West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1905-11-09

for Mr., Conwell and against the
new tax laws. viii any sane man
pretend TO tell me that Bro. John
h, Bolyard, whose farm has been
assessed efghi times higher under
the new law than it was under the
old law, that he will not pay more
taxes A man who would not be.
lieve such TO be the case must in
deed be blind partisan.
There is another thing that we
farmers must not lose sight Of
Most all of us have sold the coal
under our land, the one thing which
made our farms gdiEd6ic. With
the coal disposed of who will buy
our farms ? Those who want farm
ing land will go west or south.
They will not come out in the rocky
hills OF West Virginia. Our State
is famed for its minerals. 1t is con-
ceded to be the greatest mineral
State in the Union. But who owns
the minerals today Is it the
farmer Not much. 1t is owned
by the corporations. The coal is
assessed $40 an acre. The surface
is assessed for $40 an acre. The
coal is worth IoNy times what the
land is worth, still the land is as
sessed double what the coal is. Is
this fair my Republican" friendp
In speaking with a brother farmer
the other day he told me the coal
in Barbour county was assessed at
from $50 to SIS an acre. He lives
in Barbour and | dare say he is
familiar with the assessment Of that
county.
1t is a difficult matter for me TO
understand why the Journal and my
Republican" friend are so loud in
their denunciatIon of the County
Courts in Fayette, Mercer and Nc
Dowell counties where the new as.
sessment has been reduced by those
courts. have seen the statement,
and have never seen a denial of II,
that the County Courts of those
counties are in the hands Of the Re
publlcans. Now there must be
something radically wrong with the
new assessment when Republican
courts will interfere. | take it that
the taxpayers OF those counties
must have honestly convinced the
Courts that the assessments were
fo0 high. The reduction could not
have been made for political effect,
for the members Of the Courts be-
long to the political parry that made
the tax laws and put them in force.
That being true we must look for
another motive other than politics.
What could that motive have
been In the game OF politics
there are but laOO motives which ap-
peals to the politicians and prompts
them to "do things" The first and
forem ost one is to get office and
hold on TO it. The second is TO
enact legislation that will benefit
those who are in position to assist
them and continue them in office.
1t is unfortunate that the farmers
are not able to contribute money to
political campaigns. There is a
another class of people who are able
and do contribute campaign funds.
This campaign fund is not con
tributed for purely friendship. The
campaign contributors are typical
Missourians-ihey must be shown
where they are to be benefited by
the election of the members Of the
Machine and the legislation they
enact.
But the political Machine cannot
win with their political contributions
unless they can ho0daOiHk the Earm-
eys and make :he believe that they
are the only real friends OF the far
mers on earth. So they get up
political issues and tell the farmers
that they are going to pass certain
laws that will be of great benefit to
the farmers The farmers being
honest they believe the Machine
and heartily support it. In the mean
time The Machine is making deals
with the campaign contributors and
telling us farmers to support the
party that "does things"
II would be laughable, my broth
er farmers, il it was not such a seri.
Gus thing to see how they dupe us
poor farmers. Are we going to con-
tinue to be duped in this manner ?
hope not In fact I believe from
what my farmer brethren tell me
that they are going to strike for lib
erty once more' They arc going to
hbcyafe themselves from PARTISAN
politics and vote for candidates
| whom they kHOzO is not centralized