The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-02
INVITES PERJURY.
Ubiquitous System of Taxation
in Various States.
Material for the Single Tax
Adherents.
A CASE IN POINT
Which Involves Radical Cues
lions of Justice.

WASHINGTON, April 3 Especial. -
The supreme court has before it a case
from Indiana involving radical questions
of the right of taxation which bids fair to
be leading case, as it also involves inn
portant principles of the interstate COM
merce law. Incidentally also it empha-
sizes -he duty of a state to correct the
growing evil of undervaluation in proper
ty for assessment. BY examination OF the
United States census any one can see that
returning property for taxation purposes
has for many years past amounted to moth
ing more nor less than an increasing rival
ry in perjury, the taxpayer gradually gain
ing on the law, as is usually the case.
Less than 40 years ago the assessed val
uation of property in the United States
was only 25 per cent less than its estimat-
ed true valuation by the experts of the
census bureau, but the divergence has in
creased so rapidly that today the assess
ment is only about rs per cent of the esti-
mated true valuation. OF course it is easy
to say that the estimated value is grossly
exaggerated, and there is no doubt that if
the selling price of lands outside of cities
were taken as it is today the result would
be sum very much less than that official
~ reported. Nevertheless the divergence
is so great as to show that the public con-
science is completely debauched on the
subject of swearing i'm property.
An Important Case.
Well, the Indiana legislature of 1891
passed regular ironclad law providing
for the assessment of property at its true
selling value and appointed a state board
to assess railroads, telegraphs and tele-
phones and the like property, this board
consisting of the governor, auditor of state,
secretary of state and two tax commits
sioners, with the deputy auditor of state
for their secretary. These commissioners
proceeded to assess the railroads at pretty
nearly the face value of their stock or at
whatever sum they were supposed to be
paying dividends on. The railroads took
different methods, some paying under pro-
test and some contesting in the state courts
and paying after those decided against
them, but the big Four cOmbinatiOn,' -
called, appealed from the supreme court
of the state and set up that the board had
taken into consideration local railroad val
ues which were dependent on the value Gre
ated by the passage of their lines through
other states. The increased valuation be
ing about 500, 900, 900 and the state tax IS
cents on the hundred, the amount involv-
ed is about S315, 900 for the state and about
three times much for the counties and
municipalities.
Governor Matthews, Auditor of State
Henderson, Secretary of State Myers, Com
missioners Allen and Walker, and their
clerk, Mr. Tanning, all came in body TO
assist in the presentation of the case, and
the decision, as aforesaid, will be an i'm
portant one to all the states which are
seeking to reform their taxing system In
cidentally memb ers of the committees on
railroads are appealed to to take some
ton, and thei- general opinion seems to be
that the whole subject of taxation is in
such chaos as between the states that ere
long it will be necessary to devise some
general and comprehensive system.
AS instance, the great state of Illi-
nois showed an actual decrease of property
values in 10 years by state assessment, and
a majority of the counties in most of the
middle western states, except those coun-
ties in which growing cities are located,
have shown no increase for many years,
and many of them decided decrease. In
short, as aforesaid, our whole system of
assessing property simply amounts to q
desperate race in the rivalry of perjury,
each man trying to see how much he can
stswear off, and yet escape the peniten-
tiary. 1t goes without saying that con-
gressmen of the Tom j johnson and Jerry
Simpson class utilizing such facts in
support of their single tax views.
a Change In the Situation.
All the southern congressman who have
lately returned from their homes express
themselves as greatly gratified by the
change in the situation, especially in Ala
bama, Arkansas and Texas. "Of course
the solid south, SO called, will dissolve
says Mr.. BanGnead of Alabama, land
probably in no long time. But it is evil
dent that in our state the time has not yet
come The Kolbites didn't begin right,
and they have lately got an awfully black
eye. Mr.. Kolb's position made him Off
cia1ly the head of the farming interests in
the state, and in the first tilt he had with
Mr.. Jones he lacked but a few votes of
having majority of the delegates to the
convention, while Mr.. Jones had the small
est mum ber-only 90. Nevertheless they
got up such a heat in the convention that
the strength of all the other candidates
went to Mr.. Jones and enabled him to de-
feat Mr.. Kolb.
1.-The latter was disgruntled that the
next time he organized his own conven-
ton, and tho split began. AT first the
Kolbites claimed to be little better Dem
ocrats than the rest of US, but as always
happens in such cases they threw out a
dragnet for all kinds of votes, and if they
had got all the Populists and all the Re
publicans and all the negroes they might
have downed as. The time is past, how
ever, when any party can vote the negroes
solid A very large percentage of them
straightout Democrats, and another
large percentage viii net vote at all.
1.-The Kolbites make no complaint as to
the system of voting, but claim that there
is room for great fraud in the registration.
They also claim that the agricultural in
terests have been neglected, and in other
respects they adopt most of the alleged
grievances of the Populists. There are very
many able men among them, too, some of
our best citizens, but the proof lately pub
lished that their electors in 1892 agreed to
vote for Mr.. Harrison if they were elected
and if their votes were necessary to elect
him has completely destroyed their moral
strength We shall carry. the state by
large majority and re-elecs every one o.
congressman
The returning members from Arkansas
and Texas give substantially the same ac
count, but il Is admitted that if any south
ern state is likely to go anti-Democratic
that state is North Carolina. where the op-
position, Republican and Populist, seems