St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-01
can agree upon. My own private iudg-

can agree upon My own private judg-
ment, however, is that the general
condition Of business and property
is such that, If the tax could be tenn
porarily deferred for a period of five
years, or less, sound public policy
would recommend that this course be
adopted. If I am rightly informed,
and the financial condition of the
water board Is so independent, that
this money will not be needed until
1903 or 1909, 1 certainly think that
the money ought to be left in the
hands of the property holders during
this depression rather than be c6t-
lected to be put in mere sinking
fund, where it is not needed, and
where it would lie idle. There may
be, of course, special reasons and cir
cumstanceS connected with this ques-
ton that l do not understand as well
as the water commissioners, and that
might materially alter my views.
MY Judgment is that the highest
public welfare will be most prompted
by the reduction of all expenses and all
tax levies to the lowest point con-
sistent with the maintenance of order,
and this for from three to five years"
GOV. RAMSEY IS VIGOROUS.
Ex-Gov. Ramsey believes that all
present taxes have become burden,
but that the water front tax is the ira
ditional added insult.
Why" said he, that tax should be
abolished, and abolished at once. 1t
doesn't make any difference whether a
particular lot has, or has not, paid for
the pipes in front of 1t. There are sim
ply two things to consider: Is the tax
necessary? Are people in position to
pay any tax not absolutely needed :?
Everybody knows the situation The
water board, by it's own admission, is
in no need of the money raised by this
tax. It's merely a useless accumula-
ton OF funds to either extend the
water system into adjacent agricultural
regions, or to pay off bonds that will
not be due for many years to come.
And to think of such an imposition upon
the community in our present state of
, misery
In every other country on earth
some consideration is shown to citizens
during times of depression. Taxes are
reduced, and all penalties for delay in
payment are abolished. No one in au-
thor1ty here ever seems to think of
such common sense methods. We keep
on paying not only our debts, but the
debts of our posterity, till the third and
fourth generation. Some persons insist
that the present grinding system is not
Objectionable. Oh, no; it's all right, of
course, to men that profit by the
abundance of city funds; but you may
be sure, yes, sir, you may be (old set
tiers adjective) sure that those same
men don't pay any taxes themselves,
worth speaking Of. The personal prop
erty taxes, they tell us, are being paid
very cheerfully. But what is the per-
sonal tax compared to the tax on real
estate? I'm Disguised, absolutely, and
If l was a year or two younger be-
ieve I'd go Off to British Columbia, or
some other wild place, where the tax
system is not yet developed.
"A good many of our prominent citi-
zens are making speeches on this SUBJ
ject nowadays, and they might do well
to adopt the old Romans trick For a
'delenda est Carthage they might end
every speech exclaiming, THE taxes
mIst be reducedv