Evening journal., 1911-11-16
SAY ROADLAW
is ssLAND GRAB"
City Socialists Also DenOunCe
CapitatiOn Tax on the
Workers
SCORE LEGISLATURE
FOR PASSING LAWS


dred men and women from all walks
OF life gathered to protest against the
collecting Of the capitation tax as
passed by the State Legislature sew
eral gears ago. and amended at the
last session. whereby City Council
could attach wages to collect the tax.
While this was the primary reason
Tor the meeting. two of the three
speakers took advantage of the oc-
cason to denOuncc the Legislature |
for granting the Coleman dupont
Road Gncorporated), a right of way
through the state for the dupont
Boulevard This they termed the
greatest "land steal ever perpetrated
in the East
Councilmon Bndorback. Connor, |
Dempsey. Stovor and McManus and
Building Inspector Cassidy sat inl
front OF the hall and heard the
Trades directed against them. Others
In the audience were the Rev. r. l..
jackson. Henry NJ. Lang, John NJ
Dorney and A. H. Spicer the last
named being a resident of Arden.
The first speaker was w. w. Henry
who acted as chairman He referred
TO the tcn-hour labor bill that the Leg
islaturo had failed TO pass as well as
The bill providing for a female factory
inspector. Mr.. Henry spoke of thel
various meetings held by the Con-
sumers League in advocating these
measures yet he stated the Governor
OF the state had decided to mako an
inspection of the industrial plants
of the city before signing the bill
that had been passed.
~ Continuing the speaker said that
- with a string of reporters following
ck in his wake the Governor, accompan-
= .IrI I,tr fhn fapHppfg nl tho !
plants. went through mills stopping at
machines and asking the employees
how they were getting along and how
y 9they were treated. Mr. Henry said
that the employ, with the boss on
Zone side. and starvation on the other,
would have TO say everything was
y all right.
r It was at this point that the boulo- |
ward corporation came i'm for its share
of the TRADE of the evening. Chair
rman Henry in speaking of measures
favorable to the working class being
ignored, and the amending of the capi- |
tation tax law so that it could be coll |
D 1ected. said that the same body of law
II makers had given the boulevard cor
poration a strip of land 200 feet wide
through the state and then adopted !
measures whereby the $1,000 homeless
men of this city would assist in pay
ing for the land.
"Subseryient Lawmakers"
After explaining what Socialism
stood for and its definition of law,
Arnold NJ Francois, the next speaker.
stated that while the city was bonded
In The sum of 100000, City Council
had given $4,000 to an individual for
hotel site and then to make up
tho deficiency the same Council was
about to tax the propertyless citizens
OF the city. What was perhaps the
most startling announcement OF the
meeting was made by Mr.. Francois
when he said that while the public
schools are supposed to be free, a
scholar had been threatened with eN-
pulsion for reading Tom Paine's,
Karl Maris' or Jack London's books.
Mr.. Francois said the capitation tax
was paid by the worker In the form
of rent as was a toll on all other pro
ducts used by him or his family Con-
tinuine. he said: "There is a subser-
Went Council i'm the city. and Legis-
lature in the state who look after the
interests of the capitalist class, and
by their grant of lands TO the boule-
ward and hotel they have pulled on the
greatest "land grab" ever carried on
i'm the East Then to keep your minds
from such schemes the same class get
YOU Interested in baseball. MT.
Francois then asked how many OF
those present earning S2.5o oay
would cat in the new hotel.
The laws Of the state pertaining
70 the capitation tax and the boule-
ward were then read by the speaker.
While he was reading the section re-
ferring to the tax. Mr.. Francois said
the newspapers had referred TO the
tax on the 10000 males but n
dupont or Pennewill's name had been
mentioned it would have had Hon.
attached to it, But i'm this case the
workers were simply males, and what
kind was not specified.
Again Mr.. Francois said the boule-
ward project was the "dirtiest steal
IN the East" The speaker always
limited himself as TO territory. Take
ms to court he said, "and we will
prove il"
Going further. he numated that
ultimately the Standard oil corpora
lion would lease the land aside from
the road direct. and pipe line would
be laid through the state.
s5Oe Average Yearly Wage.
George W. Litz, a member Of tho
Board Of Health WAS the next speak
er He said that after a careful study
he mad dScertdlned lndt lnc WoFknE-
men Of this city earned on an aver
age $506 a year and after rent. fuel
and food had been taken out they had
but S26 left or IL cents day
Mr. Litz said it was time The city
owned its own electric light plant
and in substantiating this statemcn
he referred to the government con-
trolled coal mine i'm Alaska
Mr.. Litz received much applause
when he referred 10 the Milwaukee,
Socialists. who after revising the AS
sessment plan there. added $4,000
on the rich section OF the city and
reduced $4,000 from the poorer sec
ton
Tho principal speaker Of the meet
ing was Samuel G. Clark, of Philadel
phia who said that he would admi
the Legislature Of Delaware had com
mon grit II it did not have commo
sense. in leyying a tax of $3.50. II
said this tax was the most ridiculou
thing be had ever heard of, sayin
that if the law makers had been wis
they would have done better by NAL
ing it possible only TO vote by pawn
The tax.