The weekly herald. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 1906-19??, 1908-07-02

sidered the anti-lobbylng law which
had been demanded by the people
and by the platform, as means for
doing away with one Of the greatest
dangers that threatened the purity of
legislatures. This law was passed
and no sooner had the governor fixed
his signature TO II than the repre-
sentatlycs of interests which must
have Hobbies to i've began 10 war on
the governor and the administration,
As a law which has caused more
good people 10 complain, and also
more loafers TO complain than any
other Of all tho laws passed the
governor next took up and vigorously
defended the antl-pass law, One
reason for criticism OF this measure,
the governor located as the man who
still treasured in a pocket OF the
pants he wore in 1896, an annual
railroad pass, and the governor dag
nosed this mans complaint as being
caused by the removal Of his ability
to "slide around over the country
neglecting his own business and
moddlng a little bit In other peo-
pies business" That law, he stated
was enacted in response to campaign
demands which had been in the plat
forms for the five last campaigns
and had been demanded so long that
the people said 10 keep the legisla-
ture there at Austin til 1t was passed
and the governor declared that much
as he enjoyed his visit in the Pan
handle that he would not have been
here II that law had not been passed.
I'D have been down there in Aus
tin yet, and that legislature would
have been down there too, and they'd
have stayed there till that law was
passed. The pass had grown TO be
the most towering evil In state leg
islation. 1t had defeated platform
demands threatened the integrity of
the ballot box, was reaching out for
the press, and was even seeking the
judiciary" The speaker, however,
deprecated the idea that passes al
ways made men unlai;hlul and he
said that men who got the passes
in most cases perhaps were as faith
full and as honest and conscientious
as those who did not, but, he empha-
sized, "the noblest attribute of hui
man nature is gratitude" and in this
fact lay the insdlous danger OF the
pass.
Taxes for the Average Man.
Taking up the question of taxes
and renditions which he pronounced
the biggest problem with which
statesmen have had to deal, the gov.
ernor related that under the former
administration OF the tax laws, the
small property owner, the farmer and
the land owner we're paying more
than their share but that the great
corporations were paying less than
25 per cent of the taxes they should
have paid, and that he pledged the
people to enact laws to distribute the
burden of taxes. Since the passage
OF those laws the agents OF corpo-
rate interests have been going about
seeking to emasculate the laws be-
lore the people have had time to
learn their operation. Calling atten-
ton to the fact that both the con-
stitution of the state and the Demo-
cratic platforms ordered the taxation
OF property after the manner which
this administration has accomplish
ed. the governor advised Democrats
to think over the platform and to
watch the laws rather than take the
fault finding Of these corporate
agents The charter and franchise
taxes, he said, had yielded between
$125,OOO and $4,000 of new taxes
and the gross receipts tax had |
brought from corporations which had |
been escaping their just share, about |
100000 a year. Tho increased |
taxes from these measures enabled |
the state to reduce the tax this year
from 20 cents on 500 to 121s cents
and the governor showed by further
figures this tax will be still further
reduced next year. BY the operation |
OF the automatic tax law, the gov
ernor explained, the various commu-
mites would be guarded against the |
raising OF more than enough or less |
than enough taxes for the needs of |
the community. In this connection |
the governor told Of the time a few
years ago when the governor of Ar
kansas sympathized with Texas Off
Gals because they were facing a de-
flcit, and Dragged that Arkansas
could loan them money at per cent
because that state had learned how
to collect taxes. We've LEARNED |