Evening star., 1901-08-28
Tom I. johnson Manufacturing
Thunder for Democrats.
FIGHT FoR RAILROAD TAXATION
He Proposes to Stir Up State
x
Equalization Board.
NIL EAN IS APATH ETIC
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, August ~, 1901.
The real democratic campaign will be
opened in the state board Of equalization
of railroad property on September 5, on
which date the board has decided to hear
Tom L. Johnson's objections to the valua-
tions that have been placed on this prop
erty In Ohio for many years, and which 1t
Is proposed to repeat this year. 1t cannot
be denied that under the present system
OF vaiuing railroad property for taxation
the valuation has been pushed down until
1t Is now only about one-fifth OF Its actual
value Johnson, makes the point that,
while this is SO, the property Of the farm
er and the middle and lower classes gen
orally is appraised at about 60 per cent OF
Its actual value, resulting in these classes
bearing far greater share Of the burden
OF taxation than they should.
The taxation value Of railroads Is fixed
each year in Ohio by board composed OF
the auditors Of the counties through which
the roads run. They meet generally as
the guests of the railroad they are to ap-
praise, Of course holding annual passes
over 1t, and usually take one or two jun
kets year at the expense of the COM
pany. Lately the state board: which re-
views these appraisements of the indi-
v1dual roads, have taken similar junkets,
going often as far as the Pacific coast as
the guests of the railroad companies.
mors, and the people are in humor to
listen sympathetically to Johnson's argu-
ments.
Composition of the Board.
The state board Of equalization is COM
posed of the state auditor, state treasurer,
state railroad commissioner and the attor-
ney general AS the name of the board
implies, it's duties consist in changing the
valuations of the local appraising boards
SO as to make the burden Of taxation rest
equally upon all the roads. The law puts
in the explicit provision that the board
cannot reduce the aggregate of the valu-
ations below the amount of the valuations
as returned to It. 1t has always been held
by the board as corollary Of that that
the board cannot increase the aggregate.
johnson will combat this He will pre-
sent decisions and opinions in support of
his contention that it is the duty of this
board to raise the valuations to such
percentage of the actual value as used in
determining .rthe tax valuation of other
property. He will also contend that in the
case Of railroad corporations their actual
values ought MOTTO be placed below the
value of their bonds He has already
pointed out one railroad corporation
that Is on the tax duplicate for 81 900
600. 1t earns enough to pay per cent on
these bondsy and to pay its stockholders
dividend of 8 per cent.
Col. kilbgnrne Absent From State.
The democratic state committee was to
have been called together today to fix the
time and place for the formal opening of
the campaign, but Col. Kilbourne, who has
been at Hot Springs, Va, for some weeks,
has sent word that he will remain another
week, and the meeting is postponed. Col.
Kilbourne is in danger of being eclipsed by
Z, ,rgcr1 Tnhr hn cfnr of
the campaign on the democratic side.
Johnson's activity keeps the rumor alive
that he is, In spite of the denials of mis-
friends, a candidate for the United States
Senate to succeed Foraker, or will be in
case the legislature Is democratic
Mclean continues to act "off1sh' in the
campaign, and so far as can be seen, has
not done the slightest thing in aid of the
party Reports that he has declined to
talk with emissaries from the state COM
mittee about contributions to the state
campaign go undenied. 1t is generally in
terpreted to mean that he is trying to ex-
tort from Kilbourne prediction pledge
to support him as the candidate of the
party for the Senate in case the democrats
control the legislature. The influence Of
Ktlbourne, If elected governor, would be of
great value to Mclean, and without It, 1t
is by no means certain that he could be
elected. The democratic majority in the
legislature, If there is one, cannot be large.
and every democratic member would have
to line up for him or he could not be
elected.
Democrats Short OF Funds.
AS usual, the democrats have to labor
with the money question at the opening of
the campaign. Without single democratic
state officer to assess. they are obliged to
look to individual contributions from
wealthy members Of the party and the as
sessments that can be made from the can
didates. Colonel Kilbourne is very
wealthy man, but claims to be opposed to
the use Of large sums of money In cleo
tions. He will make the usual assessment
payment to the committee, and the rest of
the money he spends In the campaign will
be paid out through his own hands.
There are many here who doubt Col Kill
bournes sincerity in his stand against the
use of money In elections, for the reason
that in the local political contests he has
been interested in he has operated hand In
hand with the most open and bold users of
Doodle in politics. However this may be,
1t is evident that the colonel is going to
keep tight hold on his purse strings in
the coming campaign. No challenge has
passed yet for the proposed joint debate.
Col Kibourne, who proposed 1t, has made
the proposition only in the newspapers, and
Governor Nash. In an interview, has ex-
pressed his disapproval Of that method Of
discussing the issues Of the campaign.
Campaign on National Issues.
Col. Dick said three weeks ago that it
was perfect folly to talk about making the
campaign upon anything but national ques-
tions. but 1t Is evident that his committee
sees danger In the taxation reform fight
that Tom L. Johnson proposes to make, for
the editorial columns of every republican
newspaper in the state are defending the
party from this attack in advance by show
Ing Ing what additional burdens the republican
party has placed upon all large corpora
tions In this last, ten years in the way of
special taxes. II Is true that laws bring
ing in about million Of dollars a year
from these CONCERNS have been placed on
hooks hv repuhlicap IeCisla-