What Do These Men Mean?

New York, 1895

THE FARMER'S Albany advices state that Assemblymen Fairbrother and Vacheron will oppose the bill to create a tax arrears commission in this county. There is great need of a commission to clear up tax liens on real estate, which amount to the sum of $500,000. The county has had to borrow the money year after year to meet these tax deficiencies, and the aggregate sum became so great that the county had to issue bonds and fund it. There is no doubt in the world that at least half of this money could be collected.

It is too bad that men elected to represent the people cannot rise above petty jealousies and a desire to profit out of legislation that is essentially for the public good. Messrs. Fairbrother and Vacheron are trying to disguise the reason for their opposition to this important bill, but they will not succeed. They object to the commissioners, Colonel Jones of Jamaica and Supervisor Wood of Hempstead, both Republicans, and Solomon S. Townsend, Democrat, of Oyster Bay. The name of Joseph Dykes has been removed from the bill to please Boss Youngs, and the name of Mr. Townsend was substituted that the Townsends might be compensated for their efforts in behalf of Mr. Phipps and other Republicans in the last election. It will disgust the people, irrespective of party, to find that a bill of a purely business character, intended to gather money into the public treasury and reduce taxation, cannot escape the prejudices, rancour and greed of these politicians. There can be no objection to the persons named as commissioners so far as ability and probity is concerned, and the public require only these qualifications. We confess it would be a stronger and more practical body if Joseph Dykes were a member of it, because of his familiarity with property locations and the tax office records, but then it is a measure fraught with such promise of good to the people that the naming of particular persons as commissioners should not be allowed to defeat it. Strike out the names, if that be necessary to save the bill, and let the County Judge name the commissioners. The framers of the bill seem to be acting in the best of faith, and with rare economy, for they have limited the pay of the commissioners to $1,500. It is not a bonanza in any sense.

THE FARMER is glad to be able to say that Senator Childs is giving the bill his sturdy support, and that it will pass the Senate. If Messrs. Fairbrother and Vacheron kill it in the Assembly, they will be held to a strict account by the people.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 4.