Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1904-01-11
U

NNASH 80 S1VNAl
INTRODUCTION.
The Honorable, the General Assembly:
L congratulate you as you enter upon
the discharge Of your duties that you
fnd in the State an excellent condi-
ton. Her citizens Of all callings are
prosperous and the OF the
State are adequate for all the needs
that you will be called upon to supply.
At the close Of the last fiscal year on
the Both of November there was in the
State Treasury for general purposes
the sum Of 1888, GS3. 80. The revnue and
machinery acts passed by the last Gen
eral Assembly have worked admirably
and have brought into the State Treas
ury sufficient sums for all purposes of
government economically administer
ed. You will therefore enter upon the
discharge of your duties unhampered
by a deficit and untempted by any large
surplus to make e~Xtravagant appropri-
atoms.
Certain taxes levied by the last Gen
eral Assembly have been declared by
the courts unconstitutional. These
taxes are adverted to in the report of
the State Treasurer and l concur in
his recommendations concerning them.
Such changes ought to be made in law
as will enable the collection of these
taxes for the future and likewise for
the past two years. The taxes so levied
were proper, but of course they must
be levied in a constitutional manner
With the few changes suggested, the
machinery n revenue acts are per-
haps as good as we can make them I'M
der our constitution.
The whole subject Of taxation is one
we'll worthy your p~rofuoundest consid-
Grafton. The burdens Of government,
always OnerOuS are made more SO by
a wrong distribution Of them. The tax
alton in many OF u towns and cities
when combined with the State, county
and special taxes, is found to be very
b~urdensome and results in great loss
of revenue by reason of the refusal of
the taxpayer to fully list his property
when the tax rate is so high as to
amount to something like confscation.
| commend to your most careful con-
s%ideration the able discussion of this
matter by the State Tax Commission.
This commission has given much and
profound study to the question of tax
aticn and its opinion is worthy OF the
most serious consideration.
The assessment of railroad property
for taxation in 1898 was $33 ,619 $50: in
1903 this assessment was made $7O,-
62S, 523, thus more than doubling the
assessment n a period Of five years.
This increased assessment Of railroad
property at first glance might appear
to be unjust. but when it is considered
that within the time named the gross
earnings Of the railroads of this State
have increased from S11, 543 ,566 to $1S,-
SIC, S15, the appearance of injustice
passes away and leaves one in doubt
whether the railroads are eve now as
sessed at anything like their true value.
The Corporation Commission has man
aged the assessment of railroad prop
erty and the collection Of taxes out Of
the railroads with great wisdom and
without creating any serious friction
between these great corporations and
the State.
EDUCATION.
| commend to the earnest considera-
ton of your honorable body the re-
port of the superintendent of Public
instruction and recommend the adop-
ton of the suggestion contained there
in. This State is extremely fortunate
in having as Superintendent. nf Public
instruction a broad-minded, cultured
and able man, who is pushing her i'll
cational interests forward at a pace
which commands the admiration OF
our sister State. He has given much
study to the subject upon which his
report is based and I cannot do better
than to declare that I concur in his
reasoning and his conclusions. I great
ly deprecate any attempt to raise the
race issue on the question of educa-
ton. There is absolutely no justifica-
ton for stirring up our people On this
subject. The small sum which the
white people are contributing to the
support of the negro schools cannot
for one moment justify the continued
agitation of the question of dividing
the school fund according 20 the sum
paid by each race. Having Invested
the negro Of power it is manifestly our
duty to make of him the best citizen of
which he is capable and this we can
certainly never do by leaving him to
his own devices, nor by withdrawing
from him the small amount Of taxes
which we devote to his education.
There are three courses open with re-
ference to the negro. The first is to let
him 20 without any training and inev-
itably drop back into savagery: When
we make up our minds to do this the
second plan will at once be put into
effect and that is for philanthropic peo-
pie throughout the world to take
charge Of his education and train him
UP out of harmony and in enmity to
the people among whom he lives. The
third nlen ic for MS to train him our