The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1907-11-28

he duty puDllc Ofhclal owes 10
his constituents is first, to guard
their interests with honesty of pur-
when he may deem it his duty and
privilege, TO inform them of the mis-
use public funds or of anything per
tanning to the public welfare.
1t is not the privilege of any servant
of the people, purely for political pur-
poses. to create distrust or uneasi-
ness in the minds of the people by
publishing, either by word of mouth,
or printed statements which are mis-
leading BY so doing the people, his
employers. have a just right to brand
him as dishonest, because if through
unfair methods he misleadS the com
monWealth he might go farther if ne
cessity required him to do 50 in order
to secure his ends.
We, in this instance, refer to the
statement which we have reason to
believe was prepared by County Aud
itor Murphy and published in his or
gan, showing comparative statement
of the total state tax levy, or the total
amount raised in each township for
state purposes. The Register has
cited the undeniable fact that on odd
years the taxes have been higher than
they were on even years. To bear
us out in this we give the state tax
levy for five years as follows:
1903. .412 mills .212 mills deficiency
1907 mills. no deficiency tax
1905. 4 mills. . mills deficiency
1906. - mills. no deficiency tax
1907. Az mills 4 mill deficiency tax
and IA mill levy to pay for the twine
plant at the state penitentiary.
This should explode the idea that
the state board Of equalization at its
recent meeting voluntarily and with
deliberate intention of burdening the
people, levied a state tax in excess of
that of former years. The people
voted to establish the twine plant at
the penitentiary, the same as Mime
sofa has and which has proven a pay
ing investment In accordance with
the vote of the people the legislature
took steps to establish the tWine plant
by ordering levy Of IA mill ON the
real property Of the state with which
to pay for the machinery, etc. This
was no act of the assessment board,
the legislature fixed the assessment
Had the people voted the question
down there would have been no levy
for that purpose and the state tax levy
would then have been just , mills on
the dollar, or one mill less than the
levy of any odd year we believe since
the state was admitted into the union.
The compilation of figures by the
county auditor are therefore mislead-
ing. He is opposed to the present
state administration and is doing all
he can to make trouble for the state
officers, purely for political purposes.
OF his conduct as an official we shall
perhaps have more to say later on.
Just now let us sift the tax problem.
Take for instance Trenton township
the statement says the total amount
to be paid on 1907 state taxes by that
township amounts to $1,106.57 and
that the total amount paid by that
same township into the state treas
ury Cstate taxi in 1906 was $474.45.
Last year there was no deficiency tax
and no levy for state twine manu-
factory. Let us now see what Trenton
township would have paid last year
if there had been added to the two
mill tax a levy of one mill for defici-
encv and Il mill for a twine plant
Multiply S474.45 by pa mills (the levy
made this year for deficiency and the
twine plant and it gives us total
of Sl.05751, the sum Trenton would
have paid had the years merely been
reversed. Now subtract $1,067.51 from
the sum of $1,1O6.57 and you will have
a remainder of $39.O6. Now this is all
that the whole township OF Trenton
will have to pay over what 1t would
have had to pay if conditions were
identically the same.
Now divide $3906 by the number OF
quarter sections in the township and
you have approximately the cost to
each individual taxpayer in the town
shin because of this excessive raise
in valuation" There are 144 quarters
sections in Trenton township; divide
$39.O6 by 144, the number of quarter