The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1921-04-22
Taxes.


bump that the Republicans in Ten
nessee gave us last year, and many a
Democrat is going to sweat great
drops of blood before II. is over. The
fellows who turned Governor Rob-
erts down and voted for Taylor are
going to repent in sackcloth and
ashes. Not that. the Governor has
not tried in some measure to do his
duty, but because he has not been
: able to do thing with the Legisla-
ture. He has been powerless.
Twelve hundred to fifteen hundred
Thousand more have been added
to the annual expenditures of the
State of Tennessee a million
alone to the University of Tennessee.
Your local Assessor. Mr.. Robey. says
the present assessment is not too
high. What will the assessment be
when this million and a half is
added?
You haven't forgotten how to add,
You learned that at school. Add
thirty per cent more and see how
much that will make.
There is only one way to cure the
evils of government. The reins must
be taken out of the hands of pro-
moters.
The only way TO remove the pro-
moters is for the rural vote to assert
itself. These big schools and fairs
and other promotion schemes for
buildings, etc., now constitute an in
terlocking system. The ruralist is
Indifferent. The other fellow is al
lowed to have his way undisturbed,
and this system is at work in Tennes-
see. The political fortunes of Gov
ernor Roberts were destroyed to
make room for the reforms of Gov
ernor Taylor, and Governor Taylor is
brushed aside as a small obstacle by
the leaders of this interlocking sys-
tenn.
There is one way, and that is for
the people of~Tennessee to rise from
one end of the State to the other and
demand thru the ballot box change
in our system.
This paper has already at different
times indicated where the money is
being spent. The public school sys-
tenn has now, as lou will see in the
in this paper, seventy-flve per cent
of the taxes. Only twenty-five per
cent left for all the other institutions
in Tennessee. That means that at
least there will be an additional levy
of thirty per cent in the taxes to meet
the deficit.
There will have to be some consti-
tional changes to bring an end to all
of this plumber, and no provisions are
made for constitutional convention.
You will have to get busy at the
next election and elect a Legislature
pledged to a constitutional conven-
ton, and that is only the beginning
of the pledge business. The candi-
dates must be pledged for tax re-
form, and that is not yet the work to
be done by longshot.
The candidates must be pledged to
a reduction of expenditures in State
government and in the conduct of
the school system, the departmental
and institutional branches of the
State.
Specifically the people of Tonnes
see should pledge its candidates for
the Legislature for constitutional
convention and for constitutional
changes as follows:
First the constitution of Tonnes
see should prohibit tax for State
and county fairs; next the constitu-
ton should limit the normal schools
for teacher training in Tennessee
to one school in the center of the
State, preferably the Peabody Nor
NAL School, and the Legislature
should deed the other State normals
to the counties in which they are To-
Gated. Tennessee is educating teach
ers, at the expense of the taxpayers,
not only for Tennessee, but for every
other State. The taxpayers are also
paying for duplication in these
schools of high school and element
airy courses, which are taught also IN
every county in the State. One
school will be ample to carry on the
work of teacher training. in Tonnes
see, and it will be a hundred times
more efficient and cheaper in one
school, confined strictly to teacher
training.
The polytechnic school should