The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-11-02

court. ana the court Sd1c II was icSei di-o
the taxes must be paid And it was
Democratic supreme court that said so.
And l want to say right here that l have
no sympathy with anyone who derides The
decisions and :mpugns the integrity OF the
courts OF our country Courts may some
times be wrong. Judges may occasionally
be so absorbed in the buzzing Of q political
am oition 10 go to congress as 70 forget
the high and holy duties with which they
are charged. but il is not often that SUCH
e the case. And believe IL Is the duty
OF every good citizen 10 sustain and sup
port the decisions of our courts and 10 give
full. faith and credit to the integrity of
our judges until II Is absolutely certain
they have gone wrong. and then wait be-
fore condemnation until II has been dem
orstrated by legal methods and lawful
procedure shat they are wrong. for IL is
possible that We may be little wrong
ourselves. So ] am not going to criucise
or condemn the solemn Judgment OF our
supreme court, nor am I going TO irnpugn
me integrity or honesty Of any OF our
judges. ] shall leave that TO those who IN
:he.r political ambitions and aspirations
are willing to so far forget the solemn
duties and obligations Of American citizen
ship. II is. however, amusing to rehect
that ons of our young men, who now
aspires 20 seat in the halls OF congress.
had. Just before he was surprised and the
people were surprised by his appointment
to q position on the bench OF our territory.
had offered resolutions in a Democratic
convention at FL Reno. denouncing in VI
S=x1 - -
of which he was so soon to become part;
a resolution so violent In It's abuse of the
judges that the convention refused to en-
tertaIn # until its tone and temper was
very much modified.
But to return to the tai question When
the legislature met in 1887, one of the first
bills introduced was a bill TO repeal the
tax law, but after investigation 1t was
found that the fault Yves not so much in
the law itself as it was In the abuse of
powers granted to the territorial equaliza-
ton board. so finally the bill was defeated
and the old law was amended so that the
work of the territorial board would be
completed and valua lions corrected and
equalized before the various levying
boards meet to fix the rates And this is
the law now. I will not take the time to
read It. The territorial board meets to
equalize the taxes on the third Monday in
June in each year, and the auditor certi-
fies the result to each county on or before
the fourth Monday in June, and counties.
cities. school districts. towns and villages
and townships all fix their rates of taxa
ton after they know exactly what the
valuation is So they can fix the rate 10
raise lust the amount of money needed 70
defray their expenditures for the year No
more and no less And this law was In
force this year when the territorial equal
liza ton board met on the third Monday in
June.
1--WE found a large variation in the val
uations of the various counties, but not
one of them was assessed at anywhere
near an actual cash valuation of the prop
erty enumerated. The law requires that
it should be.
eve found that the expenditures of the
territorial government for care of the in
sane, the transportation and keeping or
our convicts. the very large and juicy
printing bills ueft over by the Demo-
cratic administration in addition TO the
usual and economical expenditure for or
binary running expenses was largely in
excess OF the revenues provided for. We
found the c redit OF the territory impaired
an dterritoriaIe Warrants selling at s.
cents on the dollar and often no buyers
at that price We found that the bills for
the care of the insane were increasing
rapidly-that the prison bill was also like
" to increase-both by reason of the con-
stantly Increasing number OF patients and
convicts sent to these places-and these
must be cared for by the territory and
the expenses must be endured and met IN
some way. So in the performance of our
duties as members of the board, we Sc
lected the assessed valuation OF Potta-
watornie county as basis, believing that
to be as near a fair cash valuation as IN
any county excepting Greer county, which
however, was so high that we thought 1t
wise and expedient to reduce ii to level
with Pottawatornie county-and on this
basis we calculated and equalized the val
uation of the various counties.
Now as to the results OF this action
by the board The various counties. etc.
fixed their rates TO raise their necessary
revenues after the perfected and COM
pleted valuation had been certified 20
them, so that they did not collect one
cent more money than they needed or
than they would have collected for county
and other municipal purposes had no
! changes been made in their valuation,
but the territorial levy OF 4.3 mills re-
NAMED the same as fixed by the legisla-
! ture so the territorial tax was increased
/ or reduced by exactly the percentage OF
raise or reduction made in the county val
nations. For instance, IL a farmer aryal-
uation was originally $500, and the board
raised the valuation of his county 80 per
cent tse actual increase of his taxes
would be 80 mills on $3.50 or in other
words II his original valuation was $3.50
! and II was increased 80 per cent making
/ STO the increased TAX ne would be re-
/ o,Iired TO pay would be sl.07 and there are
very few persons whose valuations on
/ tbe tax rolls exceed $50. and those that
! do exceed that are generally bankers and
business men. and IL they have the prop
er,y they can afford TO pay few dollars
more axes. The result Of the action OF
/ the board and the several decisions Of the
/ supreme court sustaining this law was
1 that the price OF territorial warrants ad-
vanced to s. . IS cents. and our terrific
rial credit stands equal today 10 that o;
4 any OF the new states and IS far better
than many Of the older states
Another result in which the settlement
/ Of this question Is a strong factor, Is
1 that money can now be borrowed OF real
I estate security in Oklahoma from %
per cent less than it could have been had
before the credit Of the territory vas
again made good and conhde1re restored
7 have shown you just exactly what
the raise OF valuation OF MY Per cent
!