Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-20
A CHEAP SURRENDER.

A CHEAP SURRENDER.
By granting the Central Union
Telephone company the right to con-
duit its wires, the City Commits
sioners have surrendered the only
leverage by which they could hope
to bring this monopoly to reasonable
terms.
Under the circumstances, this priv
ilege of fconduiting wires is worth hun
dreds of thousands of dollars to the
company. The latter is now en-
trenched in better position than ever
to ignore the rights of the city and the
people. Why majority of the Com
missioners should have surrendered
to the company, apparently without
making the least resistance, without
demanding a single valuable conces-
sion from the company, is almost be-
yond ken.
The least the Commissioners could
have done as condition of granting
the permit would have been to de-
mand the unconditional repeal of the
25-year franchise, which was simply
stolen from the city last November.
The citizens of Akron have been
accustomed of late years to having
their rights given away by the public
officials to whose care they We're
entrusted, but they did not expect
that the City Commissioners would |
become parties to the give away"
policy.
Too much cannot be said in praise
of the firm opposition of Commits
sioner McGarry to the conduit grab.
The DEMOCRAT is sorry that as
much cannot be said for his colleagues |
on the Board.
A ST. LOUIS merchant has refused |
to pay his personal tax on account of
the ''gross inequalities of the law of
taxation He insists that the tax
levied upon the merchants, similar
to that imposed in Ohio, is a fine |
upon industry, as it ''is assessed |
against everybody who trades, no
matter how humbly or on how small a
scale, and in spite of the fact that
they are exercising an undoubted |
right, for which they should be COM
mended rather than fined" He |
shows upon the other hand, that ''rich
public franchises, representing enor-
nous values, not dollar of which
has been earned, every dollar of
which is due to monopoly, are let go
scot free of taxation" Because of
this inequality, the merchant de-
clines to pay the tax levied upon him.
Every merchant of Ohio has just as
good right as the st. Louis merchant
to resist collection of the personal
tax, but should this right be asserted,
the courts would soon bring the
refractory ones to time. The Legis-
lature must take the initial step
toward remedying the glaring defects
of the tax system.
AT THE fall election, just prior to
the last session of the legislature, 80
per cent. of the people of Akron de-
clared that they, wanted better
form of local government. Both po-
litical parties had adopted resolu- ;
tions pledging candidates, if elected,
to do away with the Commissioner
form of government. AS members
of the Legislature are to be elected
next fall, it is not too early for Ak
ron people to determine what form of
local government they desire to have.
Now is the time for the citizens to
begin an investigation and discussion
of this matter for themselves. If
they defer performance of this duty
until the eleventh hour, as was done
two years ago, they may have to
abide by any form of government the
politicians choose to give them, or
perhaps, endure the present system
two years more.
1.-THE rich man who buys a privi-
lege from a board of aldermen for a
railway which he represents" says
Governor Roosevelt; ''the rich man
who gets a privilege through the Leg
islature by bribery and corruption
for any corporation, is committingan
offense against the community which
it is possible may some day have to
be condoned for in blood and destruc-
tion."
This epigram loses more than half
its force and sounds like demagogy
when it is remembered that Roose-
velt, as Governor of New York, is
the subservient tool of Platt, himself