People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-11-14
Strained at Mosquito and Swallowed
a Buffalo.

Buffalo.
EDITOR VOICE: My item in the
VOICE of O;tO1er 81 lies before me
reproduced in the Daily Mail with a
three column editorial attachment.
| must have touched a very tender
spot to have brought forth such a re-
spouse.
As the Mail says, the fact whether
| am such sufferer and my kindness
to my neighbOrs," is not the point,
and as that is nObOdy's business, | will
not explain. The Mail showed that |
made three mistakes. had counted
~ cents penalty as advertising, said
the printing was let at full legal rates
aud counted the treasurer's fee as ad-
yertising. am always willing to be
corrected when make mistake, so
L dNNCDl his NOlIOCOlUuS.
Now, | will take his figures and use
them as corrected. The space occu-
pied by the property the three re-
ceipts covered was just a little over
one inch Of one column; those were
III inches long. There we're % COL
umns. Now to approximate: leave of
the fractions) 17x22 equals 374inches.
The printer receives s3.O4 for that
inch. 374x$3.Oi equals sl,l36.96. If
the VOICE had done the work it would
have been 374xsl 80 equal to $1,000, a
difference of s426,26.
The Mail says Experience has
shown that the lighter the penalties
the more delays there are in paying
taxes and the heavier the penalties
the more promptly the payments are
made. As a consequence, neither leg
islatures nor courts, as a rule, care to
Tighten the additional burdens that
are cast upon the dilatOry taxpayer"
l believe when child is naughty it
should be spanked, but when it is
over-wOrked or sick. it should not be
spanked so hard. The VOICE would
have done this spanking for (approx-
imately) s426.36 less than it did cost
us TO have it done. "And some men
are very prone to obey the Scriptural
injunction, Bear We one another's
burdens in certain cases." think so,
too, but would be glad Of the OppOr-
tunity to bear somebody's burden for
1926. SO in these hard times. He says
"DO your duty in due time; another
year you will be contented and hap
py." Now, if | had paid that SS.SS
before it was due, would that have
made times any better? Could l be
''cOntented and happy" when 1000, 900
men are out of employment and moth
ing to carry them through the winter
and me among the number? | do
think our county officials should have
saved US that $426.36 when they had
the opportunity, for the VOICE goes
all over the county.
The Mail believes that "the best
interests Of the public are best Sc
cured by keeping the penalties and
additional burdens for default in pay
ing taxes just as high as possible"
II our memory is not at fault the de-
linquent tax list in the eighties was
about one column, at any rate they
have steadily increased until they
cover one side Of a large newspaper
and three or four columns over. The
penalties are high as ever. Why did
the delinquent tax list grow SO? l
can remember when it was considered
very dishonorsble for a neighbor to
allow his taxes to become delinquent.
1t does net reflect on his honor at all
now, for there are so many 10 the
same boat.
To sum it all up, think the Mail
has strained at a mosquito and
swallowed buffalo"
A. L. EPPERsoN.