The Newtown bee., 1899-10-06
IitCfeld County.
WOODBURY.
 WHO PAYS THE BILLS?

''It is common remark when speak
 ing of the cost of the state roads that
 the state pays the bills.' The eupposi-
 tion is that the state in this matteris
 something different from the town. but
 the state is only the aggrega'e of the
 towns and cities. If the st .te pays the
 to Wns and cities. reimburse the state
 The state has no money except what it
 gets from the people. If the state ex- pends $500, 1000 year on state roa1 Is ths t sum must be assessed upon tle people as we'll be assessed direc ly for 1t mus
 all come ut of tue taxpayers. There is great desl of deception in the talk of the state paying the bills. The state really pays nothing, the tax payers pay it all.' This little article copied from { the Berkshire Courier, paper published in Great Barriugton, Mass. The name
 of the author do not know but when
 read it began to think and before I was ! fairly aware of it I was putting my
 thought on paper for the benefit of the
 overburdened taxpayers of Woodbury and New England. A clergyman. was ! turned out to be devils and his reply was, ! Because the ministers spend SO much l time caring for other people that they neglect their ogn children" And the | reason why farmers are so dull and
 sleepy on public questions is because
 they have to rise early and work hard,
 not to keep the bears and wolves Gas
 some of our ancesters did), but the sher ! if away from their doc rs. According to the census that was taken in 1S60( just l before government bonds were issued)
 the wealth Of this great commonwealth was estimated to be about 16 billions. { But in 1870, just 30 years ago, while the ] wealth had increased from 16 to 64 bill lions or about four-fu Id ,the farmers share in it had decreased to 15 billions and of
 this one third was under mortgage. "I not & system of finances that destroys the wealth of the wealth producers 8 I system that undermines the foundations
 and which If persisted in will cause the destruction of the entire structure. !"
 Farmers, wake up,t think of 1t, ,.S5, ,000, 900.
 900 Of farm mortgages with money grow ing scareer and farm products less valu.
 able each year, while taxes instead of
 being abated are increasing. At the rate
 things have prog 'ssed for the last 40 years what will become of the poor
 farmer in the 20 h century. 1.-the farm. ! rs ara the foundation of American Inde- \ pendepce and American prosperity what l will become of the structure and super structure when the foundation Is gone. 1 Theological students, lawyers, merchants
 and blacksmiths are more dependent up on the f. ner than the farmers are upon
 them. What is gold watch good for when the main spring is gone or out of | repair? The hands, face, case, and chain can be made of gold but that little main spring shut up out of sight which keeps
 all the wheels in motion and without which the watch would be motienlest
 and useless cannot be made of gold but iron, having undergone certain process,
 which is called steel. The gold watch is an emblem of society but we can get
 along without gold better than we car without iron. Yet to hear some people talk person would naturally think that
 farmers were of no consequence and all they had to do to run their farms. meet
 the family expenses, pay the insurance interest and taxes. was just to go and pick the money from off the bushes, just as people do when they go berrying, ol pick it up from the ground as the Israel ites did in the Wilderness when the Lord fed them with angels food from heaven
 But if some of these salaried men sup
 ported by the public would come out or the farm few years and exercise theil
 muscles instead of their brains by dig ging rocks and stones, cutting bushes
 briers and thistles, fighting apple tree
 worms and potato bugs, perhaps they
 would be as much surprised and disap pointed as the Irishman was when h.
 walked up Broadway, New York, expect ing to pick up gold dollars on the pave
 ment. The Lord hasn't given the poo farmers the power to create and he Ii lcommanded not to steal. The hard heart
 ed old Egygtian king demanded th,
 same amount of brick to be made every Iday whether the straw was furnished o not. The Pharoahs of the 18th century demand double the amount of tax thei fathers paid when farming was booming
 and some not only want the tax doubled but tripled and even quadrupled and | the taxes went up to 50 mills on dollaI they would spend 1t all and then like thl .l little hog that went to the store with five cents in his pocket for candy anf
 when It was gone he wanted i've cent I worth more and have 1t charged to spa. I All the difference is the hog had 1t charg
 ed to his father and these people that
 are increasing the indebtedness Of ths
 town are charging It to their children ant
 posterity that Is to occupy their placer when their lifeless body Hes sleeping 1T tiae grave. Their fathers not only buili ], them unnecessary churches and left then a fund to help run them with but wefl
 smart, intelligent and honest enough {, pay their bills and keep the town ire, from debt on less than half the amount of tax their children require with thu fund Of two deceased persons to hell I meet the expenses Of the town. Tn U TAnislakuFe n afss~~ s>s H. sssszs2s7uI z IT