Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-02-03

pie moral by law will not only fail but
give rise to evils greater than the ones
sought to be eradicated The right to
fine people must be sparingly exercised.
for no community can subsist on blood
money and prosper
Recent events have shown that po-
lice activity, when carried to an I'M
reasonable extent will not be tolerated
by the people, and are not only expen-
sive but engender ugly feelings that
cannot help but be detrimental to the
welfare of our city. Such practices
must cease.
Must Reduce Taxes.
Fully as important for the future of
our community Is the question of taxa
ton. 1t must be apparent to all that
the burden placed upon the shoulders
of our people by excessive taxes Is al
together disproportionate to the good
derived from it. 1t is out of the ques-
ton within the limits of this paper, Of
course, to discuss in detail why our
taxes are SO high, and what can be
done to remedy it. / can only point out
few instances of the reckless waste
Of the peoples money. Over taxation
Is always due to mismanagement. The
state, the county, the city and the
school board are all, to a greater or
less extent, guilty of extravagance.
The legislature is one of our most ex-
pensive luxuries. Every successive
legislature seems to make the laws a
little bit worse and the cost of main
tanning 1t lite higher. Costly COM
missions have been instituted; some
times for the purpose of correcting real
evil, but if they have been successful
In doing so, to justify the expense of
their maintenance l am not aware of it.
Our county expenditures have been
excessive. The cost OF making this
cement road to the Cole school house
was perhaps one on the most reckless
expenditures, and ! doubt very much
the wisdom OF the purchase Of the fair
grounds at the present time and un-
der present conditions. Our court eX-
penses are frightful Means must. and
can, be found to eliminate the greater
portion of them. l see no reason, for
instance, why our district judges should
not sit for couple of days in each
month as arbitration judges, and I am
convinced that fully one-half of the
causes of litigation could be disposed
of in that manner.
Our school board takes a front rank
among offenders against economy. The
purchase of the Fairgrounds in our
town, where every backyard is an ideal
playground, and where children can
play under the supervision of their
mother was folly pure and simple.
There are people who consider every
word of caution about money paid out
for school purposes, crime against
children, but when our schools cost us
nearly double what other cities of sim
liar or larger size pay it is high time to
find out the cause. A condition where
school board for all practical pur-
poses is not answerable to anybody
makes one doubtful of the value Of the
independent school district charter.
Fine Practice Scored.
Our city Is not at all backward In
contributing its share OF delinquency
Perhaps its worst offense consists in
the matter of indirect taxes, represent
ed by fines. For some reasons, some of
our city fathers seem to have gotten it
into their heads that fines are a legiti-
mate source of income. With that idea
as a basis they pass a lot OF vexatious
biNliiahACSt anu WIN lll6 dSSlSldnC6 Oh
subservient police force and a police
magistrate. who must decide right or
lose his job, and with an occasional
moral crusade, the amount OF money
that may be collected amounts to quite
considerable, but it's money that means
oppression. injustice-in short, blood
money"
What Is the remedy to cure these
these evils? 1t lies with the people. 1t
is question how long they will con-
tinue to follow every will O. the wisp
that seems to offer some cure all: how
long they will continue to be imposed
upon by the faddists, the fake reformers
for revenue only, the fanatics and the
politicians after a job?
The way TO reduce taxes Is to cut
down expenses, insist that your repre-
sentatives make out their budget OF
expenses low enough so that taxes will
not be burdensome, make them quit re-
lying upon estimates from the heads of
departments interested in obtaining as
much money as possible for their de-
partment. Make them study the needs