The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-03-04

under this levy.
MORTGAGE-DEDUCTI LAW.
THE last Legislature enacted a statute
known the decentralization law.
Under its provisions a deduction to the ex-
tent Of 500 was allowed on account Of
mortgages upon real estate. Heretofore
deductions had been allowed against notes
and securities. which, in the main, bene-
flied the note owner rather than the home
owner. Immediately this law was assailed.
1t was charged that the deductions would
be so great as TO practically paralyze the
finances Of the State At a meeting of all
of the county assessors of Indiana / de-
! Tended the law. believing that IL anybody
was entitled TO deductions account Of
| indebtedness it was the man or woman
who was trying 10 build and pay for a
home: that IL anybody was entitled TO de-
auctions, IL was the woman who
had this mortgage upon the farm or upon
the village or city lot. l believed then, as
L believe now, that there Is no reason why
one person having notes and gilt-edSe Sc
curities should have the right TO deduct
from those securities indebtedness aggre-
eating sometimes tens of thousands of dol
| lars, and yet deduction OF 500 should be
denied a struggling home owner Instead
of the gloomy predictions proving true the
| contrary has been the fact. While these
deductions in the whole State OF Indiana
| have amounted TO $29.0OO.OO0, yet the in
which Increase has resulted from a more
careful inspection of deductions from per-
sonal property-amounts to more than
$31. OO0. co., that there has been a net gain
| in Indiana, Notwithstanding the mortgage
deduction law, OF two and a half million
dollars in the taxable values OF the State.
90 The last Legislature appropriated 81
2O,UO TO enlarge the benevolent and
penal institutions In the State. When
these buildings shall have been completed
| IL is believed that every ward Of the State,
ali 49,
taken from the poorhouses. placed I'm these
benevolent institutions and receive the at
| tention they need and the care they de-
serve, and where the rays of hope may
brighten into a full sunshine OF restored
intelligence.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS.
with the county and state affairs am
done to-day. What flood of events has
| overspread this country of ours within the
past three years. Then there seemed not
| cloud upon the sky. We were at peace
with the world, and yet within that time
centuries of history have been crowded
into years The rule of Spain is over, and
| all that is left of Spanish rule and misrule
on this continent is but memory. It's all
| in the past There is no future. With our
victories on land and sea came new duties.
new responsibilities-duties and RESPONSE
Il
miliar-territories beyond the encircing
| rim of our country; territories in the seas.
| This country has no insular policy, because
| 1t never has had any insular possession.
| No colonial form of government has been
/ adopted, because we had no colonies.
Colonial administration and colonial poll
| cies are matters of growth. Time and
| talent will develop an American insular
policy the best in the world. We cam
| not expect il all to grow in a day. The
| first duty was to conquer peace; TO put
| down open rebellion, and TO quell armed
/ tnsurrection; to plant the flag upon the
battlements before electing legislatures TO
| make laws for the island. Let no patriot
be impatient at a days delay. In the
/ dreary winters of the American revolution,
/ theorists urged Washington to fix policy
| for the colonies If the war for independ-
ence should be successful. They said 1t
| would give courage TO the men In the field
| and confidence to the nations of the world.
| But that great leader said, Wait until the
| British shall have surrendered wait until
| We see II the colonies themselves shall
| survive; wait and see If we have consti-
| tuition or a country. In the fullness OF
| time the armies of Washington encamped
| In the fortresses of King George; then
| came the construction and the reconstruc-
| ton days for the confederation; colonies
| became States; the confederacy melted
away and the Union was cemented. The
/ articles of confederation-a mere rope of
sand-gave way to the Constitution of to-
/ day, Constitution which, in its essence,
| will be the Constitution for all time for
4 this Republic
when the great rebellion of 1861 had be-
| come mighty struggle between the bond
and the free, between union and disunion,
in the very midnight of our history, in the
| very midst of the saturnalia of cheers and
| tears, OF blood and Drawn. when no one
| knew whether we should have one flag or
| two, peacemakerS appeared, Constitution
mongers piled their trade; pretended con-
structors and reconstructors of constitu-
| lions and laws invested the capital and
| urged upon the great President the neces-
| city for defining the policy of the country,
| If our flag should be kept in the sky.
| Wait! Waltz said the great President
| that most human and yet the nearest di-
| vine of any man that had lived In the
| flood of years since the Nazarene walked
| in Gethsemane, there will be tine enough
| to gather up the tangled threads of
| States rights and States powers when
l the soldiers of the Confederacy shall have
| laid down their arms
END OF THE WAR.
1.-The war ended. We had then no re-
| construction history. precedents for the
return into the Union of seeded States.
We had passed from the forum of battle to
| the forum Of debate. How should these
seeding States be brought back into the
Union? What kind of government should
be given them? Should new States be
| carved out of the Confederacy, as new
States are carved out of virgin territory?
| vi SnOulu the Ola states De reconstructed
| on their old State lines out of the dis
| membered remnants of the dead Confed-
| eracy? Ii was not the work of a day, nor
| year. There were wide differences of
| opinion. Chase and Seward and Morton
and Sumner and the great leader, Grant
| held varying Views; but out of the dis
| cussion. out OF the debate, the Republican
| party reconstructed those commemorative
| and brought them back into the sisterhood
| or states. The Spanish ended as sud-
denly as IL began. In day the guns of
| Dewey swept the Spanish navy from the
| Pacific, and in a day the guns of Samp-
| son and Schley and of Shafter and Law
| ton ended the reign of Spain in this
| hemisphere. Questions OF construction
| and reconstruction. colonial and
| insular policies. will be discussed and de-
| cided. New duties are to be done: new
| victories are to be won--duties owing by
| the strong to the weak: victories in the
| paths of peace; duties of the governors to
| the governed Victories of the husband
| man with the hoe over the guerrilla with
| the gun; victories for the Cuban In his
| canefield over the marauder with his
machete. Victories of the peaceful Filipino
| over the highwayman and the bandit; vic
/ tories for the Porto Rican over himself
| All must be given a chance; all will be
/ given chane. All ought TO be helped: all
| will be helped. Cuba, under Spain DESC
| late waste, will. eventually, under the
| American flag. become the gem OF all the
| islands OF the seas.
| PLANTED BY LAYTON.
| But let us not stop to discuss the fu-
/ ture policy of the PhiliEpi until peace