Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 241, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1915 — Might Get the Candidates Here For a Big Barbecue. [ARTICLE]

Might Get the Candidates Here For a Big Barbecue.

It would not be too late yet, we believe, to have something doing in Rensselaer, and since other towns are having big events and asking the candidates to be present we believe Rensselaer could do the same. At Lagrange last week the eighth annual com show was held and all the governor candidates were invited, both republican and democratic. Warren T. McCray, of Kentland; James P. Goodrich, of Winchester; Quincy A. Myers, of Indianapolis; B. O. Johnson, of Gary, and Charles A. Carlisle, of South Bend, the republican candidates, were present, and W. S. O’Brien, of Lawrenceburg; L. Ert Slack, >f Indianapolis; and Leonard Clore, of Laporte, the democratic candidates, were on hand. Mr. Clore was the judge of the com dhow. He is well known here, where he also served as a corn show judge. He is the county agent of Laporte county. The speech of James P. Goodrich attracted much attention. He discussed the tax system of Indiana. He did not indulge in any harangue about the democrats being responsible for the presetn system, but it was simply a discussion of a matter of most vital importance. He showed the farm owners that they and the home owners are vitally interested because the present system forces so much property into seclusion and the land owner can not hide his land but must pay for all he owns. He said that Rome was killed by unjust and unnecessary taxes. Excessive taxation caused the French revolution and unjust taxation caused the rebellion of the colonies against England. He quoted Benjamin Harrison’s declaration: “This country can not continue to exist, half free and half taxed.” “So,” he said, after showing that farm taxes have increased 300 per cent in the last 25 yeaars and most of in the past ten years, “we are confronted by a condition in this state today where it can be said that onehalf of its wealth is taxed and the other half of its wealth is free of taxation. No one class of people is suffering from the existing condition more than the farmer. While many farmers are becoming investors in mortgages, municipal securities, etc., which are called ‘intangibles,’ yet the large portion of their surplus is invested in lands and improvements and horses, cattle, agricultural implements, etc., which can not be hidden from taxation like “intangibles” are hidden. “While I do not state that it has been the intention of those responsible for the law and its administration to discriminate against the farmer, as a matter of fact, that is just what has happened.” Mr. Goodrich went on to declare that “If the law is not changed, the shifting of the burden to property that can not hide must inevitably grow worse, because under our present system the rate of taxation bears no relation whatever to the income produced by the property taxed. This is true to a large extent in the assessment of public service corporations, where the amount of taxes paid varies between 3 per cent and 10 per cent of the gross. But the owner of mortgages, stocks, bonds, etc., assuming the average rate of interest to be 5 per cent under the most favorable taxing condition —the country districts of the state —would pay an average of 2% per cent, of 50 per cent of income. If he—or she, for the tax burden falls particularly severe on widows and orphans — happens to live in Indiana towns or cities, the average rate would be 81 per cent. In some of the cities of the state the tax is in excess of 5 per cent, which is more than the earnings of such investments. Taxation, therefore, with respect to intangibles, has ceased to be taxation and become confiscation. The result of making it impossible for ‘money to live’ is that it has gone into hiding and out of the state, and Indiana presents today the ridiculous spectacle of being a great creditor state, which is deprived of using its own capital to meet its own needs.” Mr. Goodrich Showed how the state now has to call on other states, especially large insurance companies of the eastern states, to supply it with money to meet even its farm loan needs. The result is that, while Indiana people are clamoring for good 4% and 5 per cent investments, Indiana money oan not be lent to Indiana farmers, and Indiana farmers are paying high interest rates, plus high com mission rates. This takes millions out of the state each year. “When the big foreign lenders wish to hold their money for various purposes,” Mr. Goodrich said, “the farmer is left high and dry, for thfe Indiana tax laws have cut off his supply of home capital. The foreign money escapes taxation here, and also in its own state, or in its own State is subjected to an equitable part of the public burden.” . - ~ i: Mr. Goodrich showed that in Indiana, Indiana money is taxed all the way from 50 to more than 100 per cent if it ventures 6Ut of hiding. This taxation is without parallel. “Compare it,” he said, “for example, with the high war taxes in Great Britain. In some instances there the income tax reaches as high as 40 per cent, and still in times of peace our average tax raite on incomes, even in country districts, is in excess of that.” Mr. Goodrich made a plea for classification of property, and for a coirstitutional amendment, which will permit the adoption of a fiscal tem in “economic joint with the times and conditions.”