The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1899-02-09

~ ~oauiged and existent, came into
rom In n 1892, under the reign of our
pelus ,t constitution, by section 1871 of
piesIh IL cannot have exemption from
Wilton ,yt; The constitution is plain !;
" IL o. Of creation OF corporations is
sl ,s,m 80" and there would be nothing
piss,,I;ar about it II it was the case Of
psn,mon merchant, or farmer, or law
p. or mechanic.
w, rt there was in 1870, in the act to
,-na" u the Mobile and North west
IN R. X. company q section, 81, to
s. az, that company from taxes until
- earnings enabled it to pay per
~, .ant dividend on the cost of construc-
. t;on and 1t is declared that this sec
. uOn' was carried through successive
u.h w. and railroad companies until
e !. coached the Il. N. o. & Il. r. h.
aao,nany. Grant this, for the sake of
he The argument. Then two proportions
OF The exemption is declared by Sec
.;on 81 to be in consideration of the
hn;ldjng of the railroad.
. Good faith Oh the part of the rail-
,oad company required the building OF
tbe road to be as economical as pos
s;hle. consistent with efficiency and a
air voluntary exhibit of its cost and
earnings without the necessity of re-
sort to the courts by the state.
But the road was built before the l..
n o. & r. company was created and
therefore it could not have given the
consideration required, that is, the
building OF the road, for the exemp-
tion. More, the road was built by the
n. o. B. r. V. & M. Il. r. company,
that never had or claimed an exemp-
ton.
As I have said, IL the taxes are
taken of the railroad company they
must be put on the tax payers, for the
money necessary to defray the expenses
oisthe government that it may protect
the property of this railroad company,
As we'll as OF others, must be raised.
Now, good faith is just as sacredly
due to these taxpayers as to this rail
road company-the good faith OF the
state and of the railroad company is
due to them. When the railroad COM
pany prates Of good faith it should
come with clean hands. If its burden
Of taxes was transferred to the
shoulders of the people until it could
earn per cent upon the cost of con-
struction OF it's road it should have
made Efficient construction as economi-
cal as possible, because the greater
the cost, or apparent cost, Of construc-
ton the longer it would take to earn
the per cent, and the longer the peo-
pie would have to pay its taxes.
A corporation, understand, is an ar
tificial person, in law, distinct from
the stock holders who own it. Prac-
tically the same persons owned these
different railroad corporations, and
when the road was being built they
had mistaken idea that the charter
Of Incorporation under which they
we're building entitled them to exemp-
ton from taxes. They, therefore,
formed of themselves a Financial I'm
provement Company, another artificial
person, and contracted with it. thereby
taking the money out Of one Of their
pockets aud putting it in the other.
They issued bonds and gave them to
this financial company, to themselves,
to the amount of twenty thousand dol
lars mile, and claimed to be exempt
from taxation until 8 per cent dividend
was earned on this twenty thousand
dollars mile. The cost OF construc-
ton was not more than half that
amount. The records in the auditors
Office show that it was assessed. in
1893, at ten thousand dollars mile,
including station houses, in Coahoma
county, and seven thousand five hun
bred dollars mile, including station
houses in Tunica county, for levee
taxes. l have not examined the as
sessment of other counties. 1t is the
best paying road in the state, and it
is Of value equal to every dollar spent
in its construction.
In addition to the twenty thousand
dollars a mile bonds, they gave to the
Financial improvement company-to
hsmselves-three hundred and fifty
thousand dollars of the bonds of Boil
var county, and of the cities of Green
vile and VicKsburg, as a bonus. Good
faith, indeed
Here are two OF the items ofecost Of
construction:
II. 7. Wilson'S commissions 1896, 900.
Original cost of venture, franchise
etc., S515, 344.67.
R. \. Wilson was tho president Of
the railroad company, and it is i'm
possible to conjecture how commits
sions paid him could be made cost,
in the construction of said road"
The net profits realized by the rail
road company as shown in the suit to
which the state was compelled to re-
sort were:
For 1892. IS sol, 663. 90
For 1893. LOO, 1857. 0C
For 1894 992, 879. GO
For 1895. ................. l,07s,6H.oo
And this when the same company
wned this and the 1. G. road, and
were interested in giving all OF the
business possible to the l. @. to keep
rom appearance of earning per cent
dividend. More cotton was shipped
over the Y. g. NJ. V. because more is
made there, but how about freight!
The plea that the 1. G. company has