The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-17
A BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
The Taggart Government md Its
Lates Taxation Proposition.

ment, because II lntlmateS frequently thdt
Mayor Taggart and his official family
are not giving us the business admins
tration they promised. whereas We have
not had more business tact displayed for
many years than is on exhibition daily
at city headquarters, A day or two after
the failure of one of our city banks one
sufferer asked another what he thought
of il. Il can't think the president is dis
honest. he is simply incompetent for such
q place. was the charitable answer. I'm
competent nothing! Any man hat can run
IN insolvent bank twenty years at the pace
that bank has kept cannot be
called incompetent" was the tart
response. Apply this test to our
business and management ability. A bust
ness grasp that can borrow money to the
utmost limit of the law and buy parks and
lay off boulevards and plan expensive
bridges and charter a street railroad and
spend all the money that was in the treas
ury. borrowed money and all, and have
every enterprise not half finished, is not
to be sneezed at. Add TO this a policy
that has put three-fourths of the homes
of the laboring people under mortgage for
street improvements, and it is fair to
claim that Mr.. Taggart is giving us a
business administration: and then con-
slider further that in the faee of the fact
that there is an empty treasury and an
exhausted credit the tax levy is reduced
in anticipation of an early Republican
control of the city, which must replenish
the treasury and meet deficiencies by the
unpopular means OF a larger levy. Is not
the Journal at fault in suggesting that we
have not a business administration?
And now comes master stroke Of bust
ness. Riverside must be had, and every
There are underground and out of sight,
several miles of gas mains presumably
not yet wholly eaten up by electrolysis,
why not tax them? They belong to cor
porations, and everybody hates a corpora
ton anyway; besides, they can't vote,
hence an ordinance to tax these Mains is
pending. But Is that a good business
move? 1 do not ask is it right. for right
and wrong are not presumed to enter into
cold business. There are facts in this case
that everybody knows and which must
enter into the consideration of this
question. To say nothing of the POSSIBLE
ity that within a year or two the gas COM
panies will be ordered to replace their
mains on every street occupied by a street
car line, II many more explosions occur,
there remains the fact that the supply of
gas is so rapidly failing that in a short
time II can be used only as a costly luxury
IL at all. There is this further fact, that
III with the cost of the constant sink
Ing OF new wells and other increasing ex-
penses. the hope of the plant of the Con-
sumers Trust ever becoming the property
OF the city is every day receding, and those
who generously advance money to try
an experiment will likely never get their
money back. That Of itself is not conclu-
sive with the class who think il both a.
privilege and a right to prey upon their
neighbors. but 1t indicates that there is
no such margin of profit in the gas enter
prise as to 1uStlfy such "A taxing as iS
proposed In order TO meet the deficiency
of a business administration. That all the
aifairs OF this company are conducted on
the most economical scale is a
fact. Ibcan hardly be any better with the
other company. if as well, for the Trust
occupies only the more populous portions
OF the city, while the Indianapolis has
spread through the suburbs at a much
greater cost. That neither company can
furnish an adequate supply is no fault of
either. for the gas is not to be had, and
that everybody would rather take what
they can get at present prices than do
without, Is also manifest, for not one in a
thousand has returned the mixers and dis
connected from the limited supply. Is IL
good business sagacity TO pounce upon
these struggling corporations in order TO
exc out a revenuec that is insufficient to
meet the demands of a business admins
tration. which borrows money for bridges
and uses 1T for current expenses. and then
reduces the tax levy to count votes at
the next election?
When / was a boy, on a farm, 1 was the
proud driver of a good four-horse team
One day. with a heavy load. the team
stalled In a mudhole. There was nothing
TO do but to unload or pry out. After taxi
Ing in the situation my father decided to
pry out, and we went TO work TO do IL.
Wnen everything was ready j took my
place on the saddle horse TO start. The
off wheelhorse, named Ned, was an un-
usually strong and reliable horse. I gave
the word to start and every horse obeyed.
but the wagon did not move. "Hit old
Ned" came from the man at the pry.
Ned is doing his very best" 1 answered.
Hit him again." my father cried. and
hit him and the wagon moved, but old
Ned was never the same horse afterward.
1T was one lick too much. There is such a
thing as everlasting even a horse.
l have no pecuniary interest in these gas
companies, except as a small contributor
10 the experiment of bringing gas TO the
city at ordinance rates, never expecting
to receive any of ii back with or without
interest. 1t proved a success, and would
still be, Notwithstanding the wasteful
methods of most consumers, IL the gas
would hold out, but the present outlook In
dicates that VIII receive back only a part
of my donation TO the experiment. The
company pays taxes, as all corporations
do. and no one objects to IL, and IL Is do
ing its best to supply its customers. Pre-
sumably the Indianapolis is doing the
same. When old Ned was doing his very
best it was cruel TO hit him again, but
the emergency seemed TO demand IL. IL
was in the end bad economy, for IL ended
Ned's ability to work at all. 1t should be
a great emergency that will justify a spe-
cial tax upon so useful and unselfsh a cor
p%oration as the Consumers Trust. Some
thing more than TO tide over the blunders
OF a business administration should re-
quire IL, and the same is true of the other
gas company, so far as / know. The case
contemplates a public wrong. not a private
wrong only. IL will be q private wrong by
so much as IL prevents the reimbursement
of those who heroically came to the front
in a time of need, and a public wrong by SC
much as IL prevents the city's becoming
the owner of the Trusts plant as a pure
gratuity. IL. in addition TO this tax TO meet
the deficiency in revenue, IL shall be com
PEELED TO put in new mains where the
present ones are destroyed by electrolysis
the city never can have the plant, and
most certainly those who have by volun-
tary contribution built il and preserved II
for the public good entirely will not sub
nit to special assessment to keep 1t vi
when oppressively taxed TO meet the ex-
penses of a business administration. In IL.
ultimate analysis every dollar realized
from taxation on IL might as well come
from taxation on University Park or Gar
field Park or Tomlinson Hall. The cas-.
Is only slightly different with the Indian
apolis company. IL different at all. In either
case the tax money comes from the con
sumers. When these become the rich
only. IL may be popular To tag them bu