The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1918-11-14
Concensus of. Opinion is
Against the District
as the Basis.
.0UT OF DATE METHOD
w. Va, One of Three States
East of Mississippi to
Have Same.

One of the questions that is natur-
ally attracting much attention at the
; meeting OF the West virkinia code
commission at The Fairmo1t today is
that Of the unit of taxation 1t is the
concensus OF opinion that the dist-ics
system is out of vogue. IS only three
states east o. the Mississippi have this
form OF taxation and Wet Virginia $
one Of them
The great industrial development In
one district FORCES one above another
with the result that the schools Of one
district will be without peer and per
haps another districts schools will be
st the lowest possible cbb- { is form
OF discrimination because the children
OF one community have better educa-
tionaI facilities than those Of another.
The unit of taxation was discussed
at this mornings meeting and Will be
further tnreshed out at a pablo ses-
sion to be held this evening at eight
O'Clock in the assembly room of The
Fa!rncnt.
A very forceful resume of tie pro-
position is presented by Homer 4.
Cooper. head of the extra mural IN
direction department, University OF
T.ttsourgh, extension division, Pitts
Drrgh. former west Virgi1ian educa-
.fonal man, who writes n. P. Shawkey.
.;ate superintendent, in part as fol
lows:
The state treasury should bear at
least 33 per cent Of the expenses OF
the schools as against the per cent
which it now bears.
THE reasons are:
a. 1.-The local tax unit as school
district or meSisterIal district presup-
! poses the general properly tax as the
source of virtually all the revenue
The general property tax administered
by small units is very satisfactory In
a strictly agricultural state, but where
| mining. manufacturing and holding OF
property without developing are intro
duced, and where brokers owning no
! property at all do a large business the
general property tax breaks down.
This state OF Affairs exists in your
state
even though the general property
tax be valid for whole state, admin
istered centrally it IS unjust and IN
valid in most states administered To-
caIly. It becomes more and more IN
just as the state develops because
! transportation and communication IA
| C1l1LlSS udh6 II POSSAD4S AS1 @>ASAA'-A
! uals to hold properties widely scat
tered.
cit has the same st4bilizing effect
on income and expenditure that insur-
ance has. It discourages extrava-
gances by local communities when
| they happen to have good business.
! It also enables them to avoid pinch
ing and Gripping when they have
, periods of business depression. 1t fire.
ouentIy happens that a given section
Of a state will have a good business
for a few years, and can conduct its
public affairs easily. and even lavish
IL. Then, the business shifts. and that
section has greater difficulty in carry
/ ing on its civic affairs than other sec,
/ tons that formerly were in financial
! straits. Your own state has had shin
! ing examples Of just this kind OF thing,
/ This state has had them also. For ex'
| ample: Lehigh Valley formerly was
| the Industrial section Of this state as
| Tar as iron was concerned. Later
! pittsburgh monopolized Pennsylva'
MAS iron business. Now it Is shift
\ ing again so that Lehigh Valley does
a large steel and iron business. II
\ the revenues Of the state had been
/ administered centrally, all the sec
4 tons OF the state would have had
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