The Bourbon news., 1913-09-09
Business Men pepIore Suits.

mercial Club the following resolutions
were adopted:
''Whereas, it has been brought to
the attention of the Board of Directors
OF the Lexington Commercial Club,
that the tobacco interests of this city
and State are again jeopardized by
further harassing and embarrassing
litigation having been instituted by
revenue agents against the Burley To-
bacco Society, and
Whereas, the tobacco interest of
Lexington and the Burley tobacco dis.
rict is one of the greatest of our in.
dustrial. commercial and financial as
sets, an interest and business which
directly affects 10000 farmers who,
with their families, number approx
mately 100000 of our citizens, and,
whereas, one of the main wheels
and factors in this great commercial,
industrial and financial tobacco enter
prise, has been and is now the organi-
zation known as the Burley Tobacco
Society, whose efforts in behalf of the
farmers should be appreciated by ev-
cry business man, and the benefits re.
sulting from those efforts cannot be
disputed or denied, therefore, be it
fSh 6lSHllSSdts
Resolved, That we deplore the
great handicap of unnecessary litiga-
ton that has for many months him
dered and embarrassed the laudable ef-
forts of the Burley Tobacco Society
and especially do we regret the fur
ther annoyance and embarrassment of
this company by the prosecution of
numerous suits by the revenue agents,
in this and other counties, and for the
good Of vast number Of farmers
and other interests of the State we
hope and trust that the State and
county officials will see their way clear
to dismiss these actions now pending
and that they and others will here
after refrain from like class of pros
ecutions."
Tax System Blamed.
Discussing the tax system of Ken
lucky in relation to the litigation in
point, Editor Desha Breckinridge, of
the Lexington Herald, says:
Among other innumerable faults of
this system, there are none more glar-
ing than the provisions for the ap-
pointment and authority given to rev.
enue agents. 1t became a custom for
some lawyers to make an arrange
ment with the revenue agents for a
division of the fees allowed for the
collection of back taxes, instituting
suits in the name of the revenue agent,
when in fact it was the lawyer who
conceived and executed the purpose
to bring the suit. So fragrant became
the abuses because of the institution
of drag-net suits, which were often
compromised for amounts only part
of which reached the State Treasury,
that the last Legislature modified the
law so as to prevent this abuse.
Huge Drag-Net Cast.
"But there are still glaring evils un-
der the present system, some Of which
are revealed by the innumerable suits
instituted by John Howard, of Mid
dleboro, revenue agent for the State
at-Large, against the Burley Tobacco
Society. The aggregate amount OF
property, for taxes on which suits
were brought, is some sixty millions
Of dollars, the taxes on which would
be some six hundred thousand dol
lars, with a penalty, which would go
to recompoSe the revenue agent and
his attorneys. The amount sued for
is, of course, made so large as to cov-
er all possible contingencies, like a
drag-net with which the fisherman
hopes to catch everything in the pond.
1t is most unfortunate for the
Burley Tobacco Society, for the bur-
ley tobacco growers, for the State and
for the City of Lexington, that these
suits have been instituted in the way
in which they have been; and most
unfortunate that there is apparent
ground for the charge that their pur-
pose is not so much to collect the
amount Of taxes due, if any are due,
as to hamper and harass the Burley
Tobacco Society.
The Just And The Unjust.
There are forty thousand members
of the Burley Tobacco Society who
pledged their crops of 1911. Many OF
them undoubtedly listed their tobacco
for taxation, as they are required to
do by law, it being the duty Of the
owner of tobacco to list it for taxa
ton The suits, If successful, would
require the society to pay out of its
general fund, taxes on all the tobacco
in its possession on the day on which
it was required to be listed, so that
those who had listed their tobacco fol-
taxation and paid the taxes would be
mulcted, as would also those who had
not listed their tobacco. There are
members of the Society who live il
Indiana and Ohio who will, if these
suits are successful, be required to
contribute to pay the taxes collected
in the forty counties of Kentucky, and
the penalty, which would go to the
revenue agent and his attorneys.
1.-The Burley Tobacco Society has
on hand ready for distribution some
three hundred thousand dollars. 1t is
of course, impossible for it to distrib
ute that amount as long as these suits
are on the docket unsettled.
at Seems Curious"
"It seems curious that these suits
should have been instituted agains
the Burley Tobacco Society, an or
ganization formed for the purpose o.
aiding the tobacco growers to secure
a reasonable price for their product
instead of having the American To
bacco Company secure that prOduc