Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-08-27
The True Ownership.

before his death, he summoned his
family to a council in order to give
his children some wholesome advice.
Among other things, he told his sons
not to invest their surplus money in
| New York real estate, as did the As
tors. 1t is well known that the Astors
were large property owners; hence
the significance of the common re-
mark two decades ago, that the Astors
owned Broadway.
When the Vanderbilt boys asked
their father to explain why, the old
man replied, " Because if in stringent
times you fail to pay your high taxes
the city and county will sell you out
and one or both of them will own your
property. Even at the best, you will
only be renters. Your municipal
taxes are rental paid to the city for
the privilege of nominally controlling
Il piece OF property and sub-renting it
to somebody else. The county, also,
will be another exacting landlord, to
to whom you pay tribute through the
assessor, the sheriff and various other
officials. No, my children, invest not
your money in real estate, of which
you never can be absolute owners, but
do as ! have done, deal in stocks, ship
ping and railroad ventures"
Late financial developments have
shown the elder Vanderbilt to have
been a sound reasOner, and that he
gave good advice to his sons. If a
piece of property in city or country is
assessed for more than it is actually
worth, or if the owner pays more
money in taxes than he receives in
revenue, then certainly he is only a
renter from city or county, as the case
may be. The fact that city or county
can tax and then sell property for
non-payment of such taxes, implies
prima taeia ownership; indeed abso-
lutte ownership.
Not that We would discourage man
from providing himself and family
with comfortable home that he can
call his own, but it is rather the un-
wise and unjust system of taxation
now carried on that we would under
take to criticise. There are hundreds
of pieces of property in Olympia which
must in all probability revert to the
city or county, and after being ulti-
mately sold by the sheriff, new IN
sophisticated owner will arise to -four
ish few years, only to 90 the way of
his unfortunate predecessor.
1t is getting to be pretty generally
conceded that there should be an ad
ualorem tax as we'll as an al paloreps
duty; that is, in plain English, q tax
according to value; no more, no less.
Nothing is truer than that a piece of
property is worth no more than the
cash it will bring when sold, or the
net proceeds of its monthly or annual
income. On this basis, and only this,
should property be assessed.
But we did not start out to formu-
late system of assessment and tax
alton that will be absolutely free from
error. This will probably never be
done in human affairs.
Regarding the question as to the
true ownership of real estate, the mort
gage device cuts large figure; for
the moment a man mortgages the
house he lives in, or the farm that
brings him and his family their daily
bread and butter, that very moment
he ceases to be absolute owner of it.
An iron-clad mortgage note is fear
full thing to contemplate. It gnaws
and eats, day and night, and grows fat
whether it rains or shines.
Henry Ward Beecher told his boys
to avoid getting into debt as they
would shun the Devil; but if the emf
nent preachers point is we'll taken,
then a mortgage is worse than the
Devil; for man, though he be over
head and ears in debt and has nothing
with which to pay, or is penniless, is
in affluent circumstances compared
with his neighbor whose means of liv-
ing is mortgaged. The one is simply
ready to begin the world over again,
while the other is an abject slave,
working for somebody else, without
ray of hope as to how or when he can
buy his freedom. at is q smart boy
who knows his own father" but it
may be almost said that the man is
still wiser who knows, in these days,
who is the owner of his home.