The news & observer., 1897-05-21
Ouinine and other fe.
YER medicines take from 5
to 10 days TO cure fever
JOI7f7SOn'S Chill andEeVer
Tonic cures in ONE DAY.
JUDGE WALTER CLARK.
WRITES ON THE PROBLEMS PRE-.
SENTED BY Mr.. w. II. PAGE.
He Declares that We Will Educate Our
People When We Make the Rail-
roads Bear Their just Share
of Taxation.
JUDGE WALTER CLARK.

Mr.. Walter II. Pages plea for the ed
ucation of the masses in yesterdays issue
was strong and just presentation Of
the necessity of higher taxation for that
purpose and the benefit that would result.
He said nothing Hs to the ad
justment of the burdens of
taxation. which are heavy. not be-
cause of their great aggregate amount.
but because the taxes are placed almost
entirely on that element of our people
who are least able to bear them. like Il
load i'll adjusted upon a horse. The wealth
of this State pays very little of its taxes.
The burden lies upon the toilerS and pro-
ducers. In the Northern States which
have the fine educational systems of
which Mr.. Page speaks. the wealth is
made 10 hear some proportion of the tax
alton. In New York they have recently
adopted ii graduated inheritance tax,
ranging from per cent. on 5000 to 10
per cent. on inheritanccs Of $1.O0O.OO0
and upwards Then the gross receipts
of railroads. gas companies. telegraph.
telephone and express companies are
made to pay u fair taxation. But yes
tcrday in Michigan the Legislature fixed
the taxation on railroad gross receipts at
21a per cent. where the gross receipts
were not over $1,000 per mile. and ut
1 per cent. where thc earnings were
over $1,000 and less than $4,000 per mile
III q per cent. where the receipts were
over $1,000 and less than $4,000. and 10
per cent. wherever fie receipts We're over
$4,000 per mile. 1t is estimated that
this bill will raise the taxes paid by the
railroads in that State to S1.5O0.000
They have heretofore been paying only
S1lO.00O. I'm Wisconsin. whose area and
population is about the same as in North
Carolina. the annual railroad tax is 81.
10000. In Indiana. Il much smaller
State in area than North Carolina. the
railroad taxes are $2.250.OOO With such
revenues paid in by the railroads. and
with proportionate taxes paid by tele
graph, telephone. gas and express COM
panies, North Carolina could have the
same magnificent school system. But
compared with the above. look at the pit
iful 100000 paid by the railroads in
North Carolina. In Wisconsin, Michigan
and many other States the Legislatures
began long ago fixing the railroad fares
at , cents per mile and reducing freight
rates. The result was not only vast
benefit to the public. but increased reve-
nues to the railroads. Both the railroads
and the people are therefore better able
to stand the taxes which give those States
auch magnificent schools. with public
libraries. and universities with free tut
tom numbering 5000 students each, as
portrayed by Mr.. Page. =
But in North Carolina, with high pas-a
senger and freight rates, repressing enter
prise, the vast income Of the railroads
escapes altogether, and all the railroads
in the State combined pay only a. prop
erty tax into the State Treasury Of $685.
600, which is swelled by the school tax to
something over 100000. No railroad in
this State pays any tax on it's gross re-
ceipts. Their great revenues are carried
cut OF tho State almost untouched by the
tax collector to London and New
York. to swell the oyercpown
revenues OF J. Pierpont Morgan,
ROthschild and THE like. and to furnish
enormous salaries to the managers of the
property here and to procure lawyers, ed
itOrs and lobbyists to keep down public
sentiment from any assertion Of an indie
pendent attitude. There is one CORPORA
tiOn operating in this State which. it is
said, pays one official alone more than
three and Il half times the entire amount
of public tax it pays into the State Treas
ury.
What we need first of all is to educate
our people into sending Legislature
here whose majority will vote for proper
taxation of these incomes and who can
not be cajoled. deceived. wheeded or
frightened into letting the rail
roads continue to run the State
for their own benefit. With an
independent. intelligent Legislature, |
we cannot only cut down freight |
and passenger rates but we can like |
theNOrthern States, levy a tax upon t'he |
gross receipts OF these great corporations
which will give Il public school system |
such IA those States have. What North |
Carolina needs is a Legislature that will |
treat her people fairly by giving them |
reasonable rates over the railroads in our
borders and which will levy a Northern
rate OF taxation upon them. Then we
can have n system of education abreast |
with any Northern State and no denizen |
of Boston can make us ashamed in a pub |