The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-12-05
NEW YORK LETTER

tatives oi big corporations here pro
fcss to see 10 recent events signs o.
d recession In various directions h
the wave Of antitrust feeling tha,
has swept over the country during
the past few years and has led 20 the
enactment oi laws which the corpo'
rations declare have made Il ifnpos'
aible for them to do business IN Ger.
tain states, While they arc ready to
admit that corporate business In lhc
future Is certain TO be far more stFie'
tiy regulated than Il was down %
the beginning Of the recent move
ment for legal supervision, they are
encouraged 70 believe that the ex-
gFeme features Of what they desig-
nate Az oppressive legislation arc
likely TO be gradually modified, IN ap-
plIeation at least. Az an illustration
M this modera,lng tendency they
point 10 the recent re.admission into
nexas Of Swift 4 Company. the meat
packers, who had been barred from
lhe state for more than year, To be
urc the application for re.admission
was made under Delaware charter,
supported by an affidavit tina, the
company was not member Of q
trust and accompanied by the pay
ment OF a fine. Az the same time,
however, the fnaneiefs point know.
ingly 10 the fact that so far as an.
nouneed there has been no change In
the directorate OF the National Pack.
Inv Company In which the Swiits as
we'll as the other big Chicago inter-
ests ordinarily grouped under the
Reneral designation Of the beef trust
6gure The developments In this d.
geetIon are being watched with In.
lerest by the big insurance eompan.
les, the. farm machinery combination
and others who have found themsel-
YES deprived OF an important field by
ahe operation OF the Texas laws.
The recent registration for the
presidential election, together with
she compiling Of the tax list, have
revealed some curious discrepancies
and facts here, As q result Of an an
aiysis Of these figures the city faith
crs are considerably mixed, for while
the rolls show 6ls00O voters, the tax
list numbers only 100000 names. In
other words less than one voter out
az three and less than one out Of ev.
cry twenty Of the entire populatin Is
q taxpayer, though why this should
be no one has yet been able to ex'
plain. That 4ls,0O0 voters pay no
taxes is, however, matter needing
explanation especially as this condi'
tion increases the amount paid by
taxpaying voters by more than zoo
percent. The present average tax in
this city Is s603 per capita, for those
who pay II, while were Il distribu.
ted among all voters Il would aver
age only Si77 apiece, In any event,
however the total, which amounts to
Sl20OOO,0O0 annually must be col
iee,ed and the fact that only one out
a three voters contributes to i
merely serves to give New York one
Of the highest tax rates in the world.
In this tax situation is found the ehisf
explanation Of the fact that New
York Is the most expensive city to
live in in the United States, When
the fact Is taken into consideration
that large number Of taxpayers are
women who cannot vote, the average
amount of taxes paid by each voter
aaNroaehes the 500 mark, very IT,
Nv sum even for New York,
The FIRST school Of Its kind-one
10 enable women 10 earn their liy'
ing In specialized field has just been