The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-03-15
REPUBLICANS DODGE WHEN HARi1ON
AIr1S A KNOCKOUT BLOW AT SENATE

Columbus, Ohio March 15-tIn his
Governor Harmon placed response
bilty for failure TO enact remedial
tax legislation duTng the eXtraor-
dinary session where it properly
belongs-on the legislature itself
Senator Clevelanger's insolent dec
laration thnt tine Governors mes
sage was meant for political effect
| lis so absurd as to further en-
phasize the criminal neglect of the
general assembly, especially Of the
senate, instead of excusing it. When
| he said that the message came at
the eleventh hour. that was the
fault OF the legislature, especially
the senate, and not the fault of the
governor, for II was not the COVER
nor's first official utte' ance on the
subject.
Governcr Harmon discussed the
states finances in his inaugural
address. He backed that up by
specific recommendation in his
message on January 10 in which
he said: "I ann confident that we
are not getting the best results
under the present system Of admin.
listeulng the laws imposing special
taxes in various fogms on certain
number of boards composed OF var
dous State officers with iurisdic-
tion over such taNation, but DIFF
ferent boards are made up OF diff
ferent officers, so that there can be
no uniform and consistent action.
AS an immediate step toward
working out remedy for this con.
dition Governor Harmon further
said: "I recmmend a single board
of three members to replace all eX-
listing boards which have to d.
with taxation who shah give their
Ienti~e time to the work now assign
ed to these boards" Among other
reasons given for this recommen-
dation Hhe governor stated his be-
Ilef that "in this way the revenues
can he materially increased under
eNisting laws. F"
This is not all Governor Harmon
said on the subject of taxation In
his direct message to the legislature
lThese extracts are quoted to show
that Governor Harmon put the sub
ject squarely before that body twL
months ago. N wasn't politics
then but business; and all the poll
tics there has been in 1t since thai
thine has been in the refusal of the
lRepubllcan legislature 10 heed the
practical suggestions OF a Demo
cratic governor at the beginning ol
his administration.
More than all this Governor Hat
lmon set forth I'm interviews publish
ed in newspapers at the time that
the states revenues could be in
creased at least 81 ,000000 per year
Through proper enforcement Of ex'
isting laws by a board which would
devote all Its time no such duties.
II was disclosed during. the sem
ate committees invest CATION Of
the state treasury and the state
AUDI tors Office last year that the
present ex-ofiiclo boards perform
Ionly perfunctory service because the
state officials who compose them
have as much as they cam do to at
tend TO the ordinary duties OF their
offices and have not sufficient idle
time to attend properly to the du-
HES OF these various taxation
boards. It was disclosed and ad-
mitted by Mr.. Guflbert, state audi
tor at that time, that most OF these
duties devolye upon the staet audi
tor alone, and that the records OF
his Office in this important service
had not been properly kept up for
1.-TWO years.
It has been openly charged on
the floor of TIE legislature that
some corporations. under lax en-
forcement of these laws, pay take
on manifest undervaluatlons, and
that at least ono corporation PAID
taxes on a valuation but little lang'
en- than the aggregate OF its divi-
dends