The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-09-15
communication

NalAltt III NOui ISSUE OF August -,
contains matter we'll worthy of
consideration Of our citizens. |
presume that the Just and neces-
sary increase in the valuations of
our county property will prob
ably have the effect he prophesies,
tor when our Board of Super
viSOrS come to the business OF
making the levy, this increase of
valuations will enable them to
give us larger fund for schools
and roads while actually reducing
the rate of assessment for county
purposes. MIR. Miller also sug-
gests that some disposition be
made of the funds in excess Of
necessary expenditure, now in the
hands OF the County Treasurer
This l cordially approve. nor can
[ commend the administration OF
political affairs which tends to
create a surplus. 1t is the duty
of our legislatures and Of Congress
to lay upon the people a burden
of taxation sufficiently heavy TO
meet all just claims against the
State, but is both unwise and i'm
polite to make the rate Of taxa
ton so large as to leave an unem-
ployed surplus from year to year
accommodating in the national
treasury. Unwise because the
very eXistance os such a fund
tends to a general increase Of
governmental expenditure and the
creation Of a tendancy toward
eXtravigance; and impolitic be-
cause 1t puts upon the taxpayer
an unnecessary burden and re-
moves from circulation the coin
which by remaining in the hands
OF our citizens tends to promote
general prosperity The trouble
is, people are prone to look upon
the affairs of a county as they
would those of an individual.
Any man who earns but Just
enough 10 pay his annual eXpen-
ses will of course never become
rich. while he who increases that
effort enough to annually lay by
a small surplus will gradually &C
cumulate a competency; on the
contrary, any one who fails to
quite meet the annual out go,
must eventually become poor, but
these simple principles Will not
apply to public affairs, quite the
contrary. Examine history and
It at once becomes apparent that
those countries in which the gov
ermeIt has accumulated immense
masses OF ready money, have
stagnated. and in some cases, like
France and Italy. drifted into
( Revolution, while those who have
failed to derive from the produce
enough TO defraY the expenses Of
government have become exceed
ing prosperous by creating a ma
tiOnal debt to meet the constantly
growing deficit. The same thing
will prove equally true in the
smaller scale Of financial legisla-
ton in the hands of our County
Supervisors. The county as
a whole viii be more prosperous
when just so much money is taken
from the citizen in x as goes
back to the citizen in the inst. o
administration of legal affairs
Were we forced to choose an al.
ternarive other than this, | would
prefer to reside in the community
IN debt to part of itself rather
than in one where a curtain per.
centage of the circulating medium
was being constantly withdraw
to lie idle in the treasury, AS al
I Illustration. let me site the posi-
! ton occunicd by Mathews Count,
ten years ago as compared Will
that she holds to-day. Then oui
schools were second to none in the
tidewater. our roads were regard.
ed as the best in the State anc
the enterprise of her Inhabitant:
proverb;al.
A look about rs now reveals 2
different situation. for while it is
probably true that we have actu.
I ally made some advance. we can
not but regard the schools of our
( Sis Ter counties with envy AMI the
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. Co.,.