The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-04
CContinued from Page 1.)

CContinued from Page L)
 With this I cannot agree. Bridge port is wealthier than the aver age city of It's size in this country. Indeed, 1t Is one of the wealthiest- Its products go out to the entire citizens is very great If you doubt this compare the gross and net income from manufactures with the gross and net income of other cities in this state and else where.
 sense that its system of raising municipal revenues is defective The tax burden Is placed unequal ly. Some pay. Some dodge.
 Let us value all taxable prop erty "at its fair market value" ac- cording to law. and with the im- position of a very low tax rate Bridgeport win have as large a public revenue as any city of It's size in the United States. excepting only a few gathering places of multi-millionaires.
 The firemen should not be de- prived of a just wage in order to assist some to escape just taxation Roughly estimating. I shou'd say ; that there is In this city $50. .000. 900 of property which ought to be on the books of the assessors and Is not At only one per cent th's property would yield a revenue of $500 900 annually.
 Again the league has said that If these firemen should resign, others would be found to take their places al even less money.
 But this is true of every employ ment- There Is no work so mean and none so poorly p,,id that men cannot be found under the existing r~-1 .N A he r-T of those who should leave such oc- upation to go, on strike
 doubt if many employers are willing to turn the hep out of. the factory upon the chance that 10th CTS will take their places for less who would take Mir. Xacdona'd's place for less than he gets. but his employers might not consider 1t wise to change
 There are two questions to be settled with respect to this matter.
 The first is. Do the freemen sp- prove of the increase given to the firemen?''
 need not say that ours Is not a government of taxpavers. hut of men Ben Franklin laughed gov ernment by property out of court with his famous question about the man and the ass. The con- SflrQfl0n or Fe1nSy'Nanld. m Frankiin's time. contained a prop e-ty qualification for voting. An ass was enough to enfranchise its owner. One day a man rode to the polls on his ass and voted. On the way home the ass died. having the owner without a vote. Fra1k- lin. with pit'less humor. asked. 'who voted: the man. or the ass" The property qua,if'ca ton disap- peared from the constitution of Connecticut Tn 1s45 and since that time the number of ssses entitled to vote has been reduced
 am, myself a ts~payer. both directly and indirectly. I am that most helpless of taxpayers. one who lives in the home he owns and who. therefore. cannot charge his tax to somebody else as the man who rents his house can. or as the manufacturer and the mer- chant do-
 Therefore 1t cannot be deemed that I have any prejudice against taxpayers
 The second question Is this: Does the proposed increase give the firemen more than they ought to receive. considering what is paid in similar employments in this To- cality. and considering the nature of the work and the cost of liv- ing.
 A letter carrier. who is forbid den by law to work more than eight hours a day If of the first grade is paid s1-20o a year.