South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-09-06
WASHINGTON IS
GETTING A DOSE
Of TAX REFORM
BY gibson GARDNER.

o.
ton is getting a dose Of tax reform.
The results are humorous. The new
commissioners found that the assess
ors had been getting rich dabbling
in real estate while prominent cities
had been getting low assessments.
Therefore the new commissioners de-
cided 10 fire some OF the assessors.
Nothing doing. Assessors claimed
they were appointed for life; COM
missioners could appoint them but
nobody could fire them. With the
aid of a lOcksmith, a policeman and
a signed order one assessors desk was
taken from him and a substitute in
stalled. Result: Appeal to local
courts, writs OF quo warranto, man
damus-all the writs that are known
TO the profession. And behold ex-
Sen. Joe Bailey with several valued
assistants as lawyers fighting in the
name OF a few obscure citizens who
could not pay Bailey's Office rent.
That is what happens when special
privilege, entrenched behind tax IA
voritism, is attacked. There will be
doings in this burg now for several
months legal and municipal
vaudeville.
Rep. McDermott admits that he got
| $500 from the lobbyist representing
the retail liquor dealers association
when the Jones-Works excise bill was
| on the blocks, but says this had
| nothing to do with this legislation. He
admits that he got $1,000 from George
| d. Horning, head of the pawn brokers
| alliance when they were trying to kill
| the loan shark bill, but says this had
/ 1.
/ shark legislation. He admits that he
| took a letter from Mulhall to James
| p. Bird, general manager of the n
\ A Ms protective league, but says the
| letter was sealed and its contents I'M
| known TO him and that his reason for
/ going to New York to see Bird was to
/ get the latter to finance an airship
scheme. He admits that he sent a
| check for $3.50 to the Mccormick es-
tate in Chicago TO clean up check
which had been made out TO Mulhall
| but which he had cashed by signing
! MulhalFs name, but says this had
nothing TO do with work for the y.
/ A. NJ And McDermott's attorney and
| some special privilege newspapers
say that McDermott's explanation has
been eminently satisfactory and that
the committee will be vindicated.
Good roads and rural credits have
been hitched together in a bill pro-
posed by Rep. E. r. Bathrick of Ohio.
/ Bathrick's scheme sounds almost as
| easy as the traditional method of lift
ing oneself by ones bootstraps. The
United States is to borrow money at
31-2 per cent and lend it to the
/ farmer at 1-2 per cent, making an
annual income OF SAP, 500, 900 by this
process, which amount could be con-
tributed to sinking fund TO wipe out
a bond issue by which the government
could build $1,7O0, 100000 worth of
roads. Fine and simple.
Patrons of nerve medicine will be
! interested to learn that a German
company which manufactures lecithin
| and cOlestrin has contracted TO buy
all the hog brains turned out by the
Denmark abbatoirs. Hog brains
bring l % cents a pound.
Commissioner of Internal Revenue
Osborne has drafted a bill for a new
denatured alcohol law by which. ii is
claimed the farmer would be able to
set up a small still and convert his
waste products into alcohol with out
the cumbersome government regula-
tons which now make this impossible.
Statistics gathered by the govern
! ment show that the average expendit-
ure toward Improvement of roads in
the United States exceeds one million
dollars a day, large portion of which
Is wasted because of the failure to
build the right type OF road to meet
| local requirements, or the failure to
| provide for continued maintenance.
correspondent interested in the
effort of Sen. Myers to ALLEVIATE the
| governments coal to the Chicago.
Milwaukee and st. Paul railroad
writes: Il hear that the senate
leaders have promised certain west
ern senators in return for their votes
on the tariff bill that there shall be
| some chance for getting power sites,
| mineral lands, etc. This is not a
thing that is entirely new. During
the fight on the tariff in 1882. Henry
Clay said You should have seen
| the disposition made on Thursday
last of my resolution respecting the
tariff On that occasion some de-
velopments were made Of a scheme
which I have long since suspected
that certain portions Of the south
were disposed to purchase support to
their tariff doctrines by a total sac
rifce of the public lands 10 the west
ern states within which they are sit
uated. 1t will fail in its object. but it
! ought to be denounced