Amador ledger., 1905-08-18

maIiciously made, and we unhesitat-
ingly challenge the Record publishers
to produce any facts in support uf
the same. The editor of the Ledger
has nothing like the amount of pro-
perty in Amador county credited to
him by this scribbling vlllifier. If
the Sutter Greek scribe is aware of
any property belonging to us that we
do not know of ourself, we should
be pleased to be enlightened on the
subject, for if his statement is any
where near correct we must be good
deal richer than we had any idea of.
Putting the valuation of our holdings
in this county at extreme figures,
they fall materially short of $50, 600
all told. If this genius in the way of
appraising property, or locator of nm.
known values, will produce a pur-
chaser at the last named figures, we
will be very pleased to sell out, at
the same time throwing into the bar
gain several hundreds of dollars of
property brought into the county
since the first Monday in March last.
As for the assessment on property
held bv US, we venture the assertion,
without fear of successful contradic-
tion, that the propertyless man of the
Record will find few, if any, tax
payers in Amador county whose
assessment in proportion to the actual
value of the real and personal pro-
perty is placed at higher figure than
that of the Ledger's proprietor. We
have nnimproved realty We have been
offering to sell for years at less than
the annual assessment thereon. We
have income property more than one
third of the gross revenue of which is
eaten up yearly to meet the demands
of the tax collector. Taking all our
property within the limits of Amador
together, and it requires the gross
proceeds of six weeks rentals to pay
the yearly taxes. In other words, one
eighth of the gross income is swallow
ed up annually in meeting the ex-
ations of the tax gatherer. The tithes
of the Mormon church about which
is much is said, are not in it in COM
parison with the cost of government
in Amador, as Tar as our paid-up
experience goes. If there is another
individual in Amador county with
anything like the same amount of
property that is taxed to greater or
like extent, we would like to know it.
The writer has made Amador county
his home for over thirty years. He
has paid property taxes every year
from the time he first pressed the
soil of Amador beneath his feet.
We have paid more for the support of
the government since we have been
in this county than all the owners or
lessees of the Record ever owned in
this favored section of the state. AS
far as the assessment roll of this year
is concerned the lessees of the Record
are entirely innocent of any taxpay-
ing experience. 1t is supremely dis
gusting to find such citizens prating
about tax-shi1king. 1t is this spirit
of gratuitous abuse of those who
have been successful in accummulat-
ing little property that has driven
and is still driving capitalists to
withdraw from Amador and go else
where for Investments. Had the spirit
of encouragement, instead of discour-
agement, been shown, hundreds of
thousands of dollars would have
found resting place within little
Amador over and above her assess
ment roll to-day. And for this un-
fortunate condition of affairs, the
county is indebted to the same spirit
of envy and defamation exhibited in
the baseless charge contained in the
Record article herein quoted, coming
as such diatribes usually do, from the
class who pack their worldly goods in
carpet bag.