The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-01-16


taxes on the production of coal, oil,
gas and other minerals. The underly.
ing spirit of taxation contemplates an
arrangement under which contribu-
ton for governmental support shall
be proportioned as nearly as possible
to the benefits received. The amend.
ment to the constitution licensing the
liquor traffic reduces the number of
saloons in the state and this auto
matically will greatly curtail both the
state and local revenues. With this
decline in income and the state limi-
tation on the local tax rate carried by
the one per cent tax law. 1t will be
necessary not only for the state but
local subdivisions to procure revenue
from other sources. There is no tax
more just than that upon incomes.
The constitution permits the exemp-
tion of incomes up to $4,000, so that
it would not bear heavily upon a
single individual. With inheritances
the constitution permits the exemp-
tion of estates up to $4,000. This
form Of taxation is sanctioned by
usage In great many of the states.
Franchises are q thing Of absolute
value and constitute in many in.
stances a gratuitous contribution by
government to private and corporate
interests. This is also an equitable
plan Of taxation.
Civil Service.
Article XIV of the constitution as
amended provides that appointments
and promotions in the civil service of
the state, the several counties and
cities, shall be made according to
merit and fitness, to be ascertained
as far as practicable by competitive
examinations. Laws shall be passed
providing for the enforcement of this
provision"
1t therefore becomes the duty of
the legislature to establish a civil
service system extending to the state,
counties and municipalities. This OBJ
tains now in cities and 1t would be my
suggestion that they be permitted to
operate through their own civil serv-
ice commissions to the extent that no
conflict occurs with the state law.
The public interest, think, de-
mands the passage of so-called blue
sky law as provided for in the amend
ment to article XIII of the constitu-
ton.
Workmen's Compensation Law.
1t would certainly be common bad
faith not to pass compulsory work
mems compensation law. No subject
was discussed during the last cam
paign with greater elaboration and
1t must be stated to the credit Of our
citizenship generally that regardless
of the differences of opinion existent
for many years, the justice OF the com.
pulsory feature is now admitted. |
Much of the criticism of the courts
has been due to the trials of personal
injury cases under the principles of
practice which held the fellow serv.
ant rule, the assumption of risk and
contributory negligence, to be grounds
of defense. The layman reaches his |
conclusion with respect to justice |
along the lines of common sense, and |
the practice in personal injury cases
has been so sharply in conflict with
the plain fundamentals of right, that |
social unrest has been much contrib
uted to. A second phase of this whole
subject which has been noted in the |
development of the great industrial
ism of the day has been the newt.
able animosity between capital and
labor through the ceaseless litigation
growing out of these cases. The in
dividual or the corporation that en-
ploys on a large scale has taken in
surance in liability companies and
in too many instances cases which
of little difference of opin-
ion have been carried into the courts.
The third injustice has been the waste
occasioned by the system. The in
of its support by accident is not SO
that the case can be
contested with the corporation to the
court of last resort. The need of
funds compels compromise on base
that is not always equitable. Human
nature many times drives sharp bar
gains that can hardly be endorsed by
the moral scale. In the final analysis
the cost of attorney fees is so heavy
that the amount which finally accrues
in cases of accident is seriously cur
tailed before it reaches the benefici-
ary. These three considerations clear
ly suggest the lifting of this whole
operation out of the courts and the
sphere of legal disputation.
Business Form of Government.
Government as a science must make
It's improvement along the same prac-
.ical lines which develop system, sim
classification of kindred
activities and better administrative di-
'ection in the evolution of business. A
private or corporate enterprise is COM
Delled to promote in the highest de-
gree both efficiency and economy be-
cause its income in subject to the haz-
ards of business. Government with
out this spur of necessity, because its
revenue is both regular and certain,
1oes not effect reorganizations and
combine common activities so readily,
One reason, of course, is that new
egislation is required and that is not
easy at all times. Wherever human
energies are now being directed to-
ward more efficient public service, we
ind the consolidation under one ad-
unit or bureau of all de- !
,artments which deal either in direct
n different manner with the same
general subject. Investigation devel-