
two years ago he has not been able Il
do so. The revenue of the county ha
thus fallen OFF.
More than this he thought the Law
unjust and inequitaple, as it discrimi
mated against one form of property il
favor of another. He did not agre
with the previous speaker that it i
advantageous TO go into debt In FAC
he has always advised his neighbors t.
keep out of debt. He did not believ
the passage of the bill would result il
the keeping out of foreign capital. HI
did not believe the bill was right il
exempting foreign capital but he wa!
willing to waive that point as n
thought the bill as good as could b.
put, on the books. He did not believ'
the interest rates would be increased
by the passage of the bill, as they wer
not reduced by the passage of the othe
one. In conclusion he stated that i
| this legislature did not pass such a. bill
then one will be sent which will do SO
ANOTHER ONE.
Allen began by saying that he is ;
Republican of Republicans, a conscien
tious believer in the tariff, but ne doe
not blame the present depression on Il
the tariff agitation. On the contrary
the depression is due to the striking
down of half of the money in tn
world. He spoke of the injustice of thu
measure as it would allow money to g
untaxed. He said that most of tn,
states tax mortgages and he did no
see that their laws have failed. He dis
puted the assertion of Assessor Lyncl
that the cost of collecting the tax wa
as great as the tax, and said 1t die
not apply at this time as there arr
many more such conveyances on thu
books than there were at the time
these assertions were made. But ever
if the cost was so great he would be
lfeve in taxing every dollars worth o
property. He reviewed the statement;
of the other speakers making much TIT
same argument as that made b!
! Varian and WINS.
A REPLY.
Stanford followed in a speech il
which he amman Ia1 uerv ctrOn civ fO
passage of the bill. He quoted figure
to show that the taxable property ha(
not been reduced by taking off the tai
on mortgages and read a letter from
two citizens of Salina to show tina
there are those in the country VIII
| favor the bill. He said that this Law
is one with which the Legislature can
not afford to daily at the present tim
and held that its effects would b.
highly injurious in that it will driv'
away capital. He held that the meas
ure of 1892 was non-partisan, as it wa
passed by a Democratic Legislature
and signed by Republican governor.
Allen called in question some of Stan
| ford's figures and the two engaged il
some repartee, but they were cut of
by Johnson, who said that since TIN
passage of the law exempting mort
cages the mortgage Indebtedness ha
Deen increased 10 SI,UUU,UUO IN nj
county. The loss in revenue, he al
legged, was grand total of $7,75O H,
believed that all property should pa,
| its proportion of the taxes of the ter
ritory. He believed in taxing even tn
money of the New York loaner. H,
saw no reason why one man shoulC
be exempted at the expense of another
That it must be at the expense of an
other is not to be disputed. Why, then
exempt this money property when i
| is the best in the world? If this is t.
be done then why not exempt all per
sonal property? The kilograms of cap
italists in New York should not be O
effect. The time has not yet arrived
when Utah takes her orders from Nev
York or when the people of Sanpet
+n1- I,..llo,.c f,.c,,,