The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-11-02
N The THICK Of /
Governor Barnes Joins in the
Political Battle.
EQUALIZATION OF TAXES
And Other Issues lncite Him
to Valiant Blows.


in the opera house in Guthrie tonight was
Governor c. 81. Barnes, who in an hour
and halls speech, completely riddled the
charges Of Doodle and corruption so bra
zenly made by the opposition press and
repeated by Keaton On the stump.
Governor Barnes speech was devoted
largely to the question OF the equaliza-
ton Of taxes and the action OF the terri
torial board OF equalization, regarding
which he said:
1T is alleged that we have been guilty
of robbery of the people by the i'm
proper action of the territorial board Of
equalization. whereby the taxes as levied
by the assessors and county authorities
| have been raised in some counties and
[ lowered in others
This law seems to be much misun-
degstood and L know the action of the
board has been much misrepresented.
Our tax law was first enacted by the
first legislative assembly of Oklahoma in
1890 and provided that township asses
sors should assess the valuation of all
taxable property at its true cash value.
1T may seem to you a harsh declara-
| ton but I am here 10 say to you that
not TO exceed one dozen of the township
assessors in the territory ever perform
ed the duties of their office in accord
ance with the law which they had sworn
to execute.
They never In any year assessed prop
erty at its true cash valuation. and as
a rule each year the valuations would be
placed on lower basis than had been
| the rule the year before.
'"Ihe law of equalization provides that
county boards OF commissioners should
equalize assessments of the various town
ships by taking one township as a basis
and raising or lowering the other as the
case might be, for the purpose of secur-
ing uniformity; that is, that the cattle,
hogs, horses, buggies. pianos. watches,
etc, in one township should be valued
the same as like articles in another town
ship.
when this is done and the valuations
uniformly extended by the county clerk,
he IS required to report the same to the
territorial auditor, and the territorial
board follows the same rule and proceed
ure in eQualiZing the taxes Of the var
ious counties as was followed by the
county boards in eqIalizing the several
townships. This system seemed to work
we'll and satisfactorily to the paople
until the year 1ss4-5, during the hard
times which came upon the whole coun-
try under the last national and terri
torial Democratic administrations. the
people complained of high taxes. The
assessors reduced the valuations and.
whether rightfully OF wrongfully. the
/ IT,, t.
the valuation in every county in the ter
ritory but one, basing their equalization
upon the assessment OF Kingfsher coun-
ty, which property was assessed at a
higher valuation than In any other coun-
| ty.
"At that time the various town, county
and district boa rds charged with the levy
| ing o ftaxes-hxing the rates-nret and
performed that duty, l. E.. fixed the rates
prior to the action Of the Territorial
board of equalization. so the percentage
of increase of taxes was the percentage
of valuation raised by the board For
instance suppose our total rate in this
city had been fixed at four per cent, II
the assessed value Of a lot was $500, the
tax would be twenty dollars. But the
territorial equalization BOARD did not
meet to equalize for the territory until
after the county and school boards and
city council had fixed the rate so when
the board did meet and raised our valu-
alton 40 per cent to eequalize OUT valua-
ton with that OF Kingfsher county. II
raised the valuation of that lot from
$500 to s725 and the tax would OF course
be raised to $500
] -
raised the total assessed valuation in 1895
from about s2s 900 as returned by the
county boards To $50. 275. 1Se. an increase OF
over 80 l-3 per cent and the people were
required to pay fully one third more taxes
than they would under the present law.
And they did this for the avowed pur-
pose Of permitting the various counties
10 swell their indebtedness beyond the
limit authorized by law. Perha rs you re-
member something about the extravagant
expenditure made by the appointed Deml
locratic officers Of the new counties in the
strip Perhaps some Of the old counties
desired the same thing. but 1 have been
Informed. reliably I think. that every one
OF the new strip counties purchased %
the Leader Printing Company, the OFF,
teal organ OF the Democratic party and
of me Democratic adminiscra ton, books.
blanks and supplies sufficient 20 run the
courts and various county officers foT
twenty years. and at a price that was
90 and 900 per cent greater than the same
work could have been done and the same
suuplies purch ased in the ularke; at COM
ne-cial RATES. and the purchases Were
made and the bills allowed therefor by 1he
ed ~
ocratic administration And the Demo
cratic equalization board raised the valu-
alton Of taxable property over $1,000, Of
for the avowed purpose CT permitting
these bills 20 be paid by warrants and the
warrants then to be funded into long time
bonds.
AS one OF the benefciert results % 6
Democratic administration. the bonded IN
1ebtedneSs OF the various counties in this
territory IS now over 500 600. II may be.
and likely IS true that a portson OF tins
deb; was created by some extravag CANT and
waste:ul expenditure under the earlier Re
publican administrations. but by far the
lsrEer part OF Il was created under the
circumstances have detailed 70 you. and
was made possible BY the very large ad-
vance in ;sxabE vslution made BY TIE
Democratic board OF equalization II 1885
Ard the people were compelled 70 pay iut'
~ VARIOUS county treasures millions Q.
dollars mere than ~. needed % pay ths-;
necessary running expenses.
or course the people complained. They
had right 20 complain and no rsssonsbls
nan viii blame raem for tzkias steps Il
resist such a hi<h-hsnSsa and un~arrant-
e. abuse OF power. And thsy found lSE-
~ ~ ours arta 49, thsui IA. ths