The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-24
.RESENTS CHARGE
MADE BY CHAMBER
Delegate Montague Says Rich
mond Delegation Is Not
Guilty Of APATHY"
DUNLOP EXPLAINS LETTER
Assumes Personal Responsibility
for Much-Censured Tax
Reform Circular.
DUNLOP EXPLAINS LETTER

| NGlOIIu I'll Suldl.
Sitting as member OF the Joint
Finance Committee of the Senate anu
House of Delegates. charged with the
consideration of the tax reform prob
Richmond, took the Chamber Of Com
mcrcc sharply to task last night for
It's circular letter of February 90 In
parent apathy of the Richmond dele
cation In the General Assembly.
mond ID 4el ne Isi has dealt With this
question with apathy" said MIR. Mon
tagae. As for myself. with tho eX-
sence from the Legislature. have
given all of my time to Legislative
work. l desire to take this opportunity
to object to the language of the letter
sent out by the Chamber of Commerce,
and might add that II Is my belief
that the letter will not call out an In
telligent response from the members OF
that organization"
Did Not Explain Bill.
| Besides malgning the Richmond
delegation. said Mr.. Montague. the let
ter, sent out as an emergency call.
| fiuence with the Richmond representa-
tives and the other members OF the
swo hon hI, Nc to secure the passage of
said. had no means of knowing what
the provisions OF that hill were. and no
WAS maze III inc communication
10 explain. the bill. A call for the
support OF q measure, the object of
which Is not stated, thought Mr.. Mon
taGue. could not meet with an en-
The Chamber OF Commerce. repre-
scented by President Reed and several
sen;ed Secretary X. a. Dunlop. who
made frank statement, shouldering
whatever blame was attached TO the
| language OF the letter referred to. He
I lei 10 inv
having prepared IT and sent 1t out
without consultation with any of the
chambers officers or directors
| The apparent apathy referred to In
the letter" said Mr. Dunlop. is a
matter between the representatives OF
! the city of Richmond and their consti-
tuents. and should not be permitted to
prejudice the problem under consider
atloh one way or the other. l am sorry
Ter, and l hope that nothing for which
! am personally responsible will be
taken by this committee To implicatc
the Chamber Of Commerce"
Due to Misunderstanding.
In this connection Mr. Dunlop cx-
planned also that section OF the same
letter which referred to the manner In
which the Joint Finance Committee
well as the plan formulated by tho re-
cent conference on tax reform IL ap-
p,iar he said, that there was
chamber n hearing. and that tho Joint
committee had not had before II for
t con i,l; the conference plan on
sought an opportunity TO he heard.
:, win the explanation out of the way
Mr. Dunlop went into the advocacy ot
a plan for the appointment OF a small
commission of experts charged With
the duty of gathering and tabulatinp
me me, mass OF data that the Legislature
reform into effect The CHAMBER -,
commerce. he said, way not commit ed
d dc hmS particnlar scheme hp, merely
sion composed OF experts.
/ ~, Advocate Two Plans.
Mr. me 6,i remarks ,soI by Mr.; Montague and
,nents from Delegate Baker of Chester.
twenty plan OF the two Finance com.
mittees; Delegate Gordon, of Louisn
who urged tho passage of the Walker.
t0rooh nil which provides for n com.
G ,n,sEi"m OF I'VE to be appointed BY III,
| supported the small commission idea
'nd -. {. OFlaherty, who thought thai
Whue 1. small commission was desirahl,
In theory, u large, COMMITTEES like the
one proposed by the Finance Commit.
tees would work better in practice.
The settlement OF the tax question
or inc FAILURE TO settle the tax uucs
tion during Governor Stuarts admin
istration, said Mr.. Gordon, will MAX,
or mar The success OF his adminstrs,
the right man to aid us in finding {
solution"
The formation OF tho committee O,
mittees, based on the idea OF divisiona
ana regional representation, said Mr.
Gordon, handicapped Its members from
To look out for the interests of theil
own districts in any plan of tax reform
a small commission of experts, actuatct
political place, he thought would b,
better calculated to act without bias.
Meredith for Small Body
Mr.. Meredith. speaking as fire,
lance for the small commission plan
thought il was indisputable that com
mittee of twenty appointed from among
be more susceptible to bias and NOR,
obedient to restricted interests than
small commission appointed from tn,
state at large by the Governor.
A directly opposed view was taken b,
Mr.. O'FlahertX. The report of tn,
will receive no more consideration from
the Legislature than the report of tn,
tax commission created in 1910. re
sembly. The weight of large com
mittce Of its own body, he thought, wa
absolutely necessary to the. Legisla
lures consideration of any plan.
Put Plan nefore People.
Westmoreland Davis made a plea 70
the small commission plan of the Cor
thought. to have such commission
collect and collata tho material am
Cutline several remedial plans. With on
or two of these plans. roughly sketched
as campaign issue. the people woul'
be asked to elect the Legislature o
1916. which would then go Into ofnc
| with a definite knowledge of what tn
state wants. A special session OF TIN
Legislature Immediately following tn
regular session. he said. could then un
dertake the task of drawing the gen
eral reforms.
Senator Walker spoke briefly in faVo
of his bill. He joined Mr.. Davis in tn
belief that it was essential that som
plan OF tax reform be discussed will
the people before any Legislature at
tempt any reform legislation at all