Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-02-16
WHEREIN sYE COMMON PEEPUL' RISE
AND MOP UP CORPORATION TEARS

| one to be as honest as possible. The
governor, however, in the Goodrich plan
has accomplished this miracle, 1t would
seem. In telling how the corporations
are now listed at their true value. he
said:
1.-THE corporation officials can now look
their employees in the face and say: We
are doing our full duty
Taking this in connection with tho
declaration previously quoted as to the
particular corporations with which he is
personally and directly connected, his
hearers could easily picture in their
eruor patting Goodrich the stakeholder
on the back and saying: "Well done,
thou good and faithful servant" At the
same time one of tho audience sai0
after the meeting: "Why didn't his cor
porations do 1t before?'
1t was distinctly to be noted that the
governor failed to score a hit when he
asserted the one thing needed for the
equalization of taxes was to have the
state board appoint all the taxing Of
lcials throughout the state. he declared
that, besides doing away with faYorit-
ism at the hands of near neighbors to
those assessed, this plan would work for
uniformity and at the same time bring
all corporations sQuarely up to the
mark.
THEN GOVERNORS
FOOT SLIPS AGAIN.
what" he asked, docs the 81 or s.
day man know about the value of big
corporation property"
Guess his loot slipped there" Said the
lnquisitive hesrcr Just quoted, who evil
IDENTIFY was from Missouri" ''In the
first place the So or IS day man is
almost museum curiosity these days.
Then again, he says che corporations pay
up to the mark, or nearly so, and sin
he asks high-paid experts to dig for the
truth. / for one am satisfied with a
Cass county assessor, who knows condi-
lions here What does a board of three
men sitting in Marion county know
about our conditions?"
Touching on Cass county taxes the
governor said he found on picking out
100 names at random from the auditor
books that these home owners would pay
81 ,255, or Is per cent less, this year than
during 1919 and challenged the dem
ocrats to select 100 names similarly and
make the results public.
Toward the windup the governor told
an interesting story about a man named
Maurice or Morris-he did not spell the
name. He said this man went to him
after the last assessment 10 protest
against fYe-times boost IN taxes. He
handed the governor a statement on the
business and property affected and asked
him how much the governor thought he
ought to pay.
After looking 1t over" said the gov
ernor, II told him he ought to pay on
about S9S0,000. He had kicked on the
valuation OF a million, as he put IL, say
iag his tax Was Ave times as much as he
had ever paid, but when l explained 1t
to him, he was satisfied"
The man from Missouri" had two
queries on this. In the first place" he
asked. III the governor knew him so
well why hadn't he been on the books
az somewhere near the right figure be
foreI In the second place why did he
20 to the governor at all? why not
go straight to tho tax officer"
Considerable comment was caused by
the governors declaration thas mo
county south Of the National road Will
pay as much in taxes" under the new
plan as Il did under the old lie left the
broad inference that injustice IN high
taxes bad been done, heretofore. In what
he called democratic territory" thus ex-
planning this assertion, but the man
from Missouri" wondered whether the
reason was not that the officials referred
to had been "on the job" more efficiently
than elsewhere.
AS PROOF mat rne governor held the
close attention OF his audience through
out his thirty minut. address, 1t can be
stated that the only applause came after
he had finished.