The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-10

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 who buy it. A tax on banks increases
 the rate of discount which is paid by
 business men who borrow from the
 banks, and they in turn shift it to the
 consumers of their goods. A tax on notes, if it could be collected, would in-
 crease the rate of interest, just as a tax on mortgages increases the interest rate on mortgage debts. The tax on mort gages you have wisely abolished, and you should extend this exemption to notes and book accounts, which there is no more reason to tax than any other debts
 It may be said with absolute certain ty that the remission of all taxes on personal property would not benefit the owners of the property one bit more than it would benefit the rest of the community, and all would receive d benefit. ,
 ADVANTAGE TO REAL ESTATE
 OWNERS OF REQUESTING TAXES
 ON PERSONAL PROPERTY.
 Enoch Ensley great land owner of Tennessee, addressed letter to Cover nor Brown of that state in 1871 which has been quoted with approval by many economists. MT. Ensley laid down this rule: Never tax anything that is of value to your state that could or would run away, or that could or would come to you" MT. Ensley went on to say: Il hold that of all men the real estate or fixed property man is most interested in the rule or motto I have adopted Real estate has value in proportion to the value of the personal property plac- lnl ox,I ,1nt iCrr q nf a to it.
 The citizens of Connecticut recognize this, and, in spite of the law to the con- trary, have exempted mill plants m some towns from taxation Some of the towns in New York have done the same, although our law does not permit it. In some states the law does permit an exemption for a period of years, and in others, with greater wisdom, they have permitted the entire exemption of man ufacturing plants and certain other forms of property. In 1881 manufact- uring machinery was exempted from taxation in Baltimore, and in 1896 the Merchants and Manufacturers associ- ation stated that the exemption of manufacturing plants has been one of the greatest sources of prosperity to Baltimore, and that the impetus thus given to the establishment and exten- sion of manufacturing industries in our city has far exceeded in value the taxes which have been abated Employment has been furnished to thousands of our citizens, and it would be difficult to es- timate the addition either to the number of inhabitants or to the amount of tax able basis directly due to the develop ment of our manufactures"
 | In Pennsylvania the system of taxa ton is far more liberal than in any oth CT state A committee of the Philadel- phia common council, after a considera- tion of a proposal to levy taxes on busi- ness and manufacturing interests, re- ! ported; Capital, business and industri- al establishments alone give value to city real estate. With 1t the real estate can be made to produce revenue, main tain or increase In value; without 1t comes depreciation in value and want of | occupation for large classes of people. If. therefore, a tax imposed on the busi- ness interests of the city would have an unfavorable effect upon it's growth and | prosperity, the transfer of part of the tax levy to property in business would in effect, be an injury to the owners of real estate. This, we think, would be the result"
 LOCAL OPTION IN TAXATION. Without doubt the sentiment of the different towns in this state varies greatly as to what should be taxed, and if you have to wait for change until the whole state agrees, you will have to wait until most of you are dead. The late David A. Wells, who was one of the most honored citftsis of your state and an acknowledged authority on tax ation, wrote as follows in regard to the bill for local option in taxation then pending in New York: II am greatly in favor of the local option principle, and, as your proposed bill is framed I can see no objection to 1t. It Is, in fact, novel method, practically educating the people in respect to the good and bad methods of taxation, and not merely the local taxpayers of New York, but of the whole country. As it is, the tax payer is bound down to a system to wbich no elasticity can be given except by knavery and perjury which is con trary to the worlds experience and the best judgment of those who have care lully Sluultu lile SuDJtCl, anu ue ildS IlO incentive to reason for himself with a view to obtaining anything better, be- cause he feels he can't get the legisla- ture to pay any attention to his con- clusions. With permission to experi- ment on a smaller sphere, the taxpayer will take an interest in the subject and results will certainly be achieved"
 In the bill for the apportionment of state and county taxes I have inserted a section in place of section 1866, which is substantially the same as the bill for local option advocated by my associa- ton in New York It provides that the | board of selectmen of any town shell have power to prescribe the class or classes of property which shall be taxed
 If the new method of opportionment [ is adopted there cannot be the slightest | objection on the part of towns which | like the present system of local taxa tion to any other town making such i changes as may seem to be for its own advantage. As MT. Wells has said such power will certainly result in changes being made and those changes will be an object lesson to the rest of the state. am sure that in New Haven it would . not be long before you would exempt from taxation most, if not all, of your p1 pn1i