The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-01-02
TO ENFORCE THE
LAWS We HAVE
More Necessary Than a
New System.
TRUE AS TO TAXATION
81
True as to the Combinations We Call
Trusts.
ARE OFFICIALS DOING THEIR FULL DUTY 7
ASystem Of Taxation That Might Prove More
Satisfactory Than the One We Have.
A Board Of Tax Supervisors
Suggasted.
Suggested.

gentleman of this State to one of our
legislators was not written with view
to publication; but the matters of which
it treats and the views and suggestions
of the writer are of such interest TO the
general public that we are glad to pub
lish it in full This is the letter:
Wilmington, N. c., Dec. 26. 1900.
My Dear Sir: / was very glad to re-
ceive your letter and wish it was so
could talk over the matters you speak OF
instead of writing about them. There is
no doubt but that there is great room
for improvement in our present tax laws
but to my mind the need for change
would not be felt SO much if the laws
now in existence were correctly enforced
by our tax officers. board of tax as
SCISSORS depends for its success and eff
cheney more upon the men who compose
it than upon the law under which it
works. The best laws that can be de-
vised by the combined wisdom of the
ablest men of the State will be ineffica-
cious if they are administered by incom-
petent men. Unless our fundamental laws
can be changed, in my opinion our present
statutes, as far as they go, are good
enough. These laws should be supple
mented by others adapted to the changed
industrial conditions of our State, par
ticularly in regard to corporations. But
above all some persons should be author
lied and directed to see that tax officers
under the laws as they now stand per-
form their full duty Perhaps this could
be done better by board created for
that purpose. If this was done great
mass of personal property which now es-
capes taxation would get on the tax books
and would enable the general tax levy
to be very much reduced.
If our constitution could be amended
so that new tax system could be adopted
] would strongly advocate a system about
as follows:
First, / would abolish the tax on per-
sonal property as SUCH l would do this
because it has been demonstrated as
clearly as anything can be that it can
not all be found and taxed and it can be
reached in other ways. / would then
adopt for purposes of State revenue a
carefully considered plan of corporation
taxation; graduated but fixed tax on
inheritances and would adopt a flexible
system of income taxation to meet the
yearly and varying demands of the State
government An additional amount could
be raised by certain license taxes which
involve considerations of police control,
but licenses on ordinary business | would
entirely relinquish to municipalities.
There being no local taxes on any of these
sources of revenue the State could easily
raise enough for it's purposes.
For purposes of local taxation would
devote real estate altogether. This of
course would get rid entirely of inequali-
ty in valuation which at present is such
a great cause of dissatisfaction. The
local division would also have control OF
the regulation of all trades, businesses
and professions through such license taxes
as they might levy.
This / think would give us an equita-
bic system Of taxation but the practical
politician has not been consulted in de-
Gliding upon it and he would no doubt play
havoc with it.
In regard to the question of trusts
confess my utter inability as yet to see
any solution of the vexed problem. At the
very outset no two persons have ever yet
agreed on a definition of what a trust
is. Large aggregations of capital cannot
be prevented and the evils which so many
attribute to corporate management could
be just as easily enacted by an individual.
am just as much opposed as any one
can be to some of the methods of large
corporations and sincerely desire to see
their methods outlawed, but it is impossi-
Bile or rather useless for us to turn the
fingers on the dial of the clock backward
and delude ourselves into believing that
conditions are the same they were a gen.
Grafton back. We might as well rail- at
the thermometer when our fingers are
nipped by the cold. The evils you speaF
of are great and if possible should be
remedied. There is no doubt but that
great corporations destroy competition,
that they destroy the financial standing Of
individual competitors, that there is a
sitting of manhood and enterprises and a
tendency to make men become servants
rather than independent workers. But
the remedy?
Every effort have made fails to find
it in any suggestion yet advanced, and
/ am almost forced to adopt the same
conclusion as in the tax laws, viz, that
officials are not elected who will per-
form their whole duty. If these giant
corporations are guilty of acts detri-
mental to the public welfare, if they adopt
methods which are in restraint of trade
and which can be shown to be adopted
for the purpose of destroying legitimate
competition, could not the common law
remedies, il they were enforced, work
the desired changes? Certainly If the
people can be brought to a realizing
sense of the necessity for such officers
as will discharge these duties TO the
public; il public sentiment can be aroused
SO that 1T will demand from the national
lawmakers such legislation as is en-
Draced in the Cullom Bill, in my opinion
the ends you seek will be attained with
out the enactment Of such dangerous laws
as are so often suggested-and too often
put in force.
Possibly if National Corporation Com
mission could be created, supervising the
business of all corporations engaged in
interstate commerce, your suggestion
that all corporations should be compelled
to sell their goods at uniform price