The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1918-10-24
Those Amendments

The county auditor last week mail
ed to the various voters brief explain
ations. as they are to appear on the
official ballots, of the twelve consti-
tutional amendments to be voted on
at the coming election. and also of
the one initiated law. which is known
as the Richards primary law. No
special comment is needed on the in
itiated. law as it has been before the
people SO long that everyone is fami-
liar with it. Of the amendments,
some are good and some, in our opin-
ion should be rejected.
Amendment A is the Tax Reform
Amendment This has some good fea-
lures. Az the constitution now stands.
all property of every kind must be
taxed uniformly, on its value. The
amendment would permit the legisla-
ture to classify property for taxation.
and the tax would be uniform only on
property of the same class. It would
also permit the gross earnings of
property to be taken into considera-
ton in classifying it. This is good
feature and it is unfortunate that the
amendment was not more restricted
in its application. As submitted, the
amendment would leave the whole
matter of classification to the success
sive Legislatures, which would make
the assessment laws a constant
source of strife. The justice Of them
would depend entirely upon the abil.
ity and honesty of the legislative bod.
les, who would act practically without
restriction. 1t would make the assess.
ment question a perennial issue in
choosing Legislators. The owners OF
moneys and credits would etrive for 8
lower classification the owners Of
pala.ial residences would contend that
these residences were non reproductive
and therefore should be lowered ir
the scale Of taxation; automobile
owners would contend for the same
thing, and so on thru the whole cat
egory. Combinations would be form.
ed in the legislative bodies for the
purpose Of granting favors to certain
classes Of property, and the result
might be rank injustice to the othel
classes of property which would have
a heavier burden to bear because Of
these favors granted to the choser
few.
Amendment B is readily understoo:
and is q just measure.
Amendment c is also q good meas
gure.
Amendment d provides for increas
ing the salaries Of state officers ant
court judges. 1t is well known tina
the purchasing value Of the dollar i.
much less now than it was when ouJ
constitution was adopted, and an in
crease in salaries should in measure
correspond to the decrease in the
value of the dollar.
Amendment e is the suffrage amend
ment. It provides for equsl suffrage
and also that the right to vote shall
not be granted to an immigrant unit
final citizenship papers have been re
ceived. So far as equal suffrage i.
concerned, it will be but short time
until it is universally granted in tn,
whole country and South Dakota viii
do we'll to get in step with the march
of progress. AS for the last part 0.
the amendment. the safety Of th,
state demands it. The native borl
citizen must wait until he is 81 year,
Of age before he can vote. The for
eign born citizen. coming here Will
no kaowlegde Of our system Of gcv
eminent, and bred under antagonistit
ideals. can not inform himself an,
adjust his ideals sufficiently in les
thm fiVA Nknfs. md our vtaf experi