The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-09-22
To Support Government

1t is a common and to a large eX
tent perfectly natural notion that the
great industrial corporations doing
business in this state do not contrib.
ute any more to the support of the
government than they have to. Per
haps one reason for tnis is to be found
in the long accepted idea that corpor-
ations have no souls and are institu.
ted for avowedly selfish purposes
and another and equally forcible one,
although not individually emphasized
very much, is that probably none of
us outsiders would pay any more tax
es than we had to If we were corpora
tons, either.
But there is another side to the
matter. Few people have occasion to
know just how much some of these
great corporations actually do pay to-
ward the support of government and
many people oftentimes assail then.
offhand for supposed failure to pay
their share without stopping to take
notice that in some instances that
might be mentioned local municipal
governments would have hard work
to get along without the revenues de.
rived from them.
Here is the Vermont Marble Com
pany. for instance, the largest concern
if it's kind in the world, not long ago
carefully estimated to be greater than
any six other marble companies com
bined. 1t is unnecessary to dwell up
on the immense and well nigh meal
culable benefit the state in general de
rives from the conduct of this enor-
nous industry through the various
channels leading out of its complex
operations to circulate money among
the people. TIE advertisement OF
Vermont's great mineral wealth that
il daily distributes over the ~contin-
ent is a valuable asset in itself while
the stimulation of collateral indus
tries that may be more or less incid
entail to its own operations, the quick
ening of industrial life generally that
comes from the example Of its own
success, the benefits to trade and to
All branches of localized business that
are disseminating by means of the
great sums of money it distributes in
wages, all count in the score of its
importance to the state.
But what does it do for the support
of government? The Vermont Mar
BILE company pays taxes in % towns
in Vermont. The principal towns are
Proctor West Rutland, Rutland town,
Rutland city, Pittsford and Dandy, in
the order named, while considerable
taxes are also paid in New Haven,
Grafton, Windham, and Shelburne the
assessment in the remaining IL towns
being small and only incidental. Tne
total taxes paid in these % towns by
the Vermont Marble company this
year is $46,771.53.
Here is a snug little fortune as Yer
monters reckon dollars and cents, an
nually distributed among towns that,
with one exception, perhaps, have
comparatively inexpensive local gov
eminent to maintain. And this is
relatively but a little part of the dir
ect money benefits that all those
towns directly participate in, say moth
ing of that which accrues to tne state
as a whole.
The matter is pertinent to no par
ticular public interest under discus
sion at this time, to be sure, but 1t
may be of interest to the thoughtful
citizen that likes to keep in touch
with some of the details that now and
then Unexpectedly become involved in
problems of state policy and are not
always easily available for public in
formation ST Adams Messenger