The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1908-01-30
! The !, /, Governors. D.
! IN MESA e. 70 !, the II 1.
... Legislature
TO the Hon0rabIc Members of the
y. Sonata aHi tna Annaa SH nnln


each member at ,h's home, The 5convo-
cattott OF the Legislature was,not done
without serious consideration; you
weretycahed together at tkis time be.
cause it appeared that the public in
terests demanded it. The RESPONSE,
bttty |of convoktEg the Legislature
and naming the subjects upon which
it, may legislate, IS upon the Governor
noWs that you are In session, the re,
sEons!bility Is upon YOU as to which
OF these subjects you will take I'D and
consider; tand, having taken them up,'
what. disposition you shalt make or
them. >'~>.. - . -. = ~ -. 49,, 49,
Local Matters. 49,.
1t was desired 20 limit the subjects
to those OF fiscal Tor financial imports
ance; few subjects Of local import.
ancc appear, but tnese are of much Inn
portanee to the people Immediately
concerned therein. Our laws provide
no method Of getting or amending
charters Of certain municipal corpora
i'ubltc welfare, only by acts Of the I4eg
islature;, independent school districts
can he created only by aid of such spe-
clal acts. AS the people Immediately
interested In these cities and indie
pendent school districts can obtain
. these measures, which concern their
public welfare only by acts of the Leg
isiature. 1t is conceived that these facts
justify their inclusion in the procla-
nation. They will take little Of your
time and will mean much to the peo-
Ele concerned.
Limitation OF. Levics-Public yAc-
counting.
The last session OF the Legislature
passed an act li,altlng levies by coun-
~ courts to thirty-five cents on each
one hundred dollars of valuation; this
act was samendato1y of the act Of 1905,
hut in the act Of 1907 the clause was
omitted which was in the act of 1905,
to the effect, that district road levies
should be Included in the expression
county levies." understand that
this clause was omitted because it was
thought unnecessary.
In Writ county the levy for county
purposes, including the district road
levtes, exceeded the MAXIMUM of thir
tyr1Ee@ cents. = Certain residents and
taxpayers Of thai county and the State
Tax Commissioner applied to ,thenSu-
nreme' Court OF Appeals for a writ Of
.mandamussto compel the county court
10 reduce the levies to the limit OF
thirtyfiYe cents. The writ was refus-
cd by the court iE. its decision handed
down on the 29Sii, or last October A
rehearing was obtained. and the court
on the 18th Of last December, reaf.
frmed' its decision, one of the judges
dissenting. The court held that the
limitation Of thr1y-five cents in the
act Of 1907 does not limit the powers
Of the county courts respecting the
amounts to be raised by taxation for
district road Purposes. 1t, follows
therefore, that any county court may
levy thirty-five cents for county pur-
poses proper and levy sixty cents In
any district for district road purpos-
Cs, these two amounts making up the
ninety-five cents limitation on levies
by county authorities named in the
Constitution. TIE constitutional linn
itatiOn, made in 1e72, was fitted to the
conditions then existing, and is Who'll
ly inadequate to those existing under
the new TAX laws thirty-five years la
ter. The following IS q statement of
contrasts Of valuations for taxable pur-
poses Of the property in the State for
the year 1904 ami the year 1907. The
former year was he last year of the
operation of the Clio laws, and the as
sessment of 1907 is, Of course, the last
available one:
. 1904. 1907.
Real estate ,,.s1GS 480,15O $4S7,110,791
Personal prop
orty :.,..,.. Sc,SO6,2O0 1913, 674,73
Property as
,sessed by.
Board 49,. 3G,V43,3oo 244,154, 694
=. -.~-----~-- ------4-------~
Totals -. .$27S,229, $50 1929 ,94O,216
The figures respecting real estate
and personal property for 1907 are APP
ProXimated; a few counties were not
in for that year, and for them the vals
nations Of 1906 were used. It will be
seen that the taxable value CT the real
estate has been decreased nearly three
times; the taxable value Of the per-
aonal property has been - increased
about two and one-half times, while
the taxable value Of the property as
sessed by the Board OF Public Works
in 1907 is more than eight times more
than In 1904. AS TO this last proper
ty, 1t Is to be noted that the Board as
SeSScd under tn new law several sDe-
cies Of property that before were not
assessed by it. The property assessed
by the Board in 1904 was that of steam
and electric railroads and sleeping
cars, the assessed value whereof in
that year was 100000 900. tThese items
in the 1907 assessment amount to-
81 81 An0 600 ..l,nt..i1,o innronca -,