Putnam patriot., 1908-11-13
NO A6


 boat ant use no sails. | was asked to speak on thls question tonight, and which side l preferred, replied could spcas on either ef both side. if necessary. Mir. rorhin has spoken to you from large standpoint. we are members of farming and manufac- turing community and must look st this question from & narrower stand point than they as in the large cities. The Commissioner didn't take into consideration human nature. an well acquainted with the collection of taxes. From boy have seen taxes eollected--have stood back ef the table and seen the money forked over, and tell you Il was not the time for joke or passes upon the weathef--it was funerealistic occasion. Men won't pay taxes unless they have Ia. People be- lieve il perfectly right to aveld paying taxes, and they think they are justified in making their tax A low as possible without wilfully lying about It. start ing with that assumption, you cannot trust men to give the easseet valuation , ef their property. IL must he done by men who have skill aud honesty You cannot get it done thoroughly hy local officials. Some property owners are bound te escape, but it k generally the small property owners that get pineh- ed. The small people are over-iaSed and the larger ones are not taxed snf- 1 ticiently. In the case of the farmer, you can see all the property he owns II Is there spread out before yoni but this Is not 50 in tho case oi the big cor porations. Personal property most al ways escapes. and 1t k mol expected to get il in.
 l What is a tax but the payment of expenses of the towns What difference
 does the valuation maker We must
 raise the necessary amount 10 pay ex-
 pnses anyway. They say our valua-
 ton has not increased. It has; it is
 put In low, that's all. This Is A fanci-
 ful consideration. Are there any inc
 qualitiesf That is the point that af-
 fects our city. A man coming In here
 knows what his taxes will be, II you
 tell him that property valuations are
 put In low. 1 don't see that tnequall- ties have anything to do with the vs- Ination.
 !, Editor Carl II. Johnson was the next to speak.
 He related case of a large manufne-
 tory In Franklin, where he resides, that
 threatened to leave town if the asses-
 sors increased their valuation. He said
 they would have done it, too. They
 would be gladly welcomed by any
 town in the State, and many would
 allow them to come la without paying
 any taxes. ThIs had great iniIueace on the board of assessors. Iu his town resaluation was made once in ten years.
 Mr r. NJ Arnold said he would like to say few words on the affirmative side of the resolution. He thought
 Putnam could profit by the experience of others, who found full valuation be- nefieiaI. This town, he said, has not grown as much In the last twenty years as other towns with not nearly so good facilities.
 We have good facilities and low death rate, and Putnam should be ah attracsivei place for industries to locate in. In looking over the situation hero
 he found some things in which VIC arc
 lame. which k to Ike expected. un- equal taxation is evident. We all
 know that there is property that K not
 paying nearly the tax Il ought to pay. There is property in this city that k not assessed for more than B3 i-3 of it's
 value. II Is q hasne that some Of us
 should be eurdened with taxes that
 others ought to pay. We ought to have
 book showing the amount for which
 every property owner k assessed, nnt 1t ought to be published in our town re-
 port. If this were so there would be .
 rising public sentiment that would de-
 mand better equalization. Az IL iS now. you don't know what am psy- ing, nor do know what you ase pay
 ing. And we put men in Clltos tO ma~
 mage our affairs and to spsnd our mo-
 ney, who cannot themseises make mo
 ney nor manage their own a0aifs sue cessfliIIy. As Ds. LaRue 0nOe eds "wakc up, Putnam, Wake upW | Mr.G. A. Hammond said; aWhsn learned that after the town 0f Putnam
 had seut nn the amount o( its grond list t0 the Ataie authorities, who in- cfcasod the amount over . million dOl- Iasp, I resented it. | asted myso1f by what authority it was done. Mg. Cor tin han answered and explained that. l aun ashamed of PuenAnas and can only hops that when Mr. Cofbtn yt1ils us In tho future we will ke four million dollar town Instead q thrce million dollar one.
 The Prsmident then stated that hs had an invitation from the PFeuldent of the State Board Tfals, Ms. Cnand- Ter, 0f Norwich, for the Putnam AspO- cisttou to nsnd dslegates b its 18th an- nual meeting tn that city, on Wednen~ day. The following members wefe ap. l pointed: President E. NJ. Whcaton, 6c- erctary l.. Q, Williams, and Mf- Y. F. I Clark.
 Mfr. Shaw said he had communities 1 ton from the firm which stAstsd l9 build factory in this city, but aban- i doned It owing to the business depfes- sion isst year. Their business k ln- eFea&iug and they are now runniux fufl time, and intend e complete ttseif fac- l tory In tlals city iIa the spring. They wifi employ from 2s to 5V hands. This enterprise wiiI add sjO ,txsy io Pptnaua's Grand Iist.
 The Judges rendered their finding iss 1 favor of the affirmative side of the fess-