EDUCATION OF PAUPER CLILDREN.
t Senator Spann's bill [S. 130--See page 66 and 152], for the education of pauper children, was read a third time.
Mr. FANCHER said: We have some 600 poor children confined in our Poor Houses, who are not receiving a particle of education. This provides for a Matron, who shall lodge, educate, and board these children at her house--keep them there and educate them. If the Matron has no house, it provides that the County Commissioners may erect one.
Mr. RYAN--I understand from the reading of the bill that there is nothing obligatory upon the Board of Commissioners to do so.
Mr. FANCHER--That is so. It also provides that such matron shall not receive more than thirty cents per day for the care of those children.
Mr. BUSKIRK moved to recommit the bill to a Special Committee, with instructions to amend so as to provide for the appointment of a new Superintendent.
Mr. BARTLETT said: I can not see the necessity of recommitting the bill. It provides that the shall be a female of suitable age and experience to take care of these children--be under her care--give them what we call a family training, that the children may be educated and sent to the Common Schools This is what is known as the "Merritt bill," which was presented in the House by myself, and when the Senate bill was referred to the Committee on County and Township Buildings, the Senate bill was substituted for this. I move to lay the motion to recommit on the table.
The motion was agreed to.
The bill passed--yeas, 77; nays 16.
Mr. Edwins' bill [H. R. 247] to regulate the proper entry of mortgages was read the third time.
Mr. MOODY--I am very much opposed to the passage of this bill. I think it is intended to accomplish that which has already been accomplished by the general tax bill passed by this Legislature. The gentleman from Madison (Mr. Edwins) says this bill will reach and cause to be taxed $5,000,000 of property that will escape taxation under the tax law. I ask the gentleman why he does not specify what property he expects to reach for taxation by this bill, not provided for in the tax bill already passed. How absurd this bill is when examined. It provides that all mortgages, before the Recorder can record them, must be entered upon the Auditor's books for taxation. Do you think a man living in Steuben County and loaning his money in DeKalb should be required to pay for the unnecessary work of entering his mortgage upon the Auditor's books for taxation, or does the gentleman propose that he shall pay a tax in both Counties? The same difficulty arises as to non-residents. Thousands of dollars are loaned by non-residents to the people of our State, and this bill proposes to tax their mortgages. What justice is there in this? The people want all property taxed once and only once, and I think the new tax bill will accomplish this, and to pass this bill will only tend to confusion without any corresponding benefit to any one. Many reasons might be urged against the passage of this bill, but I hope a word to the wise is sufficient.
Mr. GILMAN said: I believe all property page: 120[View Page 120] should be taxed, and it may be taxed twice, but when it comes to taxing it three times it is a little too much. Under the tax law just passed we have to pay a tax on all kinds of property. I pay a tax upon my farm and lands, and the man who loans me money on a mortgage pays taxes on the mortgage. Whether a man lives in or out of the State he is taxed just the same. Now this bill proposes to make the Auditor of each County a Smelling Committee to see that the citizens shall be compelled to pay taxes. I hope the bill will not pass.
Mr. CARTER thought the principle of the bill was wrong; furthermore, that ground has been fully covered by the tax law to the utmost of our ingenuity. That was supposed to reach every species of property. He thought if property under that law escaped the Assessor the owner perjures himself or escapes under the eyes of the officers. This bill says that every mortgage shall be recorded in the Recorder's office for taxation. A mortgage is not a subject for taxation. It is not a thing of itself, but it is the security of a debt, and yet the gentleman comes in here and pretends to say that a man who makes a mortgages shall first go into the Auditor's office and have it entered for taxation.
Mr. EDWINS said that he did not wish to detain the House very long in discussing this bill, as he had discussed the merits of the bill at some length on two several occasions before, and he was satisfied that in spite of what he could say the capiialists and their agents would not allow such a bill to pass this House. He was well aware how unpopular it was to advocate any measure looking to the taxing of the property of the rich with their agents here on the floor of the House guarding their interests. It was a fact patent to all that those who were worth only from $5,000 to $15,000 paid the taxes of the country. The great bondholders of the Nation were exempt from taxation, and the wealthy classes of this State were only trying to follow these examples. We ask simply that there shall be placed on the Auditor's duplicate the evidence of money loaned in the shape of mortgages, so that the Auditor could certify to the Assessor, just like he would a deed, the amount of such property. Is there any hardship in that? Certainly not. And all this sophistry is certainly in bad taste in those gentlemen opposing a measure that would place so much property on the tax duplicate for taxation that is now hidden away.
The bill failed to pass--yeas, 27; nays, 55.
The SPEAKER made the Committee, concerning the relaying of the corner-stone of the State House, to consist of Messrs. Miles, Carter and Hargrove.
