The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-10-04
SNEWszLAWs MERE PASSED PRl-
S& HEAVY TAX BURDEN.

GS#5-E STEN AAIaHGA -
MARILY TO RELIEVE THE
HEAVY TAX BURDEN.
HA#REVIEW Of THE AUTHORIZES
PAMPHLET DlsTRlBUTED BY
DEMOCRATS TO DECEIVE
FARMERS.
The Democratic State committee
has flooded the State with a 23-page
pamphletg8under the title Of Tax
legislation. name is signed to it
and nobody is responsible for it. 1t
lisa mass of Misrepresentation. 1t
pretendsato review the acts of the spe
EEcial#session. It vehemently attacks
Sa&sfew OF them. and treats the ma
jority with a silence which ! can
only he construed to APPROX
al. 1t fs#$said that a great many
Democrats did not want this document
put ont at all. because they knew it
would be riddled to death by the first
Republican into whose hands it fell,
and would become a boomerang.
After a brief preliminary history of
how the Tax5Commission was created.
which is known to everybody within
the confines this State who can
read, the Democratic "argufier" in
forms the waiting world that Cover
nor Fleming recommended tax reduc-
tion. as far back as 1898. but fails to
tell the people that the Democratic
Legislature paid no attention to it,
and, as usual, did nothing. He fails
to tell the people that Governor Jack
son, another Democrat, appointed a
tax commission in41SS3, but it amount
ed o@nothing. He fails to tell that
Governor Matthews, another Demo
crat, called attention as far back as
1879, to a tax laws, but the Demo-
cratic Legislature, as usual, paid no
attention to it.
Surely if tax revision was consider
ed necessary in those days. it ought
to.be a good thing now, and the Dem
ocratic position against tax revision
is thus made untenable at the very
outset.
The pamphlet asserts that no re-
vision of taxation was considered
by Republicans when they came into
power on account of the EZRA of
~profigacy" charged against the Re-
p%ublicans. The Democratic party had
conducted the affairs of this State so
ably, so wisely, SO economically and
in such a businesslike fashion for
twenty=four years that the State was
Bankrupt when the Republicans came
into power. On March 4th, 1897, a bal
ance was showD of $40. 900, but there
was a deficit of like amount which
left the treasury practically empty,
and since the Republicans came into
powe they have had to appropriate
money again and again to pay Demo
cratic deficiencies. And his is true
Notwithstanding that Governor Mac
Corkle, the last Democratic governor,
got $4,000 from the National o
#ernment. The $4,000 was money
that the Republicans spent for the Ma
tional Government in the a Thus
it was that the first Republican gov
ernor, Boreman, handed over to Mac
$Corkle, the last Democratic governor,
this large sun of money. Deficit and
Democracy are win Dis The Repub-
licans paid up the Democratic Deficits.
They did this in the next two years
and they have managed the affairs OF
the State so that there is a balance OF
100000 in the State treasury.
Does this look like profiSacy? Does
this look like the money of the State
had been squandered after the man
nerz of the Democrats
Some Figures.
In license taxes the average per
year for h last seven years of Demo-
cratic administration was $141,0OO and
for he seven Republican years of
$4,000. Was there any prot1igacy in
this?
The Republicans collected an actual
average every year of S125,000 more
than the Democrats in license taxes.
This saved direct taxes on property.
It was largely due to the Dawson
corporation law, so bitterly fought by
the Democrats The total increased
revenue from these sources for the
last seven years amounts to over one
million and a quarter Of dollars. Does
this look like this department had
been unwisely administered?
During the last seven Republican
years the average annual cost of print
ing, binding. and stationery was re-