The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-12-12


seen In the returns from Preble coun.
ty which is $2,1617O4, as against a
return Of sl,4O0,OOO in Hamilton, and
$l,600,OOO in Cuyahoga. Poor, little.
modest PTeble county. ! remember
she only cast about 5000 votes. But
II you will measure up her citizenship
according to this exhibit, little Preble
goes to the head OF the list. Take
those figures back TO the farmers Of
Ohio. | challenge the DEVILS Diary
to question the correctness of them.
Nov, gentlemen, | think you will
agree with me that the club OF the
taxing power must never be held over
the head Of any man in this state and
that this organization must be freed
absolutely from politics; that ths
commissioners here will give dignity
and efficiency to the administration OF
the law and win the largest measure
Of gratitude and confidence Of the
communities in which you reside is
assured II you free yourselves from
all political activity.
Two Thousand Under Civil Service.
"The charge has been made that
the governor desires to build a polit.
ical machine, that you are appointed
by virtue OF a right given him by leg.
islative enactment; that all OF the
taxing officers in this state your sub
ordinates, assessors and clerks, will
be made part Of political machine.
~ make to you this morning
this announcement, that every
man employed under you in this
state must submit to the test of
merit. ohio has passed a civil
service law. The Democratic az
mlnistratlon in this state has the
right between now and January
1st to appoint Democrats to every
position under these commissions.
We have the right to cut the pa
tronage pie. ! surrender 1t abso-
lutely to the merit system. And
this whole organization goes un-
der the civil service law Of this
state. The state tax commits
sion will, In due ime, formally
advise you gentlemen to make
no selections until after January
1st, when men in the different
communities can submit them
selves to the test Of merit, a COM
mon sense test.
II remember once in Washington,
when the merit system was first be.
ing applied, there was wanted car
penter in the treasury department.
John G. Carlisle told me this story:
They asked the commission to submit
the eligible list, and it developed that
there were no eligibles. An exam
ination was held for carpenters, and,
unfortunately for the examiners,
there was an Irishman who took the
test. One question was, How many
Hessians did the British send over
here during the Revolutionary war?' !
The Irishman's reply was, "A d
sight more than they sent back.
Nov the point is this, the mans |
efficiency as carpenter could have |
been, and should have been, ascer- |
tained in another way. You should |
know whether the assessors are equip |
ped with information with reference
to farms, property, ETC.; you should
know what their general equipment
is. The Ohio law, applying the quail
ification test, is a common sense af-
fair, and said by experts to be the
best in the states 1t undertakes in
a practical method to determine the
ability Of the applicant to do efficient
ly what he desires to do in behalf of
the public service. Just as soon as
you are clothed with responsibility
you are going to understand the
meaning Of the merit system. So we
surrender cheerfully, from a con-
scientious sense of duty, absolutely
all of this patronage in order that no
man in Ohio can charge that the ad.
ministration of this great law will
bear any relation whatsoever to poll
tics. We are approaching the re-
sponsibility of establishing honesty
and fairness in taxation, and 1t must
not be embroiled in politics
Best Services Wanted.
81 assume that every man here rec.
ognizes his responsibility-tha in his
hands is placed the demonstration OF
an equitable principle Of government
that a law has been passed based
upon the fundamental justice that
every man should pay his share for
the support of the government under
which he lives. You will have enough
work to keep you busy, and If there
is a man here who has the slightest
doubt in his mind about his giving
to this responsibility all of his time
he must, in conscience, be frank with
the state tax commission. We want
your best service. And we want, gen.
tlemen, all of your time. l ask you
to work no longer than I myself am
working In the state house.
with reference to economy:
There is no doubt but what you
gentlemen can submit result
which ! am going to ask of you.
All we demand is this, | will put
It in few words-the duplicate
made up at less cost than last
year, and we want II tremendous
iy Increased on intangible prop
erty without offensive inqulsitlon.
That is perfectly simple, isn't III
"Now, in some of the smaller coun-
ties it may be difficult to make the
of this law much
cheaper than it was under the old
system. l have here some figures 1
which will demonstrate the matter