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I, rld -Inm. VOL XLII. NO. 139 NEWBERRY. S. C. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15. 1905..TIEAWE, 15 iA COUNTY AUDITORS WILT ACT FIRMLY WILL ENFORCE THE LAW AGAINST DELINQUENTS. Want the Old Method Enacted-Comptroller General Jones is Very Much Pleased on Account of the General Tone of the Meeting. Hon. A. W. Jones, comptrolller general, appears to be very much interested in the establishment of the tax department of the state on a firm and equitable basis. At his invitation there was held on Wed nesday, says the State a convention which in many ways was remark able. It was a gather ng of the au ditors of the state. Of e 41 cOun ties, 32 were represented, four au ditors being kept away by sickness and one by being a witness in the United States court. The remain ing four sent no excuses, but it is hoped that they, too, are equally interested with the others. The meeting was held in the sen ate chamber yesterday and the or ganization was effected by the election of Mr. A. W. Jones as chairman and Mr. E. C. Wilson of his office as secretary. The follow ing were present: R H. Sondley, Abbeville; D. H. Wise, Aiken; G.* N. C. Boleman, Anderson; R. W. Rowell, Bam berg; S. W. Trotter, Barnwell; H. C. Politzer, Beaufort; C. M. Wig gins, Berkeley; W. H. Prioleau, Charleston; I. McD. Hood, Ches ter; J. R. Jowers, Chesterfield; P. L. Moorer, Dorchester; J. B. Hal tiwanger, Edgefield; W. H. Dorrill, Georgetown; T. A. Graham, Greenwood; J. J. Gooding, Hamp ton; J. A. Lewis, Horrv ; W. F. Russell, Kershaw; J. A. Cook, Lancaster; C. A. Power, Laurens; C. W. Woodham, Lee; G. A. Der rick, Lexington; F. T. McLellon, Marion; XV. WV. Cromer, Newber ry; T. M. McMichael, Orange burg; E. F. Keeth, Pickens; WV. H. Gibbes, Richland; B. F. Webb, Saluda; lV. G. S. O'Shields, Spar tanburg; J. D. Wilder, Sumter; J. G. Farr, Union; J. J.. B. Montgom ery, Williamsburg; J. J. Hunter, York. There were severil resolutions offered and the following commit tee was appointed to take them into consideration: D. H. WVise, G. A. Derrick, XV. H. Gibbes, WV. G. S. O'Shields, R. H. Sondley, J. A. Lewis and T. M. McMichael. Af ter taking the proposed resolution into consideration, the committee reported unfavorably and presented the following substitutes, all of which were unanimously accepted -after some discussion. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED. "Resolved, That we, the county auditors, in convention assembled, hereby pledge ourselves to follow the law in the discharge of duty as expounded by the comptroller gen eral as in such cases made and pro vided." "Whereas no tax law is equitable unless equal and evenly enforced, therefore be it "Resolved, That we, the county auditors of..South Carolina in eon v ''assembled, hereby ple ourselves to make a concerted ef fort to enforce the provisions of the income tax law, which has here tofore been almost a dead letter on the books." "Whereas the present law pro viding for a penalty of I per cent. on taxes unpaid in January and February and 5 per cent. on March Ist, and "Whereas such law entails use: less complications and much addi tional work by auditors and treas urers without accomplishing any important results, therefore be it "Resolved, That this convention memorialize the legislature and re quest then to repeal said law and to make provision for a penalty of 4 per cent. to be placed upon all taxes remaining unpaid on January ist each year-books to close in March-and in lieu of the penal ties provided by the law now in force." THE AUDITORS DETERMINED. The auditors are well aware oi the consequences which may follow such a step asthat which they took yesterday. There is always. some other fellow who wants the jot and is waiting to stir up opposi tion to the auditor. For the audi tors to assume voluntarily an obli gation to go even further than they have in the matter of getting delin quents to pay their taxes mean! that they take the officials' lives ir their hands. WILL DO THEIR DUTY. Some of them so expressed them selves yesterday, and although theN fear that it may cost them their po sitions, they stated without equivo cation that they propose from novN on to enforce the tax laws withou1 fear and without favor. The ex amples of Mr. WV. H. Gibbes od Richland and Col. D. H. Wise 0: Aiken afforded some consolation for these two auditors have put or the tax books thousands of doilar! in property which had escaped tax ation and they have been more pop ular politically since showing theil determination than they were be fore they wvent into office. Comptroller General Jones call attention to the resolution whicl asks the legislature to return to th< old method of collecting taxes. I will simplify the bookkeeping anc will hurry the payment of taxes W'hat is nominally 4 per cent. or the dlelinquent taxes for tw( months would really be 24 pel cent per annum. Unless the people of the stat conform to the law in regard t< paying the income tax, somebody' feelings will be hurt. The audi tors laid in a supply of blanks witl which to proceed to collect this tam from those who are subject to th< tax and have not volunteered thei: returns as required by law. M Jones has a plan to recommend t< the legislature. As all real estat must be reassessed next year, it i: possible to reduce the levy by in creasing the amount of propert: assessed for taxation and by raising the values to an equitable standard If by so doing the property of thi state can be made to show up for higher and.more reasonable valua +on, he reenoimends that; the leg islature leave the levy in the hands I of a commission to meet in July af ter the board of equalization of mills and railroads has completed its work, find out exactly what will be the expenges of the state gov ernment and make such a levy as will meet the necessities of the case. MR. JONES REMARKS. Following is an address which Mr. Jones made yesterday to the auditors on the objects of their meeting: "Gentlemen: The circular of in structions addressed to county au ditors and boards of assessors as to reassessment of property in 1906 was based upon the plain provisions1 of the assessment laws of the state to assess all property at its true value in money, so that each tax payer shall bear his proportion of the expenses of the government,1 his equitable share of the taxes, no more and no less. "The constitution and laws of the state, our oaths of office, the spirit of our institution, and otir duty as servants of the people under the law, demand this at our hands. I have deemed it necessary 'to ask you to meet .together and discuss such means as may be necessary to secure uniformity in the assess ment of property throughout the state to the end that the burden of taxation may be equally distributed. Upon you rests the responsibility of carrying out the instructions is sued, which are nothing more nor less than quotations from the lIw relative to the assessment of prop ertv. "I believe that if you will use your powers intelligently and fear lesslv in the reassessment, you can rectify thegross inequality now ex isting by assessing all taxable property fairly, justly and equi table. WVith an assessment as re quired by law and the adoption of an uniform plan to be pursued by~ all county tax officials, you can easi I v secure an assessment of over $40o,ooo,ooo and reduce the levy to one-half, and thus secure equality of taxation. "Nothing encourages the settling of (lesirable immigrants so much as a low rate of taxation, and you have it in your power thus to attract thrifty settlers to come and invest in our unoccupied lands. Capital ists and investors will also be in duced to invest in our unimproved and undeveloped resources of the state. The rate of taxation is the first question asked when people are seeking homes or have capital for investment, and the fact that our assessment runs from 10 to 6o per cent of the value, dIoes not ap peal to honest people; and I ap peal to you on still higher ground, namelv to your sworn duty, to en force the laws of the state relating to taxation. "IJf public officials disregard the the law, we need not expect the public in general to be careful to observe the law. Allow me to ex press the sincere hope that this meeting will bring out a full, frank asrd free discussion of these in Lteresting and important subjects, - an that it will result in great good LGovernor Heyward a Delightful Man. Zach McGee writes as follows to :he State from Washington: MIost people who come to Wash ngton to see the sights vant to see Lhe president and shake, his hand, and this they can do if they will get a member of Congress to intro duce them. And think not it is like shaking any ordinary mortal's hand. Not so. at all; it is unique. When receiving visitors in the cab inet room. as they march around the table. the president uses few words but many gestures. "De lighted," "chi-armed. "it is a gur reat pleasure to meet you," are about the only v-ords. as a rule, hr has to say. He has a set of stock gestures. too, bnt there are more of these. H side-steps both ways., steps backwards, revolves his arm like a baseball pitcher, shakes your hand-sometimes-with both of his, slaps you on the shoulder, and is liable, if you know him or if he 15nows you, to chuck you under the chin or make a lunge at you with his doubled fist and hit you in a tender spot under the short ribs or some other such place. His full store of both words and gyrations were brought forth yesterday when Major Micah Jenkins entered the room. With Major Jenkins were also Representative Wyatt Aiken, Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Havnsworth, of Greenville' and Mr. J. A. Mc Cullough of Greenville. "Ah !-Mi-cah !" exclaimed the president pronouncing . each syl lable with equal emphasis and dis tinctness as soon as Major Jenkins entered the room. Then he went on shaking hands with others in line ahead of Major Jenkins. tell ing each one that he was charmed, delighted and the rest, all the time keeping his eager, twinkling eye or his old friend and comrade. When at length Major Jenkins reached the far end of the table where the president stood the two had a little impromptu reunion of the "First Man Who Went up San Juan Hill." I called on the president the oth er day myself. "De-lighted to meet you Mr. McGhee, chi-armed-it is a gur reat plieasure."' All the time he was looking at a pretty Virginia girl who was in our party and whc was theni introduced to him. Tak~ ing her soft hand in both of his great big. rough paws, he side steped bothi ways, jumped back~ about three feet, bowed up and down, shook his cheeks, displayed two rows of. teeth and said: "I had the gur-reat pli-easure of me-eet ing Governor Heyward not long ago. He is a chi-arming gen tul-man. It was a gur-reat pli easure, I assure you, ma-rn, Gov ernor Herward is a most de-light ful man." Then the Virginia girl blushed, smiled and wvent on. She had tried to tell the president that she was not from South Carolina and that while Governor Heyward was nc loubt a "chi-arming" man he was not her governor, and that she had no special interest or ownership it him and could not claim credit foi niine u that *Virginia- wa god enough for her; but the president was himself too chi-armed. Hold ing on to her hand with both of his he kept talking, saying over and over that Governor Heyward was a "de-lightful gen-tul-man. Another lady in our party was Mrs. R. D.'Smart, who is well known all over South Carolina, where she has lived most of her life. She is now living at Norfolk where her husband is pastor of the leading Methodist church. She is a sister of Representative Aiken, who introduced us to President Roosevelt. "To give you an idea how widely. read the State is," said Paymaster Samuel McGowan when I called on him a day or two ago, "the little statement you made the other day about the vacancies in the paymas ter force and the coming examina tion is bringing me stacks of let ters every day from all over South Carolina, some from North Caro lina and some from Georgia, all re ferring to it. I am getting some times as many as 20 letters a day on the subject." This examination takes place on IJanuary 9, but applications will be received only to December 15, so that there is but very little more time. Any young man between;the Y ages of 21 and 26 who is sound physically and has no patent moral-t or mental defects can become an applicant. There is no prescribed form of application, but an appli cAnt must state in his own hand writing the date of his birth, the I names of schools and colleges he has attended, what business he has engaged in, and should enclose rec ommendations from several persons. -not necessarily prominent-who know him. former teachers and em ployers being preferred. Representative Lever of the 7th district is a very accommodating man, but he had an experience yes terday which teaches him if he did not know it before that being ac commodating sometimes costs something. His secretary, though, Mr.*M. E. Zeigler, is the one who gets te most experience. They are about to put M\'r. Zeigler in jail. At Lexington, jnst before leaving for Wahsington, one of his constituents agave Mr. Zeigler a much worn and disfigured $10 gold piece to redeem at the government mint. The coin wvas burned in a fire, the owner told him. Mr. Zei gler went to? the mint to get it re deemned, and the officer there con fiscated it and set the secret service men on the case. The $10 gold piece was a counterfeit. Another man sent Mr. Lever a worn out silver dollar to be redeemed. What will be the fate of this, I have not learned. The newspaper men around Washington seem to think thata South Carolinian is only interest--.. ing when discussing the dispensary. The hotel lobby men have been tackling several South Carolinians within the past few clays and mak ing them give their opinions on Ithe G. M. I.-which three letters, Iby the way, ought by now be given a place in the dictionary lists -of abbreiations.