The Penn's Grove record., 1921-05-27

TAX BURDEN is
= A Crave issue
Relief Must Be Afforded, though
Demands for Funds Grow
More Pressing.
CITIZENS WEARY OF LOAD
Serious Problem for Legislature and to
Dominate Contest for Governor.
Threatens Abandonment of
Trolley Service.

Trenton.-It is beginning 70 dawn
upon the minds Of some persons direct
ly concerned that something definite
and permanent has got to be done ia
tighten the tax load carried by the aV'
erage citizen of New Jersey. For
several years the problems OF taxa
ton have been sidetracked with regu'
larity while the load has grown heavier
and heavier, until the owner of a small
home, struggling bravely and by resort
to every possible eXpedient Of thrlft
and economy TO meet his obligations
and free himself, has been driven to
thebelief that there is little or ne hope
for relief.
What with the federal and state
taxes, the county and municipal leyies
and all giving not the slightest indica-
ton of a downward tendency, the citi-
zen has come to look upon life as one
tax bill after another.
The semi-annual payment day falls
in May and those who fail to pay by
June l are classed as delinquent and
are penalized. The remaining half Of
the years load is cared for in Novem-
Der and in this manner, under the
~benifcent law which permits the
householder to take two trips with his
load there is slight relief, but the whole
amount is in practically every instance
in the whole state about doubled over
the total of a decade ago.
To be sure, demands for improve
ments and betterments have been met,
and these, with constantly rising costs
Of material and labor, have necessitat-
ed largely swollen treasures to meet
the demands, but in some glazing cases
a grossly exaggerated idea of what tie
people desired in this respect has al
lowed the widest latitude Of eXpendi-
ture.
Thus, in the cry for good roads,
which has gone up from every section
Of the state-and 10 II can decry the
improved highway as an asset to any
community-some sets of officials have
laid hold of the opportunity to play
politics with the movement. It was
largely this fact and the i%nordinate
creed of some members and hangers
on that led to the exposure of the rot
tenness In Cape May county.
There has been insistent demand for
improved roads because the county,
with all Its sea coast resorts. found it
necessary to keep abreast Of the times
in such Improvements. In this case,
However, the Scheming treeholders and
their allies instructed their energies
and, according to tile charges COLI
tanned in the three-score indictments
returned by the grand jury, used the
situation to their own personal and
financial advantage.
1t is perfectly plain h a the people
of New Jersey desire n are Wiling 10
pay for more good roads and more
good roads, hut it is ais plain that
something has got to be dOne to pare
down the expense rolls OF local ana
state government.
The educational authorities have
been keenly delighted by the report
from ederal commissioner ClaXton
of the high rating OF NeW Jersey 5
public schools, taking great pride in
the fact that this rating has been at
tanned through the generosity Of
state appropriations for educational
purposes, together with the same lib
eral application in the municipalities
of the state. There has been some
pause for wonder lately, however, as
to how far this generosity might be
carried and whether there Is any liml-
tation to its scope.
or course, no sane man, or woman,
Will gainsay the proposal that educa-
ton Is worth all its costs; that civili-
Zation could not progress without it,
and that America must lead the world
in the broad conception of its duty
in this respect, but many citizens Of
New Jersey are asking where the end
Is, II there IS any end.
In the effort to keep abreast of the
times In It's penal, correctional and
charitable enterprises New Jersey has
been confronted by many grave prob
lens a of its JuXtapoSition with