The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-08-24
The Times "Buy at Home" Dept.
DEAD TOWNS AND HIGH TAXES
Home Dsloyalty is the Cause of Decay.
What Great Napoleon Said

munity Where the Local Town Is
Dead Taxes Are High.
copyrighted, 1914, by Thomas ]. Sullivan
Taxing is an easy business. Any
new Official can contrive new imposi-
tons, any bungler can add to the old,
but is It altogether wise to have no
other bounds to your impositlons than
the patience Of those who are to bear
them?
What a benefit the government
would render the state, the city, the
village and hamlet If it would but tax
vices instead Of property! Bonaparte
said he found vices very profitable
He got 100000 annually from the
lovers Of brandy, and he wanted to
know what virtue would pay him that
much.
Taxes Increasing Each Year.
Taxes are the sinews Of the state,
and they are indeed heavy, but If those
laid by the government were the only
ones we had to pay we might more
easily discharge them, but we have
others, and much more grievous to
some Of us.
We are taxed twice as much by our
| ignorance, three times as much by our
( disloyalty and four times as much by
our folly, and from these taxes the
commissioners cannot ease or deliver
us by allowing an abatement.
The state, county and town levy and
exact certain tax from every piece Of
property located within their bound
aries, the amount depending upon the
official requirements. In rich, pros
porous community, where marketing
and manufacturing lend their stimulat-
! ing influences, taxes are low. A com
munity where the local town is dead
taxes necessarily are high.
The explanation is easy. The town
which is prosperous has successful
merchants with large and valuable
stocks of goods; it has manufacturing
plants and industrial enterprises of
great worth; it has newspapers, bank
| ing houses and hotels, and, above all
it is a marketing center. The large
amount and the high value placed upon
this property materially decrease the
tax demands made upon the farmer in
that vicinity.
Streets Paved With Jimson Weeds.
Then take the other town, the dead
| town. What are the cause and effect
The cause is lack of patronage, lack OF
industrial pride, disloyalty and igno-
rance Of ones own condition and best
interests. The effect? The town has
become ''jay" town. In the streets
have grown jlmson weeds, the side
walks have gone to decay, the stores
are vacant, and an air of poverty and
dilapidation prevails.
In this latter town and the surround
ing community taxes are high, prop
erty values have. decreased, and alto
gether it is an undesirable place to live
in, and the disposition of such property
is an impossible feat
As we stand and survey the ruins OF
once prosperous and promising city
we turn TO the once successful retail
merchant, now standing in the door OF
his empty store, and ask for the an
swer.
Briefly he makes reply: ''The retail
catalogue houses. Our residents in this
community became hypnotized by theil
pictures and prices and misrepresentd
tons, and this is the result"
On the Altar of Greed.
They sacrificed their own interests
and their own town on the altar Of
greed and misunderstanding.
The farmer should easily compre
bend that when q stock Of goods in
store is depleted one-half or more i
cannot be taxed for more than it
value, and in case the merchant fol
' lack of patronage is forced to retire
altogether from business then there
remains nothing to be taxed but the
building. And what can it be taxed
at provided a tenant who is willing t
take a chance with his money canno
be found? Eventually the farmer will
have to pay the taxes. This merchan
formerly paid, and If the farmer con
tinues throwing his patronage to out
side concerns he will continue to re
duce local values and increase hi
taxes.
> Reflect Too Little.
Some farmers read too much and re
fleet too little-depend too much upol
t others, too little upon themselves
They make Of their heads cold storag
warehouses for other peoples idea
instead of standing up in their owl
Independent, godllke individuality
Reading and rereading of mail orde
catalogues leave a man in about tn
same condition as Mark TWINS toa
with its stomach full of shot
What do the mail order houses d
for the farmer? Do they relieve hir
of any of his tax burdens? No; the
lust relieve him of his money 1t is
case of representation without taxa
ton. and we fear in time this manne
and method of doing business wi
cause a revolution among the prC
ducers and consumers which wi