The Monticellonian., 1905-01-19

Gov. Jefferson Davis was lnaugurat= ed for a third term at 2 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. January IL His inaugural address is as follows: To the General Assembly:
 Each of us, you as well as myself. have just passed through one of the most bitter partisan campaigns that has ever been witnessed in our state Necessarily each of you. to some extent participated in this campaign. imbib- Ing it's feeling and bitterness, and re joicing at or regretting it's result.
 We now meet. you as one department of the government and myself repre- senting another. upon a common level. and our only motive and ambition should be to do the greatest good pos sihle for the commonwealth which we each represent For myself, the feel ing of that campaign is ended. and I trust that each and every member or tits honorable body will so far forget 1t that he may do his whole duty 10 his constituents, unintlueuced or un= biased by any feeling that this strife may have enEcndered.
 Charitable Institutions.
 I desire that the session of this leg islature shall be one of affirmative good of affirmative work. a session that can point. as a result of its labers. te some thing accomplished. to something dohei and in this connection I desire to rec ommend and urge upon you the neces- sity of making an appropriation for tine purpose of building permanent home for the tncurable insane of our state.
 Reform School.
 The suggestion that l would make along this line and which l would ear nestly impress upon you is this: An- thorize the governor to appoint three discreet citizens as a committee to buy a cheap piece of land somewhere adja- cent to Little Rock. say 160 acres, cost ing not over twenty-five hundred or three thousand dollars. upon which fair crops might be raised and place there on for the present at least buildings to cost not over five thousand dollars. wooden structures being sufficient to begin with Let these unfortunate white boys, and negroes as well. and the fallen white women, be committed to this reformatorY. to be managed by this board of three citizens selected by the governor thay te select a super intendent and matron and necessary as sfStants. and be empowered tO buy nee essarv tools and machinery and equip ments of every kind for the purpose of starting in a small way and on a cheap basis reformatory of this deserlp- tion where white boys may De taught some useful occupation and the negro boys be compelled to work on the farm and support the institution while it is being done. This would prove bless ing. not only to the white boy, but to the negro boy as we'll
 Antitrust Legislation.
 Gentlemen. the King antitrust bill must be passed by this body Tom know what it is. the democracy of the state whose servants you are. under stand 1t and have endorsed it. and whether it's results are good CT bad yea come here pledged and committed to pass if and cannot escape this ebliga- tion by any legeriemain or game of hide and seek. that may be insisted upon by the most skillful ebstruetfan- ists in this body.
 Taxation of Corporate Property.
 We now come to subject, gentlemen. that has engaged my attention more SC rously perhaps in the last two years than any other subject and that is, the proper mode for the taxation of corporate property We do not want to be unjust to corporations. We do not want to tax them unjustly; we want all honest. legitimate concerns to come to our state and help us to make it the greatest in the sisterhood but in order to do this it Is not necessary that they escape their just proportion of the bur denS of government. Who is it now. gentlemen. upon whose shoulders the burdens of government rest most heaV- ily2 I say to you, without the fear Of being called crank or demagogue, that it is the small property owner. whether he be a farmer, a mechanic. day la borer minister of the gospel or lawyer A the bar; the fellow that has nothing but a few household goods small piece of real estate. perhaps a little home in town or city or perchance q farm In tho country with a few head of stock and necessary proVender for their care and keeping, pays more taxes according to the amount of property he owns than any other class of citizens we have.
 Now what is the remedy I would have you adopt for this evil? I say you should so amend the tax laws of this state that all corporate property should be returned. just as railrolI property is returned, to the railroad taxing beard of this state. composed of the auditor secretary of state and the governor. This removes the assess ment from local influences and local surroundings and places the responsi- bility upon three state officials who dare not shrk their duty in the proper as sessment of this character of property.
 Taxation of Franchises.
 While on the subject of the proper taxation of corporate property. I beg to advise this honorable body that your board empowered to tax railroad prop erty has had grave problems with which to deal in the last two assessments of railroads in this state We have dealt with that character of property as we thought fair and lUst The railroads have complained because their taxes have complained because the basis of taxing their property has increased about twenty-nine and a half million dol lars in the last four years.
 The burden of this contention seems to be that We have no specific statute in this state authorizing the taxing of their franchises. that intangible prop erty that is more valuable perhaps than the physical property of the road itself, and. while our constitution provides that all property shall be subject to taxation. and while l insist that the franchise of a railroad Is property un- der the meaning of this constitutional provision and property subject 10 be taxed. yet a specific legislative declara- tion on this subject would forever set at rest this question. which is today in the courts of the country on the assess ment made by your taxing board.
 Deaf Mute Deficiency.
 I desire to call your attention to the fact that the last legislature passed a most admirable bill for the support and maintenance of the Deaf Mute Institute. bat the same failed to become a law tecluse of the fact that if was not pre- scented to the governor within the con stitutional limit We were therefore confronted with the proposition. should the legislature be called together in ex- tra session, or should funds be procured from private individuals and arrange ments made by which this worthy char ity might be carried on until this hon orable body should meet again in leg isIative session