The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-01-11
lc0ntinuea from rhurday,s paper,

is alleged cnaracterizes the appraise--
ments of real estate in some Of or
great cities, we have a condition of
things with which we dare not palter.
We must establish, and at once, a
system that shall equalize tax burdens.
The men of wealth in our great COM
munities should lead the movement.
This great club. organized as a rally.
ing center for loyalty and patriotic
citizenship. should hear a call as loud
and imperative as that which came to
its members during the years of the
civil war.
Mr.. Lincoln's startling declaration
that this country could not continue
to exist half slave and half free may
be paraphrased to-day by saying that
this country can not continue to exist
half taxed and half free.
This n of inequality breeds a
fierce and unreasoning anger-creates
classes, intensiles social differences.
and tends to make men willing to pay
their debts in half dollars. The just
sGcredness of these money obligations,
the right OF the holders to be paid in
money OF full value, will be clearer to
these angry men IL they see that these
securities r paying their lawful
taxes.
"lf there is not enough public vir.
tue left in our communities to make
tax frauds discreditable; II there is
not virility enough left in our laws
and in the administration of business
in our courts to bring to punishment
those who defraud the State ana their
neighbors, is there not danger that
crimes OF violence will make Insecure
the fortunes that have refused to con.
tribute ratably to the cost of maintain
ing social order? " :
1.-The spirit of discomfort is rife The
farmer, the man Of moderate circum-
stances. has unfailingly and nnfalter.
ingly rallied to suppress mob violence
munities. These men ara not agrar-
ians or socialists or anarchists, or
covetous of other mems goods, but
they will not, and should not, permit
the tax burdens upon their smaller
properties to be doubled by the eva
sions and frauds Of the holders of
these intangible securities.
81 can not believe, however, that It
is impossible so TO stir the conscience
OF oar people. so to stimulate the in
dependence and courage of Il asses
sors and of our courts and prosecutors,
as to secure a fairly general enforce
ment of the personal property tax. i
know that men hesitate to call a
neighbor to judgment in this matter.
We have too much treated the matter
of a mans tax returns as a personal
matter. We have put his transactions
with the State on much the same level
with his transactions with his banker,
but that is not the true basis. Each
citizen has a personal interest, a pc
clniary interest, in the tax returns of
his neighbor. We are members Of a
great partnership, and 1t is the right
Of each to know what every other
member Is contributing to the part.
nership and what he is taking from it.
1t is not a private affair; it is a pub
lie concern of the first Importance.
= So
1.-THE pulpit. the press, every agency
that deals with public, social and NOR
al questions should lend its help.
There should be committees OF pub
lie safety: for, my fellow citizens. I
do not sxaggerate when I say that the
public safety is involved In a more
equal administration Of our tax laws.
Returns and assessments must be hon.
est and equal. If there are ineqlali.
ties in the law they must be remedied
by legislation, and not by the usurpa-
ton of the individual. $50"
at is not within the purpose of this
address to propose in detail the need.
ell reforms, but rather to emphasize
the need, and to suggest that Il men
of wealth should themselves come
forward and take the lead in these re-
forms; that they should not only show
n willingness, but a zeal, to bear their
full proportionate share of all public
burdens. II they do not the sense of
injury is so strong that ways will be
found, I fear, to exact more than is
eqiai. To do justice is the best safe.
guard against injustice"
In his last argument before the Su.
preme Court of the United States. in
the Illinois inheritance tax cases, Mr..
Harrison said:
az recognize and condemn quite as
strongly as my friend this secreting
Of property from the public assessor.
1t is a crime against the State; and
the man who hides his property in or