Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-09-24
Is It Legal?

Is there any wonder that our pcopl,
should bc d!>hcartencd over the pros
pect afforded them by the officers VIII,
are dcputizcd to cut out the "poun,
OF flesh for support OF local and Stat,
government, when such strange anon
allies are presented H. in Il comparison
OF the assessment OF two counties like
say Whitman and Thurston, ant
which have passed the equalization
board without adjustment?
OF Whitman cOunty's acreage g.
per cent is classified as improved land
OF Thurston's y per cent is improved
1t is estimated that Whitman's $50,
600 acres of wheat this year will WELD
an income of $7,900,O00; Thurston
will have 1000 acres, which will in.
sure an income of $4,000.
Whitman's oat crop will aggregate
say 10000 acres, yielding a million
bushels, worth 100000; Thurston
may have $500 acres of oats and a
possible yield of 10000 bushels, val.
ued at $4,000.
So we have in these two cereals
alone total of value Of product OF
$S,2OOOOO against paltry ISL 600
and comparison Of other crops would
still further extend this disparity.
Still improved land in Whitman coun-
ty is assessed at $500 per acre and in
Thurston at $685. per acre, which
shows the injustice of basing taxation
upon an imaginary or traditional
"cash" value, when productiveness
alone should be the basis for estab-
fishing a real tangible value in the
coin of the realm.
Can 1T be matter of surprise that
our taxpayers arose almost as one man
in protest when they found that the
county officers who had been author
lied to fix the size of the slice that
has to be Topped off all property to
supply the motive power to keep the
wheels OF government in motion, were
intent upon placing it high enough to
pay local salaries, if the aggregate did
make us pay ratio of 200 to l to
meet the burden of State taxation? Is
1t surprising that our ever-patient,
long suffering people should at last
have formed a resolution to appeal to
the courts to right a wrong so glazing
and so insistantly made?
1t speaks much for the law-abiding
nature OF our people that they have so
long and so patiently endured this in
Justice. But while it is conceded that
self-preservation is so much of an in.
tuitive impulse as to be characterized
as the first law of nature, our people
have become so strongly imbued with
the idea that the forms of law, even
when their essence may be wanting,
should be sustained, that they have
lain supinely on their backs while
the men they have invested with q
"little brief authority" have bound
them hand and foot, in violation of
ante-election pledges and in defiance
OF that equal and exact justice which
alone gives law its vitality and force.
1t is, however, the last feather that
breaks the camePs back; so fragrant
and unjust have become the acts
OF men who, the moment they are
placed in Office, seem to think it o
duty to maintain old and expensive
methods and excessive salaries, not
withstanding the times and circum-
stances do not in any degree justify
them. The main object of the Asses
sor, when he was on his rounds, ap-
peared to be how to raise certain
amount of revenue, and not to ascer-
tain the cash value of property he was
engaged in listing. He seemed obliv-
ious of the fact that while the one OBJ
ject had the support of law, the other
had not, and without this backing his
enrolment was worth no more, as q
basis for taxation, than list made by
any other citizen who had not COM
piled with the formality of securing a
plurality of votes and taking an oath
to perform his duty in accordance with
law.
The first essential for a legal tax
levy is uniformity. It must be based
upon equal and exact justice to all
men. Failing in this, or in following
the plain requirements of the statute,
very properly makes it the subject for
adjudication, and this is the next step
that will probably be taken by those
who cannot sit idly by and endure
confscation of their property when
there is such cheering prospect OF
relief from court which may con-
slider the ermine too sacred a garb to
make it the covering for selfishness OF
expediency.
If it is shown, on thorough investi-
CATION, that our county assessment
has been made in exact accordance
with law, though such a result may
not reduce the burden, a more ready
compliance will be made with its
terms or acquiescence with the losses
that will result; if it has not the sane.
ton of law, it should fall of its own
weight, no matter what may be the
consequences to the favored class who
live largely on the earnings of those
whn draw M colo r;oc crI 80.