The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-05-13

49, 1917 AZ hume ana abroad are en- |
Souraseu 70 invest In them. and that the
around this character of Iuyestn.nt ~
ma tnis sentiment growing in some Of IN
southern states. The State ~ Ioufsia,a |
IN ner constitution lately adopted. EXEMPT |
ca IRON taxation for a period Of len wears
rom January l, 1900, the capital. mnchIn- |
cry ana other property empioysl In man. |
ulacturlng enterprises: also for a narioa |
OF ten years from the date OF its connie |
lion any railroad or pas. Of railroad tba,
should thereafter be constructed and com
p.seeu prlor TO January H. 1901. Mississippl
ny ilpps from taxation, for period %
IN :, years, cotton and woolsl factories ard
all other factories for FIVE years MA t.ssnt
ca the privilege to counties and cities |
OF voting bonds and other aids 10 rail- |
roads Alabama exempts ali cotton ,nc,n.
rles ana new machinery put in cotton mills
IRON paying taxes for period of ion
years also granting liberal franchises far
s we development of-its coal and iron in
uustries, Georgia ana the Carollnas haas
SHOWN similar disposition. Great ef
iorts are being made In the States men |
uceed to attract outside capital. realiz- |
ing the advantage OF corporations inI
creating and adding to their taxable prop,
u 81 tnereby increasing their revenues.
rue result is that they are building up
rapidly Many differ on the Fundamental
policy Of tax exemption and the doctrine
OF equal taxation is deeply rooted bnt
1t mas now reached that point where II is
question OF expediency. If an adjoining
state says to a menufacturer, "rf you will
come and invest your money in a manu-.
featuring enterprise within our borders
utilizing our material, we will exemptl
you from taxation for certain number OF
years, we must meet such competition.
This taxation is, therefore, a question Of
expectancy, because this State can no,
win new industries unless she offers the
same or better inducements than her
neighbors.
There are many defects in our laws
which strike strongly at the root Of bust
ness. These defects can only be remediei
ny careful thought and conservative
Legislature
Eastern mortgage companies, who loan
money at low rates of interest on city
property, have been kept out of the state
by the wonderful complications of the
homestead law. The business man who
owns substantial business block and
has his store or office in the building can
not borrow dollar on the property be-
cause 1t is exempt as his business home
stead. This law is also baneful in its eff
a
and deception. A man may have a home.
stead in a city worth many thousands of
dollars and, If the lot upon which his
palace is situated is not worth more than
the constitutional exemption, he may snap
his finger at his defrauded creditors and
live in luxury. This is abundantly testified
by the decisions of our courts, which are
powerless to remedy the evil. The above
also applies to the rural homestead. Far
better and more equal would the opera
ton of the law be if the homestead ex-
emptions were based upon a money valua-
tion rather than specific property.
Think of it, tax on occupations, when
the State is not in need of war or emf.
gency revenue. Fancy a State posing az
the friend of labor when 1t taxes sewing
machines, the boon of millions of working
women and overtaXed mothers. NY own
occupation, for instance must pay seven
taxes; first, on the income of the business;
second, on myself personally az General
agent; third, on my license: then thrae
taxes State, county and municipal with
provision of law further than any muni-
cipality which ! visit may tax me to the
extent of half the State and county inn
position; yet my industry leaves at lokl
70 per cent of It's income in the Stats
reaching every home and hamlet.
Another of these laws. and the peer OF
any in its bighting effect, is known an
the alien land law. Its ostensible object
was to prevent the acquisition of large
bodies OF land by aliens under the impress.
sion that aaens could afford to purchase
entire counties and let them remain un.
settled, unimproyed and unproductve, and
that the sole purpose Of such purchase aud
acquisition WAS to hold for a rise in value
To prevent such owenrship or purchase
n a Of afl
money and its active circulation in barter
and sale. If the intent OF the law was to
prevent the increase OF idle lands the rem
edy need not have been a total prohibition
of ownership, bur condition OF valid
ownership could have been based upon a
per cent of cultivation and improvement
just as the mining laws insist upon cer-
tain per cent OF development annually,
The antitrust law was a political fash
ion the momentous fad of demagogues,
as we have yet to know, hear or read OF
any public private or other individual
declining TO be a member on either per-
sonal moral financial or business reasons
of any combination OF capital or skill to
produce something the people want. When
by fraud, deception or ind'rection men
combine for eXtortion and conspire to ruin
single enterprise or a number of enter
prises for their mutual profit Is a viola
tlOU OIL personal liDtIty WHICH every man
ly man will resent. The only effect OF
the anti-trus legislation has been to null
tiply trusts indefinitely for nothing short
OF tyranny. with sword in hand, can sup
press a mans sense OF his personal rights
when engaged in legitimate pursuits. As
for trusts. those which are bold incorpor-
atoTs, those which have less courage of
defiance combine in other ways and the
very classes on whose behalf the anti
trust madness is invoked are themselves.
for the most part members of unions and
societies whose avowed object is to control
and fix the price of what they have TO give
and TO devise ways and means TO conquer
opposition There is not a village in TeXa.
that has not its combinations OF this in
dustry and TO limit output, compel price
and the employment of certain persons
The shame OF it all is that legislation Il
not directed against our own, but our
nelghbors' corporations We actually in
dict and eudeavor to extradite man for
crime who never yet put foot upon our
soil. and in his person attack every mem
her OF a corporate business institution
At the same time we see butchers, BAKERS
cotton growers, plumbers, carpehtela,
brlcklayers, printers, cattlemen and man!
other occupations cornering lands, laDor
and products. and morally liking shotgun
quarantine about 1t, with no protest from
the makers of these very laws The law
is silent except II can reach what 1t tries
in a free country TO call an alien. bu.
men viii resent interference with PERSONA
rights by business restraint. The law -
unnatural, absurd and Impossible oil en-