Evening star., 1922-09-19

THE EVENING S
that the republican party has not car
ried out its pledges Of 1920. that, as
one leader put it, they feel they. ''can
let nature take It's COURSE" and that re-
sentiment against the republicans will
Just naturally work to the furtherance
Of democratic ends.
Clean Campaign Promised. rs,
It promises to be a clean campaign.
free from personalities. as all the top
liner candidates are men of high char
acter. There will be only two tick
cts in the field, democratic and repub-
lican.
In a national sense the senatorial
contest is the most Important. in
Senate held by Senator Pomerene.
democrat. 1t will be contested by
REPRESENTATIVE Simeon A. Fess. re-
publican. If Senator Pomerene should
win, national politicians will look
upon him as a potential candidate for
presidency in 1924. Notwithstanding
the fact that Ohio is the home Of Mr..
Cox, the defeated candidate of the
democratic party two years ago:
Both Senator Pomerene and Mr..
Fess are held in high regard in the
Senator Pomerene is said to have, in
addition to the solid support of the
democrats, a following among inde-
pendents and also republicans. on his
record in the Senate as level-head-
ed business man and broad. states
manship. He has several times put
patriotism and craftsmanship above
partisanship in his votes in the Sem
ate.
The democratic managers are
counting on gaining votes for Sena-
tor Pomerene from republicans and
from independents, as 1t Is claimed
that the spirit of independence of
party ties is rife in Ohio at this time.
This increment is calculated as Off
setting the possible loss Of some rad
ical dry" votes that might occur.
Drys Favor Fess. ,.a.
Representative Fess is counted as
100 percent acceptable to the drys.
and while Senator Pomer1ne is not
counted a wet" by any. means. it Is
thought that on that issue alone the
irreconciliables "drys" would choose
Mr.. Fess. 1t is claimed that tho bulk
of tho women's vote is'against Sena-
tor Pomerene, which, If true, will be
effective.
1t will be a close fight on the
gubernatorial ticket, where Carmi A.
Vic Donahey. democrat. Both are
designated as acceptable" to the
drys, Mr. Thompson was twice secre-
tary of state and Mr.. Donahey eight
years auditor. in which Office he made
a splendid record of economy. Both
are. therefore, we'll known to the
voters.
The democrats are preparing to
hammer strong on the question of
increased taxes. levied under the re-
publican state administration. Their
official campaign statement says:
"The total taxes levied in Ohio in
the gas' was ,s2 siss Tne
total levied in Ohio in 1918, when the
democrats were in control, was $13o.-
07',2o0.7l. This shows that taxes in
Ohio have increased SS4,9S4,220,1 in
three years.
Republican Responsibility.
For this vast increase in taxation
in Ohio of nearly eighty-f1ve million
dollars in three years the republi-
can general assembly and Gov. Davis
are largely responsible.
I'm 1914 democratic general as
semb,y followed the advice OF Gov.
Cox and Auditor Donahey and re-
duced the state tax rate to 40 or
a mill This was the lowest state tax
rate in the history of the state Of
Ohio. This continued to be the rate
each year. until 1919, when repub-
lican general assembly raised it from
As to .65. This increase was vetoed
by Gov Cox, but the republican gen.
eral assembly passed the increased
rate over his veto.
"Then the general assembly came
back in 1920 without being called
back by the governor and. without
the approval of the governor, raised
the state tax rate from .65 to $50.
To deceive the public the act pro-
xided that one mill of this levy should
instead Of following the usual Gus
tom with a state tax rate Of all go
ing through the state treasury. This
was contemplate subterfuge, for the
state rate made by the general as
sembly was 330-not 230-and the
ing the rate below $50. See the
session laws for 1920. page 1913.
Change in Legislature.
'That republican general assembly
was succeeded in 1921 by the present
legislature with still larger repub-
lican majority and it has not been
annoyed by the vetoes of a democrat
ic governor, for Harry L. Davis sue
ceeded Gov. Cox. This general assem-
bly,, in 1921. raised the state tax rate
from $50 to 3.67n and later added
so to this rate to meet payments on
the bonds issued to, pay soldiers ad-
justed compensation. Thus, beginning
with December, 1929, collection Of tax
es, the state rate, as levied by the
present republican general assembly
will be 4.l7h mills. Tho taxpayer.
who was required by the democratic
general assembly in 1918 to pay $3.50
will, the coming year, be required by
our present republican general as
sembly to pay on the same property
taxes amounting to $41.75. Add to this
the taxes levied in the eighty-eight
counties TOR local purposes and the
burdens Of taxation, which must be
met by Ohio taxpayers in December.