The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-29
WELLS on TAXATION.

leads directly to the single tax theory
of abolition of taxation of all forms of
personal wealth. 1t is not probable
that this economist has taken up
Georges work where he laid it down,
but his arguments are some of those
that eminent thinker would use in sup
port of his policy. Mr.. Wells devotes
his article to the demonstration of the
folly of continuing to tax property, so
much of which assumes intangible
| form, so long after the conditions have
changed that made personally almost
as visible as realty. The time was, he
points out, that movable property con-
sisted largely in slaves, horses, cattle,
ships, household effects and imple-
ments, almost impossible of conceal
is changed nowadays. Such property
is inconsiderable now in comparison
with the other forms personal property
has assumed. The bond, share of stock,
mortgage, certificate of deposit, note,
either is or represents personally and
is capable of being secreted beyond the
power of the most alert assessor to
! discover.
little study of statistics shows how
immense is this elusive property. The
entire valuation of all the property in
the United States real and personal,
for the year 1895 amounted to $27,S84,-
49, 1913. The capital stock and bonds
Of railways amounted to $1O,823, O64, 566
The deposits in savings banks that
year amounted to 81, 9O7 ,156,2 77, and in
national banks alone to 81 $3.50. 300, 600
The mortgages on farms in 1890 repre-
scented the enormous sum of 81 .085, 995.-
$50, and on homes of 81 ,O46, 1853, SOB Here
in these items we have property, re-
CURED to be listed by it's owners for
annual assessment, amounting to over
One-half of the entire assessed value
of all the real and personal property
in the country. Add to these the other
forms taken by personally equally ca
pable of being hidden, and it is safe
to put the total at a sum exceeding
the entire valued and taxed property
of the nation.
Mr.. Wells gives an interesting and
what should be an instructive illustra-
ton of the two methods used by Con-
necticut prior to and since 1889 to
bring under taxation this kind of prop
erty. Before that year the state law
contained the usual drastic provision
requiring the owner, under severe
pains and penalties, to list all personal
property of every description owned
by him or under his control On bonds
and notes the rate levied was from
l to or more per cent. In 1853 notes
and bonds formed about 10 per cent
of the entire grand list of all taxa
bic property; in 1865 it was about ~
per cent; in 1875 a little over 5 per
cent, and in 1885 about 3& per cent
Meantime, he asserts, that form of
property had increased until it amount
ed to at least one-half of the valua-
ton of all other property in the state'
In 1885 the thriving city of WATERFOWL
held only $3.50 worth of such property,
if the tax list was accurate, and so
far as cash was concerned there was
never a community since mankind
emerged from a state of barter that
got along with so little"
In 1889 the legislature provided that
all owners of notes and bonds, who
u-oIIld Taoictar tbap, for. tn ~ tioo wit,
the state treasurer and agree to pay
in advance a tax of 10 of 1 per
cent a year for five years, should be
exempt from all further state or local
taxation on the same. The law went
into operation in August, 1889, and be-
tween that date and Jan. 1, 1890, some
thing over $50, 900, 900 of bonds and notes
were registered" From this compari-
son of conditions Mr.. Wells draws the
conclusion that there is a good deal of
conscience in the highly moral state of
Connecticut, which can be induced to
forswear and cheat on . per cent
tax that cannot be bribed on tax of
1-5 of 1 per cents that a tax of from
1 to 3 per cent on bonds and notes in
Connecticut is sufficient to nearly tax
out of existence all conscientious scru-
pies of it's people in respect to the vio-
lation of law and the preparation of
fraud in respect to matters of taxa
ton" But, in spite of all this knowl-
edge, gained from years of experience
we find legislators annually devising
more and more stringent measures for
sharing this intangible property, MAX
ing systems more and more complex,
expanding the listing sheets to include
new forms Of property, with the same
out of all this experience would come
the wisdom that would resort to fewer
sources for taxation, items that are
imperishable and which cannot be hid
den. We have not, yet attained that
degree of wisdom in our taxing methods
that we have passed in mechanics,
where, as Adam Smith notes, the ten
dency, after the first device, is always
from completely towards simplicity.
"sETTERS,.~ NOT sITTERS.
We want young hens and pullets on sub
scription and will pay a good price for them.
Good sitters especially wanted.-Hubbard
County Enterprise.
Young hens nor pullets, middle-aged nor
venerable hens ever sit, my dear fellow, nor
are they any of them ever ''sitters'' Men
and women, old and young, sit, but never
set. Hens set, but never sit Sometimes