East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1922-10-06

PIERCE PLEDGES
LOWER RATES TO
STATE PAXPAYERS

ALBANY, Or. Ocs, Oregon will
be relieved of a great portion of its !
tax burden and the burden that re-
mains viii be borne more equably by
the people of oregon if Walter NJ.
Pierce is elected to the office of gov
ernor. Senator Pierce declared at
banquet held in his honor at the AL
bany hotel Wednesday night.
Senator Pierce was the central fig
ure in a meeting at which the key
note Of his campaign was resounded in
manner that viii carry it through
out the state. Not only were many
Democratic leaders of Oregon present,
but representatives of IS newspapers,
1e outside of Albany were among the
1O1 guests of Jesse Winburn of Ash
| land, host and originator of the meet
| ing 1t was in effect truly a Demo-
cratic rally.
Following a series of short talks by
prominent members of his audience
Senator Pierce was introduced by Bert
| Moses Of Ashland, who acted as toast
master.
Fair Play Object
81 came to this state 40 years ago
l
| Pierce said. 81 worked as a farm
| hand for three years. | have been in
| public office more than half the time
have been in the state and | have
! never deliberately deceived anybody,
in public life | have tried to play the
game absolutely square.
when I was nominated last May l
said: 4 will carry the message to the
people of this state | have property.
[ | have some money. | undertook to
I carry this message. / have made many
| speeches. ! have gone everywhere. |
| have touched the ocean five times.
have gone from California to Wash
ington, and to the Idaho line.
81 have talked everywhere I have
been invited, and | have tried to do il
fairly, freely, honestly and in the open
This message is one of tax reduc-
tion and redistribution that | believe
must come if oregon is to be place
where people will want to live
Senator Pierce pointed out that Ore
gon is following a pace which is le'
only by five or SIX other states in thu
union in the race of financial eXtraVa-
gance. With its rank of only 36th in
the union in wealth and population
this condition will lead to disaster un-
less rectified the speaker continued.
There is only one problem, one is
sue before the voters of Oregon to-
day" Senator Pierce said THAT is
the tax problem. Nothing else counts.
| Taxes are now more than half of the
rental value of land. The situation is
approaching the point of government
al confiscation and abolition of pri-
vate ownership. This thing must be
stopped. 1t can be stopped if only the
people of Oregon will stand together,
solidly, unswervingly and on this one
point
EXcessCs Are Cited
The speaker quoted from l. n. Pat
terson's platform the statement that
the expense of boarding inmates of
the state penitentiary was formerly
$15.03 while now it is $39.08. This,
he said, is but one example of the eX-
cesseS to which state expenditures
have come, and one of the many in
stances in which he can, and will, il
elected effect savings for the people.
The senator cited the annual stat
expenditures of Minnesota, Indiana
Kansas, Iowa and other states which
though having many times the pOpu.
lation and assessed valuation of Ore
gon, levy few or no direct state taxes.
Taxes are driving\the youth of ouI
nation from the farms to the cities
threatening the American nation with
the fate that has ruined aforegOne
civilizations and that caused the down
fall of Rome, Senator Pierce declar-
ed. oregon is overtaXing the pro.
ducer, the farmer, stock raiser and
business man, he said, until owner
ship of land has become a liability.
Remedies Are Proposed
) Remedies for the tax evil. the
speaker continued, include, as favored
by him. not only in the reduction of
expenditures wherever possible, but in
the adoption of new forms of taxation
that will relieve the producer of his
burden. A graduated income tax was
espOused by Senator Pierce in Unmis-
taxable terms. He also suggested q
corporation tax and a severencc tax.