The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-01-14

questions.
Lame Playing Jackai for Seweli.
Mr.. T. Lane, who holds some sort Of
sinecure in Washington and runs a
couple Of one-horse papers in small towns
in this State. has started a campaign of
education upon the subject of railway
taxation. The position he takes up Is
calculated to make him solid with General
Sewell. and it is probably safe to presage
that even should the next Legislature be
Republican Mr.. Lane VIII not be thrown
out upon the cold world to hustle for new
pubic honors with the aid of a check from
Billy Thompson. or some other disln-
terested patron of rising young talent.
Mr.. Lanes little essay appears in his
Summit Record" AS it has the merit of
brevity-its only one-we will give it in
FULL
The idea which is working in the Jersey
Ci5y mind of appropriating all the taxes on
now goes to the State to prevent the i'm
position of a State TAX. viii not.be rel shed
by the balance Of the State and especially
~ P4d(C9 tli0l ~ FS lOlAl { IN III lam
road taxable property of any consequence.
The value of the terminal property is de-
termined by its connections Throughout
Summt is represented BY some proportion
Of the terminal values. and Summit is.
tnsssfore' entitled ~ / to some share Of the ae
exemption from a State tag on private
property Give jersey City what she
legi. mate Feeds, and a State tax tax viii
have to be relmposed. IN effect that
would be transferring public income from
Hudson county to make a surplus revenue
in Jersey City. which would be more Cakes
and Ale" for the political iobbers of that
misgoverned town.
1t mas surprise some OF our readers that
any one should so wilfully pervert the
truth as Mr.. Lane does in this short ut
a But that is only because they do
not know Mr.. Lane. OF course. every one
In Jersey CITY knows that the proposal to
tax the railway property in Jersey City at
the same rate as other property in no way
involves the abolition of the half of one
per cent. toll which the railroads pay to
the State. No scheme has ever been
proposed which did not contemplate the
continuance of that payment. Mr.. Lane
knows this. too: but a trihe like this does
not stand in his way when there is an
influential boss to be placated.
Mr.. Lanes remarks about the relation
between the road bed of the D., L. & W.
Of which precious corporation Mr.. Lanes
brother is an enlploye-in Summit and its
~terninal lands in Hudson county are TOO
deep for the ordinary comprehension. as
Mr.. Lane expresses them. Mr.. James B.
~vredenburgh, of this city. acting as coun-
sci for the Pennsylvania Railroad, in
vented an ingenious though fallacious
Plea for the railroads to the effect that the
great cities were created and fed by
without them. Mr.. vredenburgh only ig-
nored the historical fact that the existence
Of cities has a slight priority over the in
vention of the locomotive. Anyway, he
continued to be ineligible. Mr.. Lane
has probably some confused recollection
of Mr.. v~redenburgh's argument in his
cranial cavity. and tried to reproduce it.
If Mr.. a means anything. it must
be nat the terminal lands in Hudson
gain some value from the fact of the
fact of the railway passing through
Summit and other similar places. There
is a germ of truth in This, but it is
rather more than offset by the fact that
Summit gets practically all its property
%yslue. from the railroad and indirectly
from the terminal lands and buildings
and other appurtenances. In a word,
there would be no such place as Summit,
lage, If the Hudson water front. owned
and utilized by the D. l.. & w. Railroad
did not bring it within fifty minutes
journey Of New York.
The truth Is. every locality should take
care OF itself and bear its own expenses
with the help Of all the property it con-
taias, OF whatever sort; but If we were
to apply in any valid way the principle,
which Mr.. Lane so misconceives, every
other part OF the State ought, in justice,
pay tribute to Hudson County.
A FEW days ago we had occasion to
commen on the enormous losses which
this State sustains from forest fires. A
recent article in the P%ittsburg dis
patch quotes J. Z. Rothrock, State For
estry Commissioner OF Pennsylvania, as
holding that tina State loses $40, ooo, 900 q
year from the same cause. Consider
then, the losses in tha States further
north where these fires cover Eiiles up.
on miles OF land with ruia and it will i,
seen that the total loss t. Ire country
must be several ii:indssl thousand mil.
lion dollars 4 year.
And here is a waste which our rulers
cannot be induced 70 check. while tne'
will wrangle FOR days over In approDria,
ton Of q few hundred dollars and To-
weeks over the appointment of a Board
to su~perintend the sweeping Of a Stat
House. $500
THE new Legislature taxes hold to
day. God help US ALL
IN all Its monumental bi,-ders, The