Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1899 — Page 4 Advertisements Column 1 [ADVERTISEMENT]

F F F i i 'i Beware of the men who are always trying to defend the scoundrels who are fattening on public plunder. A close inspection will generally reveal the fact that they are sharing In the booty.—Hebron News. - k fa b J i

If those “estimates” of county expenses are allowed to go through without a deep application of the pruning knife, the taxpayers might about as well prepare to move out and tie done with it. An announcement now comes from Washington that the obnoxious war taxes are not only to be continued but will be increased to raise funds for prosecuting the benevolent extermination policy in the Philippines. The state board of tax commissioners got in a little work on the Indianapolis News plant. This plant recently sold for $936,(MX), and was assessed for taxation at only $47,000. The tax board raised the assessment $400,000. An investigation of county affairs might disclose the reason for holding back the auditor’s annual report every year of late some two to three months. This has only been done under the present administration, as an investigation of the records will show. The Revolutionary War cost $135,193,703 and 30,000 human lives; the war of 1812, $107,159,000 and 2,000 lives; the Mexican War, $74,000,000 and 2,000 lives; the Indian wars and other minor wars, $1,000,000,000 and 46,000 lives; the Civil War, $8,500,000,(XX) and 544,000 lives, and the Spanish War, $150,000,000, being the liabilites incurred, although $360,000.000, was appropriated by Con¥’ess on account of this war. he total number of men and officers who were killed and died from disease and wounds during the war was 2,910. In a brief filed in the supreme court Thomas B. Adams, of'Shelbyville, attacks the constitutionality of the Barrett law, where the city, by ordinance, improved Broadway and taxed abutting property. In his brief Mr. Adams asks: “Can the Legislature arbitrarily decide that the cost of improving a street shall be assessed on the abutting property without any regard to the benefit or injury to such property ?” On this hinges the validity of the so-called Barrett Jaw, under the provisions of which millions of dollars have been invested in street improvements in this state. Suppose a banker whom the law required to make a public report of the financial condition of his bank every six months or at the end of each year, should hold that report back from two to four months each time? How long do you think it would be until his depositors became suspicious and called for their money? Still, in Jasper county we have seen this thing going on for several years now, in the financial report, and the ring asks you what you are going to do about it. anyway ? notwithstanding The Democrat has shown these reports to have been false and misleading.

Attorneys lor John Denton, sr., of Paoli, Orange county, have filed a brief in the supreme court appealing from a decision by the Orange county circuit court in a dog tax case. Denton was fined for harboring a dog without paying the license prescribed by the statutes. It is contended in the brief that it is no more a criminal offense to harbor a dog than to harbor any other property and that the law making criminals of persons who harbor a harmless dog for failure to pay the tax is characterized as a disgrace on the legislation of the state. The dog tax law of 1897 is theone attacked and urged to be unconstituional.