Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-06-10
THE SPY SYSTEM.
/. fKeoknk Gate CitY.A

g. q n
There is neither use nor excuse for
being mealy-mouthed in discussing the
outrages that are being perpetrated
daily by the tax ferrets in this city.
Their methods may be within the pur-
view Of the law, but to admit as much
is equivalent to declaring in so many
words that the law is a despicable
one and should never have been put
on the statute books. 1t is with re-
suits, however, that the community is
Whether the law was intended or not
for the base uses to which is it be-
ing put, the fact is undeniable that it
is being used as an instrument for
the oppression of widows and orphans
and persons of moderate means. The
rich men and corporations disposed to
evade taxation of their moneys and
credits are shrewd enough to devise
ways and means to that end and have
not hesitated to protect themselves in
advance Very few of these will be
made to pay simply because they have
made it a study how not to pay. That
is a part of their business, from their
standpoint, and they take mighty
good care to keep out of the clutches
of the tax ferrets. But the man or
woman with few dollars in savings
bank or loaned out on mortgage, rep
resenting the hard-earned savings of
a life time perhaps, slowly accumu-
lated by industry and persistent self
denial, and laid up against rainy day
or the approaching infirmities of age,
is made to walk up to the captains
office and pay over the last farthing.
Such rank injustice is only to be men
toned to be condemned, but words are
inadequate to characterize it as it de-
serves.
The ferret arrangement works hard
ship also in the case of the poor man
who borrows money to build home.
He cannot get a small loan of the nom
residents who pay no taxes in Keo-
kuk and whose rates of interest are
therefore low, because they put out
their money only in large amounts. He
must borrow 1t of his neighbor, and
the latter to protect himself against
the tax ferrets must double the rate of
interest. This is another of the eff
fects here of the contract entered into
by the board of supervisors whereby
every citizen is made an object Of sus-
picion and espionage. That contract
puts premium upon the SPY system
which is repugnant to every right in
stinct and wholly un-American. And
to what purpose? That money wrung
from the pockets of the poor and de.
lfenceless shall go to line the pockets
of professional spies who have no In
terest in the community except what
they can make out of it,
II the spy system now in vogue in
Keokuk by authorization of the board
of supervisors is good thing, as the
board seems to think it Is, why not
extend the scope of its operations and
include enforcement of all laws, in
GLIDING the prohibitory liquor law, by
that method? II the spy system is
ljusctifiable as means of unearthtng
property upon which taxes have not
been paid, through neglect of county
officers, why not employ it also to un.
cover failures to comply with the pro-
visions or open violations of law by
men engaged in conducting houses
lof pubhc entertainment" so-called2
Principles as well as laws should be
uniform in their operation. II the SPY
system Is Objectionable as applied to
saloons what is there to recommend
its application in the case of widows
and orphans and poor but industrious
workingmen2