Amador ledger., 1905-01-27
Letter From Sacramento.

of reforming the laws. OF course moth
ing is more important than the system
OF taxation in community. 1t was
because our revolutionary fathers OBJ
jected to the scheme of taxation PRO-
posed by the English parliament that
the United States is today one of the
great nations of the world. If this
legislature shall reform the tax system
of California it will have made a record
for itself, and that is just what it is
going to do, the pessimists to the con-
trary Notwithstanding. While the
exact system that is to take the place
of the present system has not been
worked out as yet in detail, neverthe-
less its radical principle is known. 1t
is indirect as opposed to direct taxa
| tion. Instead of land and property of
that character bearing the chief bur-
den, it might also be said the entire
burden of taxation, as it does now
under the new scheme, the saloons, the
corporations and the luxuries of life
like automobiles will be the subjects of
taxation.
The sum to be raised is, Sc, 1000, 600.
The state spends $4,000, 000 but the
other three millions are raised in sew
eral ways that do not require direct
taxation. The schools for instance.
have incomes from investments, and
there are minor sources of revenue. OF
the expenditures of the state more than
one half is spent in caring for the chill
dren and unfortunate, and indeed if the
charitable expenditures be added the
cost of the state government is very
little. 1t is proposed to raise this
money first by state tax on saloons
hn To wi l1o n
able quarterly, and there will be enough
saloons to make the yearly income from
that source about million. It. is cal
culated that sixteen per cent of the sa-
looms, or about thousand, will be
driven out of business, as besides the
state there will be the regular federal
and county taxes, or city if the saloon
is in municipality. to pay. There are
said to be 55, 600 corporations 10 this
state, and if they pay only ten dollars
year the income is not to be despised,
but it will be graded and the chances
that million more than $3.50, 600 will
be raised from them.
There is the poll tax, but this is more
likely to be repealed than anything
else, for of all the taxes that have ever
been devised the poll tax seems to be
the most unpopular. The proposition
is also to make an inheritance tax, and
to make it apply to direct as well as
collateral lnherltances as it does now.
1t is thought that that will raise nearly
a million more. So far as corporations
are concerned the burden of taxation
on those which own property will be
no greater than it is now, only it will
be differently assessed and collected.
1t is probable that the new tax bills
will not entirely do away with direct
taxation. Possibly only one half of the
amount needed for the state expenses
will be collected under the new system,
which will be gradually enlarged as the
years go by until direct taxation ceases,
but the tax will only be enough under
the present system to pay the school
bills, which is about %. 3 per hundred.
The matter is of such Importance that
it deserves to be generally discussed,
for of course no one in the entire state
will be uneffected directly or Indirectly
by the new laws. Nothing more rad
ical has been proposed since California
entered the union.
OF scarcely less Importance than the
| taxation schemes are those for prison
reform, for there is no more crying evil
in California than the condition of the
state prisons. The committee having
the matter in charge on the assembly
side of the capitol has spent many
evenings going over the bills and care
| fully Investigating them, and as re-
suit they have laid before the assembly
a complete change in the system of the
| two reform schools and the two prisons.
The bills were reported back on Tues
day, and are understood to have the
Endorsement of the governor. They
were prepared with great care by Pres
colt and McKenney originally, and
have now been studied by Lynch, Bliss,
Amerige, Beckette, Ellis, Olmstead,
Boyle and Wickersham. One of the
best laws is bill repeating the existing
law which provides that counties shall
pay for the care of the persons sent to
either Whittier or the Preston School
of Industry, which has led many judges
to send boys to the penitentiary to
save their county eleven dollars
| month.
| That was the pet measure of Beckett
of San Francisco, who by securing the
repeal will not only do an act that will
be of great benefit to many boys who
might be saved from ruin by being sent
to reform schools instead OF the state
prisons, but who has also saved his
county thousand dollars and more
month that it is now spending for boys
it has sent to one or other of the
schools. So far as the public is con-
cerned it will make no difference, as
they have simply been paying the
money all along, and it will now remain
in the county instead of going into the
state treasury.
No boys under sixteen will be sent to
Preston if the new system prevails, and
only children under sixteen to Whittier,
if they are boys. Girls go to Whittier
until they are twenty-one, though they
are only committed there when they
are under eighteen. First termers go
to San Quentin and second termers to
Folsom. Criminals and convicts insane
will probably be sent to the state hos.
pital in Mendocino county near Ukiah.
The farmers and the professors of the
state university are likely to come to a
collision over the question of the agri-
cultural college appropriations. The
president. regents and professors want
building at Berkeley in which they
can carry on experiments and educate
nominal farmers. So far their grad
yates have not averaged one year, so
the effect Of the college on the farming
community of California has been abso-
lutely nil. But it is now proposed to
have farm where experiments can be
carried on, and wOuld-be farmers get
thoroughly practical education. The
sum of $3.50, 600 is asked for that pur-
pose. President Wheeler declares he
favors the farm idea, but the friends
of the farmers have very little conf
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