Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-10-09

T came into this State 4o years "eo'
a wandering boy, working as 1arm
hand. For 80 years I have been IN
public office. I have never dehoe[-
atelv misled or deceived anybody. Ill
nublic life have tried to play aoSo-
lutely square.
When I was nominated last May
I said to my friends: | Will carry Clle
message of lower taxes to the people
of this State. l have no money ouV
I expect to make hundred speeches.
Five times | have touched the ocean,
and gone from California to the river
in Idaho three times. / have gone
wherever the invitation was eX-
tended; wherever I could meet little
group and talk to them about what
think is a startling state OF affairs.
I am trying to do it fairly, honestly
and in the open.
Friends, if we save Oregon from
the auction block, if we save our prop
erty from confscation by taxation,
we have got to do some very hard
thinking To my mind, the tax ques-
ton is the foremost problem IN Ore
gon today. It rises above all else.
The question is: Are you going to
own your own homes and your own
farms in future years, or are they
going to be taken from you by the
rising tide of taxes?
The rental value of all property in
Oregon is too high according to the
value of the property, caused by the
high taxes. 1t doesn't cut much ice
in the money markets when the prop
erty passes away from the man who
thought he owned it. He is left with
the husk; the kernel is gone.
When I went to the Senate the
first time it took about 1919 of the
rental value of property to pay taxes.
That year Umatilla county raised
100000 bushels of wheat. Our State
taxes were 100000 in that county;
31Rf6 of the wheat crop paid its taxes.
This year that county produced
100000 bushels of wheat, while her
taxes are $1,549,000, of which $433,-
084 is State tax, while the whole is 40f6
of the value of the wheat crop taken
for taxes. The population of the State
then was about $4,000. Now it is not
quite 100000.
When l entered the State Senate 20
years ago, $1,0OO,0OO was the total
State expense. When returned to the
Senate six years ago it was $2,500,000
per year. Today $15,O00,O0O or more
is collected from us in taxation. Can
this tide continue to rise if we keep
our property? How high is it going
to go?
There is collected $6,OOO,0OO in fees
now, six times as much as we spent 20
years ago; more than twice what we
spent six years ago.
In knots and in groups I have been
carrying this message to the people:
THIS MUST STOPw l shall con-
tinue to carry it until election day.
I asked Mr.. Day, as Secretary of the
Tax Investigation Committee, to collect
some figures for me. According to
these figures, there are only five or
six States in the Union that have more
bonded indeptedness than we have. In
wealth and population we rank down
about thirty-sixth. The figures show
we are spending more money for State
government than the State of Kansas.
Kansas spends S8,5O0,O0O; we spend
$15,000,O0O, while Minnesota spends
only S1,600,000. You ask, ''Whv is
Minnesota away down there?" 1t is be-
cause Minnesota has raised from in
direct sources the larger part of her
revenue for State purposes, while we
have raised it from the farmer. the
cattle man mad the sheep man. They
thought these men could not kick, but