The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-10-26
BY THEIR FRUITS SHALL-5
4 KNOW THE re- K FAD fiAT -
coRNWELL HAS DONE IS
HIS POSITION AND THAI oF HIS
PARTY SHOWN vi IN ITS
TRUE LiGH5 .5ss

Any one listening 70 The speeches
of state Senator John J. Cornwell, the
Democratic nominee for governor,
would think he had been an advocate,
Of the bills of the Tax Commission.
Mr. Cornwel claims thatsile was an
original tax reformar- He asserted
this in his speeches at Clarksburg and
at Wayne, and doubtless elsewhere.
He bases his record as an original
tax sreformer on two facts. First, that
he voted for bill in 1899 to tax. eol.
press companies. The bill was I'M
constitutional and was vetoed by the
governor. The bill was copied from a
law passed in Kentucky ten years ago,
which was declared unconstitutional
by the Supreme Cour1 of the United
States. The same law was passed in
Indiana and also declared unconstl-
tutiona1 by the same high court
Second that he introduced a reso-
luton in the Senate in 1889 request.
ing some committee to inquire wbeth-
He was so in earnest about it that he
says lie never nedT4 OF LIE isSolutAo11
after that.
So, Mr. Cornwell's record as tax
reforner resulted in-nothing.
In 1901 the Republican legislature,
against the solid opposition of the
Democrats, including Senator Corn
well. passed the Dewson Corporation
Law This law greatly increased the
license tax on the charters of corpo-
rations. The most the Democrats ever
collected in any one year from this
source was less than SSO,nOG Under
the Dawson Law $4,000 is collected
yearly from the same source. Sen
ator Cornwell opposed this law.
The same session of lie legislature
created the West Virginia State Tax
Commission. Everybody nearly adj
mitted the necessity of the amend
ment and revision OF our taxation
laws There We're only six votes in
the entire Legislature against the Gre
alton of the Tax Commission One of
! these six votes was that Of John j..
cornweI Evidently he wanted no
amendment of these antiquate and
! inequitab1e laws.
In the Legislature of 1905 one day
Mr. Cornwell Voted in favor of con
sidering the bills of the Tax Commits
sion. The very next day he voted
AGAINST consideration and voted to xii!
| the whole matter.
On August &c, 1909, Nj. Cornwell
| made an elaborate speech to his con-
| stituentS of Jefferson county on the
bills of the Tax Commission. Cover
nor White was present and advocated
consideration of the bills BY the LeSis-
lature. In that speech Senator Corn
well said that he had been studying
these bills for nine months, pouring
| over them, and he said: ,.
~ MUST SAY THE IMPORTANT
PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN THEM
ARE IMPRACTlCABLE, iMPoSSl-
BILE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL"
Of the proposed license lax Of one
third of cent on a ton of coal Mr..
Cornwen said:
81 say to you that in levying the tax
upon the producer of coal ard mt
upon the owner in fee of the mineral
lands they have caught the wrong rat.
They are placing this lax upon peo-
pie upon whom it should not be
i placed and exemptiag the very people
that ought to be taxed
In this same spooch Mr.. Cornwell
! quoted from the decisions of Il num-
| Der OF courts to prove that the pro
| posed license taxes or coal, gas and
| oil We're unconstitutional.
! Yet in the. special session OF the
Legislature of August, 1904. Mr.. Corn
well. ON his oath as State Senator,
! voted to take up, consider, and pass
these very bills of the Tax Commission
which he had denounced as 1Tnpossi.
| BILE, impracticable and unconstitu-
| tional''
Thus Mr. cornwe'l voted against
creating the Tax Commission; voted
for. considering Their 0tlls and voted
against considering them and to XIII
them" then he denounced these
bills as Impossible. impracticable
and unconstitutional and voted to
pass them.
1t should be remembered by the
reader, that every important feature
and provision of the new tax laws
wore contained in the Tax ,Conn7is-
! sion bills and were advocated and rec
commended by Hon. Henry G. Davis,
. In po111ipaS