The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1915-08-19
NEWS CULLED
IN THE CAPITAL
ACTIVITIES OF STATE DEPART
MENTS-OTHER HAPPENINGS
Special Columbus CORRESPONDENT.

throughout Ohio, according TO the
face of the tax returns. In not
few townships the autos outnumber
the timepieces two to one. Indeed,
there are townships here and there
where there is evidence almost to
show that the people are still resorting
to sun dials and shadow sticks. But
the autos are plentiful What is the
answer? The tax assessors will tell
you that the simple solution to the
seeming perplexity lies in the fact that
people can hide their watches, but that
no agency has yet been found effective
ly to hide an auto. The situation, by
the way, calls attention to the fact that
still there is much personal property
in hiding. And such property is not
confined to the rural sections. 1t is
more or less generally prevalent.
Moreover, there is nothing in the laws
of the last few years that really gets
at the heart Of the evil, for such it is.
The property owner still is required to
swear to the truth of his or her state
ments as to the amount of personal
sciences of many owners have become
rather scared, it would seem, by re-
peated oftenses. Indeed, it is difficult
to say if any law could be passed ad-
equately to compel a listing of prop
erty that can be hidden easily. Search
and seizure laws, of course, would be
out of the question naturally in this
day and age. Remedial measures such
as those giving the taxing authorities
the right to compel banks and other
financial institutions to divulge the
names of their depositors and their re-
spective holdings, but such a law
would have the tendency, probably, of
driving money out of the banks and
back into the bed ticks and under the
carpets. The average Ohioan who be-
lieves in honest returns of taxable
property is naturally at loss to find
some solution to the problem But he
should find consolation in the thought
that the tax question has harried the
best minds since the dawn Of civilized
government. Single takers in this and
other parts of the state naturally are
reaping a harvest of argument out Of
the persistency with which people, or,
to be exact, some people, hide their
taxable holdings. And tax officials are
exhorting and pleading and fairly tear
ing their hair when they think of the
impotency of their efforts. And the
tax dodgers! Why, for the most part
they are usually law abiding people
who in this instance ease their mind
with the thought that other people are
dodging, too, and that, anyway, the
public officials waste the revenues Of
the tax collections. So there you are!
Loan Shark Law Is Effective.
In an official statement State Bank
Supt. Harry T. Hall has called atten-
tion to the fact that the drastic new
loan shark" law is now effective and
has asked the cooperation of the peo-
pie of the state toward its enforce
ment The aim Of the new measure is
to prevent unscrupulous agents and
companies from bleeding" victims
who ask small loans of money. The
bleeding process consists in the eX-
tortion Of huge sums in the form or
under the guise of interest. Mr.. Hall
shows that hereafter no person may
charge as interest more than 3 per
cent month, plus fiat charge of 81
in the case Of loans under $50. This
is a maximum of approximately SO per
cent year. 1t is high enough surely,
but nothing as compared with the 500
per cent and even 1000 per cent which
loan sharks have been known to charge
in the past.
40 Display Harmful Drugs.
Opium, cocaine and morphine and
other drugs that draw victims into
their snares like incarnated demons
are going to be displayed in all their
fiendishness at the state fair The
state dairy and food department, which
is supposed to have jurisdiction over
the sale of foods and drugs of al
kinds, is going to put on the display
Opium smoking outfits and cocaine
syringes will be among the numerous
exhibits. There will be lecturers or
hand to show how the use of these
drugs, often begun innocently enough
finally ends in craving that not in
frequently result in mental and phys
ical arrangements. In addition to be
ing shown at the state fair, the ex
hibits are going to be sent out mex
week on an itinerary of county fairs
Will Have to Make Haste.
If there is to be a referendum or
the McDermott liquor license law pc
titions calling for such referendum
will have to be circulated with much
haste. There remain now hardly more
than three weeks before the new meas
ure will become effective, it having re
NAMED in abeyance for 80 days, in &C
cord with the provisions of the initia
tive and referendum.
Ruling Of Utilities Commission.
Railroads that have been charging
higher rates for transporting Ohio Goa
than they have been charging for Goa
mined in West Virginia and carried az
far, if not farther, than the Ohio prod
uct may not justify their discrimina
tion by showing differences in mining
conditions between the two states
This is in effect the ruling of the state
public utilities commission which ha!
begun its investigation of the com
plant of Ohio coal miners and opera
tors that the coal industry in this
state has been partly crippled by thu
discriminatory rates of the railroads
Special Session May Be Called.
1t has been definitely established
here that, although Gov Willis will
not call the legislature into specia
session excepting as last resort, the
possibility of such a session is 10
entirely remote in view of the aIutt
situation of unemployment in tht
mines in the Hooking district of Ohio
The governor is known to be loath tt