The Yale expositor., 1899-10-20

STATE TAXES.

The board of Supervisors have con-
vened and among other things, it will
be found necessary for them to ap-
portion among the several townships
and wards of the county the sum of
$70,801.32 apportioned to us by the
Auditor General and State Board.
This is an enormously large sum of
money and will result in very largely
increased rate of taxation.
And there is little difficulty in point
ing out the real cause. Governor Pin
gree has been posing as a great reform
er. His windy interviews, damming
everything and everybody who does
not bear the Pingree o. X. Stamp have
been multiplied in about the same
ratio as State taxes.
Meanwhile the management of State
affairs have been turned over to a lot
of subordinate fake reformers, in the
different departments, appointed or
elected because they had been o. KID
rather than because of ability to prop
erly conduct the business of the State
while Governor Pingree has been rae
ing up and down between Lansing and
Detroit, and between Detroit and New
York City, hob-nobbing and scheming
with Tom L. Johnson and II. II. Will
on, the millionaire owners of Detroit
Street Railways spending the time that
belonged to the people of the State, in
a scheme to unload this property on
the taxpayers of the City at the enor-
nous sum of ST., 100000, which clear
headed business men claim is fully
twice as much as it is worth. And
disastrous results must have resulted.
The affairs of great State need
careful and constant attention. No
great business enterprise can succeed
without level-headed manager. Dur
ing Pingrees first administration Col
John Atkinson. of Detroit, and Wes-
silus, of Grand Rapids, two level-head-
ed, brainy men were the actual
managers of State affairs-they acted
as the balance wheels of the admins
tration and kept the erratic Governor
within bounds. Col. Atkinson died
and a lot of ward-heelers and poll.
ticians induced Pingree to dismiss
Wessilus, and State affairs have virtu-
ally been without head ever since.
1t will be remembered that during
the administration of State affairs by
Governor Begole, democrat, and also
by Governor Rich, a republican, pre-
decessors of Pingree, they attended to
the States buSiness-If any chimerical
schemes were proposed they were at
their post and brought their influence
to bear to head them off-They check
ed unwise legislation and prevented
improper apportionments of money to
swell the States expenses. And it is
useless for the Administrations cla-
queurs to try TO foist the blame off onto
the Immortal nineteen" State Senators,
for there were large majority of the
House of Representatives who were
Pingree men, so-called. All appropri-
ations for raising money had TO be
passed upon by their vote. If there
had been a head to State affairs, some
one on guard looking after the States
best interests, it would have been very
easy to point out the unjust features of
the legislation and have this majority
kill all such bills. This was exactly
the course pursued by Rich and Begole,
and is always pursued by an admins
tration that gives personal attention to
the best interests of the State.
Anu even Cue house OI hepTeSeIlUa-
tives that passed upon the appropri-
alton bills, while blameable in some in
stances, are, generally speaking, not
accountable for the condition of affairs.
1t would be impossible for these to
keep account of the various appropri-
ations. We might as well expect one
of the workmen of an immense manu-
featuring plant to be able to determine
whether the expenses of the concern
are kept within its income. This is
the business of the Governor and his
Administration consisting of the heads
of the different departments and his
advisors. And the whole wretched
condition of affairs may be traced to
too much political buncome; too much
of the running of the States business
in the interests of lot of place-at-any-
price fellows; and too much chasing up
and down to foist so-called reforms,
like the purchase of Street Railway, at
fabulous prices on the people and let
ting State affairs run themselves.
1t will be many day before Mich
| igan will need another "RefOrm" adj