The Washington herald., 1912-04-21
is WRITING THE
NEW CONSTITUTION OF STATE OF OHIO
Buckeye State, Always Interested in Per-
sonaIity. Finds that of Its New
Leader Engrossing.

excited dialogues, but seldom anythinr
worse. The ancestors of some Of Sena-
tor Pomerene's constituents IN Holmes
County. where he was born and passed
his, boyhood, resisted the draft In lsss
fed to the fields. made fertilization OF
fence rails-some say OF cornstalks-and
defied the national government. Fort
Ftzzle the place was called afterward.
No Greenbackers in the country were
more frenzied or argumentative than
were those living in the vicinity OF To-
ledo. John Sherman, twenty years after
he resumed specie payments, went un-
forgiven by them 10 his grave. The
Anti-Saloon League, which now agitates
and ramifes in all directions, North and
South, as well as East and West, was
brought together under the very caves
troughs Of the big breweries of Ohio.
Writing constitution and debating II
viii be q pleasant exercise. Getting II
adopted will be a wholly different mat
ter. Not every constitution wrought out
in Ohio goes through. Whatever may
happen te the document now IN the mid
die stages OF parturition, test viii have
been made IN one of the great states
lying east Of the Mississippi River over
certain principles, which, when applied.
so the guarantees runs. viii eliminate
everything that is censurable in govern
ment.
Back in 1So2 a convention was called
by the authority of Congress to draft
a constitution for the people OF what
was then the Territory of Ohio. The
delegates met at ChiIlicothe on Novem-
Der i and completed their work In twen-
ty-nlne days. Men did not talk at that
time with the prolixity of q later gen.
Grafton. The constitution was signed by
the delegates. No vote was taken among
the people. Thus Ohio came into the
Union.
why Ohio 1IIIIionaires Dodge Taxes
Forty-nine years afterward. in 1851,
the old constitution was modernized IN
the city of Columbus by 1Os delegates.
The voters accepted the changes by a
majority Of more than 1900. That is the
constitution in force at present and the
one that Mr.. Bigelow and his colleagues
are attempting to transform dong the
lines of progressive doctrines. To-day
In Ohio property cannot be divided into
classes for taxation purposes. All prop
erty-houses, lands, bonds, and stocks.
as well as merchandise and machinery
is supposed to be taxed on the basis OF
its true value In money.
Forty years ago, a constitutional con-
vention, OF which Morrison R. Waite,
later chief justice of the United States
Supreme Court was president, tried to
make some classification of property.
The farmers. marching solidly and Gag
erly to the polls, tore the Waite consti-
tuition into pieces and then stamped the
pieces into the ground After that, but
slowly at first, came an era OF tax
lodging. Rich men, owning 4 per cent
bonds and s per cent shares in outside
corporations-in railroads, for instance.
running through the State. and in banks
and manufacturing companies not locat-
ed in Ohio-thought It a hardship to pay
most of their incomes into the treasures
of their counties. In some cities taxes
ran as high as 3 per cent. If, therefore,
man with 10000 of the bonds of the
Lake Shore Railroad obeyed the law to
its last letter, his net return. after de-
Quoting his taxes, would have dwindled
to about 1900
As a result the average citizen did not
mention his bonds and STOCKS to the
assessor. He lodged, as the phrase
went in the legislature and the news
papers. Then followed a period Of inqui-
sition- Detectives were employed and
given one-fourth of the sums they re-
covered to ferret out the delinquents.
They performed their work thoroughly.
In the end they knew the names Of all
the shareholders of all the corporations
in the country. Rich men everywhere
"lLnlu CAdNc were put vain
and then confronted with exact lists of
the personal property standing in their
names on the books of companies in
New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and
elsewhere.
One Man Paid $4,000.
A millionaire in Cleveland settled with
the inquisitors by writing his check for
$50 900. Scores of capitalists and manu-
l.
York. Others bought houses in Wash
ington Most Of them continued to live
in Ohio. but all of them abandoned Ohio
as a place of legal residence. They
ceased, of course, to vote in the State
or TO pay any taxes therein except upon
real estate and other visible property.
Such, indeed, are the tax conditions
now operative in Ohio, though the rate
has been reduced to minimum Of / per
cent and a maximum OF l5 mills. 1t Is
said that an organization Of business
men is responsible for the present con-
stitutional convention. They want prop
erty classified. 1t Is believed that the
farmers and home-owners DO not. The
consequently, will probably
let matters stand just as they are. Our
views conflict on the subject OF taxation"
Mr.. Bigelow said to me. The laws we
have, think, are satisfactory to a ma
jority of the delegates"
Even so, but Mr.. Bigelow himself
would like to change them. He believes
that taxes should be laid on land alone;
that a vacant lot in a city should pay
as much as the lot and skyscraper next
to IT. The business men who planned
the constitutional convention could not
foresee that Mr.. Blgelow would be
chosen president, and that 81 of the 119
delegates to be elected would vote for
the Initiative and referendIrn hetlced
about, however, with the provision that
IT shall not apply to the single tax as
legislative proposition. Efforts were
made and made with all the skill of
able politicians to wedge the single TAX
Into some section OF the new constitution.
but twenty-five farmers are delegates,
and they, with manufacturers, mer-
and other practical men outnUm-
bered the philosophers.
why" I asked Mr.. Bigelow, did the |
delegates elect you prPsident Of the con-
vention? You are a Socialist, a single |
Iaxer, and referendum, initiative, ard
recall man"
II have been described ~ a Socialist" |
be answered, ''by those who disagree |
with me. ] am used to the rame- So |
cialism is a broad term It means one |
fling to you and perhaps another thing |
10 me. I can say, however, that do /
aot agree with the philosophy OF Social
sm as I understand the word. I do be-
ieve. however. in what Is known as the
single-tax theory Of raising public funds.
Still. 1 would not favor the application l
,f the principle to the whole State Of /
Ohio.
IT would prefer that counties and mu-
call conventions and decide /
matters OF taxation for themselves
That would permit experimentation, and