Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1922)
HH h ■■■ 20 THE WESTERN AMERICAN “Issues” in the Gubernatorial Campaign While There Are Several Issues that Have Been Interlocked For the Pur pose of Defeating Governor Olcott For Reelection, the Preten tious Promises of His Opponent Are Furnishing the People of Oregon Something Extraordinary in the Line of Campaign Pledges TF THE people of Oregon, during gthat the only way to reduce their these pre-election days, are ; taxes for these improvements lie considering the tax issue as the in bringing more people into their paramount issue in the guberna * communities so that the heavy torial campaign, then the demo taxes, proportionately taken care cratic candidate for governor, of by the few, can be distributed Walter M. Pierce, of Eastern Ore among a greater number and gon, aparently is working hard to thereby be able to reduce the bur- eliminate himself by his own cam den of the individual resident. paign speeches. While the people Yet, in this campaign, Mr. of this state, the merchant, the Pierce, as a candidate for governor, manufacturer and the home owner himself a land owner, a business of the cities, the land owner and man and a man of legislative ex farmer throughout the Oregon perience, is reported to be travel country are feeling the heavy bur ing up and down the state, telling den of taxes, they are intelligent the people that if they only elect enough to know that the state tax him for governor on the Seventh imposed on them is comparatively of November he will cut their tax small in proportion to the self-im burden in two. posed tax burden they carry in If these statements credited to each respective city, town or dis Pierce be true, then he has less re trict, over which no one but their gard for the intelligence of the own incorporated town or county voters and taxpayers of Oregon has any control. They know that than any man who ever aspired no governor of the state can re to be governor of this state. move their joint responsibilities Down at the Benson hotel in for the community bonds and Portland, is the Pierce for Gov district improvements they them ernor headquarters. A more luxu selves have voted for. They rious political headquarters, peo know that he can not lighten ple say, they never saw. If the the burden of their district tax-ridden farmer is to make a school tax, nor their local cost sound and logical comparison now, of community or county ad- between Pierce’ talk of economy minstration. Knowing that they and his extravagantly appointed themselves, as progressive citi- headquarters, where a hard-work zens, have done all this in the in ing farmer hardly would find a terest of their district and the welcome among fashionably attired state at large and for the purpose ladies who sip tea with callers, of making permanent improve he would hardly be able to find any ments that may attract people to consistency and would necessar their sparsely settled communi ily wonder what would happen to ties, where hundreds of opportuni our state if the spirit that reigns ties are open and thousands of at headquarters at the Benson acres of fertile land waiting for should be transfered to the capitol tillers of the soil, they know that at Salem for a four year sojourn? they themselves are responsible, A friend, who has taken an ac that no executive of the state can tive interest in Governor Olcott’s reduce the specific obligations of campaign for reelection, speaking their respective communities, ob of the governor’s opponent, gave ligations they have assumed vent to his feelings, in brief,' by without asking any executive for saying, Pierce in “Running on permission to do so. Gall.” Asked to give his personal opin The object they had in view when they voted for permanent ion and observations, he gave them community improvements was to in detail. The following is a sum make their county and district and mary of his views: We have been through a lot of cam the state at large more inviting paigns and witnessed the antics of a lot to people from the outside, who of_ candidates, but this man Pierce takes would then be more likely to come the grand prize for unadulterated gall. in and engage in business, in farm Though proven to be the greatest sin ing and build homes. They know gle cause of the present high taxes in '¿¿¿■¿A October, 1922 the state of Oregon, he has the sub limated nerve to make a campaign as an advocate of tax reduction! He offers no concrete plans, makes no constructive suggestions, but appar ently goes into the campaign cooly cal culating that he can fool enough people on this issue to elect him. While complaining about high taxes, he is the author oi more bills creating taxes than any man in the legislature, While deploring the too many use less commissions in the state, he has voted against every bill that has been introduced in the legislature to effect consolidations, even opposing the bill sponsored by the commission appointed a few years ago to- devise ways and means of consolidating state bureaus. He gets out on the platform and tells about his joy in the bonds voted for the soldier bonus and how he intro duced the 'bill when the truth is that he was not even a member of the legis lature when the bill was introduced. He spouts about our “soldier boy lad dies” in an effort to wean the veterans away from the governor, whom the boys know, has been their good friend, yet during the war he accepted his $1.25 an hour as a member of the draft board, though the draft board regula- tions specifically stated that the pay was designed to cover the cases of those who were not sufficiently well off to give their services to the government. Mr. Pierce is one of the wealthy men of Oregon, his assessed valuation being over a quarter million dollars. He talks about, taking the taxes off the land, when he, himself, was the au thor of a bill to get a constitutional amendment to exempt monies, notes, mortgages and accounts! His alleged friendship for the soldier voters is very new, for, while many of them were in France and do not re member his draft board record, yet many of them will remember that he voted against an appropriation to make Camp Withycombe ready to take care of the “laddie boys” just before the war. He says he is for an income tax. Ap parently this is correct. First, he was for a flat tax on net incomes, which re sulted in the present measure on the bal lot. Second, he found the grange prefer red a graduated income tax because it swatted the big fellows harder propor tionately, so he dropped the bill which he had fathered and came out for the grange bill. It was discovered that it had been fraudulently initiated, but that never hampers Mr. Pierce. He imme diately came out for a tax on the gross earnings of corporations. This sounded fine to audiences owning no corporation stock until it was discovered that such a scheme very greatly pleased the cor porations because it would lessen the taxes they now pay in Oregon 16 2-3 per cent. Besides, it would deprive the counties and school districts through which the railroads pass of thousands of dollars in taxes which they now receive. While demanding the abolition of of boards and commissions he was the (Continued on page 25)