The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-10-28

evading his just debts, had made
to some friend, which friend after.
wards betrayed him and kept the
the property. The court refuses
to grant him any relief and applies
the above well known rule OF
equity and the litigant is promptly
kicked out of court. But let the
united forces of the banks of this
state, and the united forces of the
railroads of this state come into
court and say I'VE want relief
from taxation and want to list our
dollars and our valuable bonds
and stocks at 20 per cent of their
cash value" and assign as a reason
therefor that everybody else is ly-
ing as to the value of their prop.
erty and implicitly admitting that
they would lie too if their books
did not damn them, the court
will sit up and take notice and
will read long records, will read
ponderous briefs and listen to
oral argument after oral argument,
and then, after long and mature
consideration of the case, will
come in with thing they call an
opinion and judgment, and sus.
tain the contention of the said
banks and railroad corporations,
knowing full well that their judS-
ments are uncOnsciOnable, based
on no law, contrary to the conSti-
tuition, and have nothing to sus-
tain them except the stereotyped
phrase everybody is lying, and
for that reason the plaintiff should
be permitted to list its property
at 20 per cent.
A notable instance of this kind
has just occurred to the great
shame and humiliation of all peo-
pie who think well of themselves,
their fellow men and their state.
For shame that such an opinion
should ever have been written!
Federal Judge Cochran, after
keeping the voluminous record
of the l. & N Railroad and other
railroad companies under con-
sideration for many long months,
finally delivered himself of an
opinion that in our judgment is
contemplate, degrading and
highly detrimental to the state
of Kentucky. Although he finds
it to be fact that the L. & N.
Railroad has property which in
his judgment is reasonably worth
74,000,00O.00 in round figures,
he allows them to escape taxa
ton on all of it except about
$4,000, 10000 and he assigns for
his reasons therefor that the re-
cord discloSes that property in
Jefferson county and in Wood
ford county and probably in some
other counties is listed at from 70
to 80 percent of its real cash value.
Thus does he make the basis of
his equitable judgment" render
ed in a forum of good con-
science" perjury and false swear
ing, if, indeed, property is so val
ued in said places. Instead of
rebuking the railroad companies
for making the corrupt practices
referred to the basis for their
bill in equity, he has actually
sustained their claim and has
written an opinion, fixing a
rate of taxation which can have
nothing for its basis except fraud
and open violation of law.
But Judge Cochran is not to be
so severely censured as a casual
reader may think, because he is
amply fortified by the opinion of
our own court of appeals as well
as the supreme courts of the
United States, which said courts
base their opinion on the same
false idea, that because some men,
or perhaps many men, violate the
law in giving in their tax lists,
that others are entitled to do the
same.
These things are a curse to the
state. lowers its manhood, en-