The Jersey City news., 1906-01-09
He Tells tie Legislature
That the Financial Condi-
tion Of the State Is Ex-
cellent
TAX LAWS UNSATISFACTORY
MAIN STEM TAXATION AND ITS
EFFECTS ANALYZED-LIiITED
FRANCHISES AND PUBLIC
UTILITY CORPORATIONS.

Governor Stokes seat his annual mes
sage to the Legislature to-day. 1t fol-
lows, in part
ITO the Members of the Senate and
General Assembly
Il congratulate you on the promising
auspices under which you meet. The
spirit of our people moves toward better
government and better laws with every
advance in thought and morals, and in
this hour when the awakened national
conscience calls for higher ideals, it finds
us not halting laggards, butAalready en-
listed to execute the demands of right
and justice Our legislation has kept
pace with the best thought of the times
and has led rather than followed the
trend Of events. Indeed the work of this
session will be largely the continuance of
policies previously outlined. With pro-
phetic anticipation, the last Legislature
opened the way, by providing for the ap-
pointment of commissions to investigate
and secure information upon many of the
questions that will come before you. 1t
is your good fortune to have the oppor-
tunity of settling these questions and of
lssociating yourselves with measures
that will keep New Jersey an example
for emula ton. AS those who have pa
tiently trained for the race welcome with
confidence the day Of the test, so you
must welcome this session as ripe for the
enactment of legislation worthy of the
best traditions of our State.
s.This work should not be entered upon
in a spirit of personal sef-seeking or of
personal glory. Such motives lack sim
cerity. 1t is by the efforts of those who
have the welfare Of the State at heart.
whose ambitions and desires are inspired
by the right and governed by the truth
that the Commonweal lives on-each
generation adding something TO its glory
and each new movement contributing to
its progress.
1t is thus that New Jersey has gained
unehallenged preeminence.
The finances of our State continue in
excellent condition. An income without
State tax, sufficient to pay the State
expenses and help defray municipal ex-
penees is a source Of satisfactios. 1t is
not, however, Justification OF extrava-
gance either in expenditure or appropri-
alton. Economy must continue to be our
policy. The advertised surplus in the
Treasury has invited many large and
often thoughtless demands upon the
State purse. October thirty-frst, the
close Of the fiscal year, finds a large bal
ance on hand. This is an overnight
balance, however, and is absorbed by its
DEBTS the next morning.
ION October thirty first, one thousand
sine hundred and five, the overnight bal
ance il the Treasury was $2,S5S. 1858. 13.
November first, the next morning, it was
confronted by obligations in the way of
appropriations authorized by the Legisla-
ture amounting to S4,3O1, 1857, SO that
the Treasury balance at its highest point
Is less than two-thirds of the ansual au-
thorized expenditure of the State. This
sum is sufficient for practical purposes
but none too large for safe fnanciering,
and. never a reason for careless expendi-
ture.
THE execution Of our tax laws re-
mains unsatisfactory. Inequality Of valu-
ations. the escape of personal property
and various forms Of tax evasions are i'm
tensifying the dissatisfaction. What
ever theory may be held as to the
wisdom Of taxing personal property, that
subject is not question Of debate so
long as our Constitution requires it to be
piled rapidly in the last decade, only
through increased production, but through
the various forms Of bond and stock is
sues. Our tax leyies, however, falsify
this we'll kEown fact. The per capita
value Of assessed personal property in
1879 was $114; in 1904 it was sT2. This
statement needs no comrlert. The as
sessed value of our personal property in
creased from $IaT. 100000 in 1879 to
SS9I22, 1872 594 in 1904, over 10 per cent.
Our assessed personal property in 1879
was s129, 100000 and in 1904 $15s, ,244,-
oS7. an increase Of less than 20 per cent.
According to the census reports and
other statistical data, we had at the last
censss, tangible personal property in the
ststs saasvrting % $5as 900 coo. aasl to