The Washington herald., 1912-03-23

| erty owners. Included IN this is a
per cent, tax levy limit bill.
\ woman's reformatory and placing al
girls in the State correctional institutions
under the control OF woman.
In addition to these. Gov. Harmon bad
recommended to the General Assembly
this year the passage OF a Statewide
Direct Nominations bill, affecting every
| resent the State officially or politically,
bill providing for the use of the pure
Massachusetts, ballot In all municipal
elections. and third measure providing
of City Councils and the election OF
one-third Of the membership OF each
Council at large instead Of from districts
! A CrIterIon for ProRressivene...
When Judson Harmon first became a
| candidate for Governor Of Ohio, he was
not well favored by the progressives In
his own party. HIS answering honesty
| was never a matter of doubt with any
one who knew him well at all. But he
was looked upon as an extreme con-
servatiye and as a man who had been
fostered In an environment that would
make him prone to place property rights
| above the people.
II the legislative programme enumer-
ated above is any criterion at all of what
Harmon Is, the laws he has recommended
certainly are progressive in their es-
sence.
In regard to the public utilities bill
aad some other bills of a radical nature.
such as the initiative and referendum
for municipalities. Gov. Harmon cams
out in their support very earnestly after
they had been urged In his party's plat
form. His caucus speech at Columbus
last April. his messages TO the Legis-
lature, his public speeches in and out
Of campaign seasons, fairly reverberate
with utterancss like these: 1T was in
the platform of our party" or There
IS no doubt that the people demand It."
So Il may be after all submission 10
preference that has brought Judson Har-
mon out in support of such measures as
these. When yo1 talk with the man you
cannot doubt his conservatism any more
than you can doubt his absolute sin
certify and his personal integrity. There
is not a trace of the demagogue about
him. On the other hand. he is great
honesty in the methods by which public
officers are elected. The numerous bills
dealing with election reforms with few
exceptions have emanated from the Gov
I A member Of Gov. Harmon's Cabinet
told The Times correspondent an Incl
dent to illustrate how honesty in public
He related one of the first Sonversa-
lions he had with Gov. Harmon after
the latter had appointed him to ONCE.
said st asr%0 to oes ssis staS bsss
this in mind. You will have an absolutely
free hand in their selection, but you
must make sure of some things. First
tbnest. In the second place. see to II
that he Is efficient. AS efficiency. even.
is secondary. to honesty. so the question
the two. Aii other things equal. appoint
Democrat. and IL you can manage II,
see 10 II that your man Is an active
working Democrat and not drone.
There shouldn't be a single drone in our
The Public Utilities law. and the Work.
mems Compensation act were two OF the
famous speech before the General As
sen1bly caucus; last April These meas
ures had been fought bitterly by the
due TO the lobbies they maintained that
they had been held up. Both were party
measures. But one measure which orig
mated with the Governor himself pro-
si sHsed the ef otbers t6sether TSst Was SIs
Tax Reform bill. II VIII survive as one
Of the monuments to the Harmon ad-
ministrasion.
Taxes had been collected in the State
OF Ohi0 prior to Harmon's coming into
public life in the most haphazard and uIi,
just manner. Each Of the eighty-odd
It's own Tax Collectors. who when they
were good and ready turned the taxes
collected into the State Treasury. This
was bad I'm itself. but the crying evil OF
the system was the injustice in valua-
tions for taxation PURPOSES
a Real Tux Reformer.
Ohio is hotbed for powerful corpora
tons. A majority OF these contrived to
rscape'v very lightly. with the result ths {
the tax burden fell with double and treble
weight on the ordinary taxpayers and