The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-08-04
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
In United States
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.

peteHllai protest against an age Olu
burden that has been suffered by man
kind since the dawn OF civilization and
the organization of the first crude
forms of community government to be
supported by public contribution,
either voluntary or enforced. Without
doubt if one could discover the clay
tablets that passed in those days as
The printed pages of the daily press
an the excavations among the buried
cities of Egypt and adjacent states,
where and when ideas were first en-
grayed crudely upon impressionable
material. and could decipher the cune-
'iform hierOglyphics, they would be
found to be TRADE against taxation.
And SO it has come down out Of the
ages this disposition to kick against
the cost of government and which will
probably continue to the end of time.
If time has any ending.
Just now the papers are teemihg
with vigorous editorials demanding
retrenchment, scathingly denouncing
those in power for the heavy taxation
and though offering no constructive
suggestion as to how this is going to
be done yet none the less insistent
that it be done 1t is JUST history re-
peating itself, as it has repeated it
self down the years that have slough
ed off into the past. and as it will re-
peat itself until the crack of doom,
Tor the people who pay the taxes
will keep on demanding that the var
ious governments through the whole
samut, from the school district to the
national capital, take on greater bur-
dens that must be met by direct or
indirect taxation. The Inconsistent
cies of the masses are glazing and
laughable. People wall over paying
taxes and then will turn around and
support some measure that requires
the expenditure Of great sums Of
money which must necessarily come
out of these same peoples pockets.
This 1910 school tax proposition is
an example that is confronting the
voter at the very present time. and 1t
is a safe gamble that men and women
who have been denOuncing high tax
alton will go to the polls and vote in
favor of this additional burden.
We have been led off on this track
from accidentally discovering a copy
af the Gazette dated November 5. 1909,
thirteen years ago, which contains
The following editorial, and how pat
it fits in with editorials that have
recently appeared in the Gazette, and
which are only an echo Of editorials
that have appeared in about every
newspaper in the state:
This is an age of extravaganza In
which is ever present feversih
scramble for the dollar, and grow
ing tendency to spend the dollar be-
fore it is earned. 1t is difficult for the
individual to live within his income,
and 1t is more especially difficult for
the various branches of organized
governments in which people live for
mutual protection, benefit and the
common good to be conducted on
economic lines. From the school dis
trict to the national Organizati the
chief aim seems to be to accumulate
and pile up debt. Those entrusted
with public >office are profuse in
promises of reformation prior to cleo
ton, but the good intentions, II ever
sincere beyond the influence that
promises might have in securing sup
port at the polls, are forgotten after
the goal is attained, and there is no
apparent change in the methods long
prevalent in the conduct Of public
business. This county has seen played
the farce of good intentions time and
again, and appears to be impossible
TO elect men who will insist upon the
curtailment of expenses to conform
with the income to be expected, and
the consequences are indebtedness is
growing larger and the burden OF
taxation greater There even might be
reasonable room for excuse If there
was any noticeable Improvement in
the manner of conducting affairs, any
permanent improvement to show for
the increased expenditures, but there
Is nothing of the kind. The same old
|system is in vogue, the only apparent
change being in the increased cost OF
the system There is no shrinkage In
he Indebtedness, and the tax levy Is
increasing. At the present time. the
people do not realize the burden the
last years tax levy places upon them,
out when it becomes necessary to re-
,pond to the notification of taxes due
early next year there will be wall
20 up from all quarters. With the
special school tax that the residents
of each school district will be called
upon to pay the tax will reach almost
20 40 mills! That is per cent, and
per cent taxes is crowding down on
aonfiscation. The assessment has been
equitably made and the total Is higher
than ever before Yet that does not
create a reduction of the levy. II the
same principal of finances is to con-
tiuue when the assessment doubles
the people must expect doubling up
of the tax levy. This county wants
more people and more capital, but
people and capital are going to fight
shy of locality where the bulk of an
income must be paid out to meet an
nual taxation 1t is high time that
change was made In the system, or
eventually property holders will be
deprived of their real estate possess
ions"
And there you are The public press
crying bloody murder over taxation
that has reached the alarming figures
of 4 per cent! An appeal for retrench-
ment, declaration that high taxation
will drive away prospective settlers