The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1914-07-24

decline In listed intangible property
Of st2,000000 in 1913. That Governor
Harmon, as the advocate OF the Smith
per cent law, recognized as O neces-
sary buttress and protection to that
measure, the abolition OF tho system
of electIng assessors, is shown by his
last message to the legislature Jan.
6, 1912, in which he said, speaking OF
the Smith law;
"The unfortunate failure OF the Ed.
wards bill at the last session has pre-
vented, thus far, full enjoyment of the
result In view. The work OF elective
ward and township assessors has
proved failure in Ohio and else
where. That bill proposed to substi-
tute for these and for city boards OF
review deputy tax commissioner in
each county to act under direction Of
the state tax commission, with power
to employ necessary assistants"
Patriotism Persisted.
This review shows how the intelll.
gence and patriotism OF the state per-
sisted through three decades, domi.
mated at ell times by the lofty ideal of
SO shaping our laws as to distribute
the burdens of government equitably.
1t is also worthy of note that every
serious attempt to bring about rem
edy was along the same lines.
The effort to press into the public
mind the idea that the appointment
of assessors is mere caprice of the
present day, conceived for some ul-
terror purpose is both futile and rep.
rehensible. The assessor who did his
duty was never reelected. That is
the history of the old plan every
where. Now in full and open frank
ness, man to man, can Ohioans, citi-
zens OF a great state, deny that the
desire to elect assessors wherever it
remains lodged is coupled with the
knowledge that these officers always
entered upon their duties under a
sense of more or less intimidation?
The vote of the property holder was
in the assessors mind and human ma
ture, with its delinquencies, permitted
the selfish consideration to enter first
Al hAAo AiChtdl hlllluuC tOW dlu lib
bors Is it creditable, is it worthy Of
a great people, to try to convince our
selves that sublime principle has
been violated, when, as a matter Of
truth, the controlling thought is to
withhold our vote for selfish, if not
been charged that people were over
assessed? In that very remote contin.
gency there is ample facility for pro-
lection against wrong. The prevail.
ing complaint is that too many indi-
viduals and interests have not been
paying their share of taxes, and ordi-
narily the offender has been the art
full person, skilled and resourceful in
human eventualities, the very sort OF
an individual who was influential in
his ward or township, and his known
power was strongly suggestive to the
assessor. Under the operations of
the new law, TIE Standard Oil COM
pany, without protest, submitted to an
increase in Hancock county this year
of ten million dollars-the value of ten
average townships in the state. The
plain meaning of this is that the farm.
ers in ten townships have in the
past been paying a large part of this
company's taxes. In a large city man
whose name was never on the tax du-
plicate before was listed this year for
100000 in Standard Oil stock. The
average return by home owners in
the working mans districts of that
city is $1,000; so that 600 workmen
have been paying this mans taxes
for years-paying the policeman to
guard him at night-paying the fire
department that protected the roof un-
der which he slept. This is more
than injustice-it is crime; and it
is high time such practices came to
an end in this state. The commission
Of William Mckinley, after stating
plainly that the system was indefen-
sible and intolerable, centered it's en-
ergies on two basic recommendations
First: That the appointment of a
state tax commission which should
value all public utilities and control
the taxing policy of the state in order
to render the system uniform as the
constitution provides; and
Second: The appointment of asses
sors.
In May, 1910, the first recommen.
dation was adopted in the act ere.
ating the tax commission of Ohio and
giving to that commission supervision
over the assessment of real estate and
original jurisdiction in the assessment
of the property of public utilities. AS
result the grand real estate dupli-
cate of the state was increased from
$1,656, ,944 ,631 in 1910 to $4,41S,953,299
in 1913-an increase of $2,762, ,00S sos;
public utilities were increased from
$226, ,226,043 in $110 to $1,05S, ,231, ,7SO in
1913-an increase of $S32, zoos, 1877; and
banks were increased from $50, ZAP, ,115
in 1910 to $1S4 4,232,97O in 19l3-an in
crease of $103,490,S55.
The situation.in taxing affairs when
the present administration came into
being was as follows: