176 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 



Let me give you an example. If I have a thousand dollars to spend 

 during the coming year for the purpose of providing for my wife and 

 children and myself clothing, food and necessary living, and I know that 

 is all I am going to get during the year, what am I going to do on the 

 first day of the year? I am going to so arrange my affairs that at the 

 end of eleven months there will be at least a crust of bread on the table 

 and clothing upon the backs of my children. In other words, I will 

 budget that thousand dollars out so it will cover the entire period of 

 time. Put on a sound, sane basis economy will do wonders in this thing 

 of government. Now a budget is a wonderful thing, and I want to say 

 to you that I believe the incoming legislature without question is going 

 to adopt that. If that is applied throughout the state government, to every 

 board and commission, to every state department and every state officer, 

 coupled with a complete and absolute law which will compel living within 

 income, I want to say to you it will do more to reduce taxes in Iowa than 

 anything that has been done in the last ten or fifteen years. 



The next thing I want to cover is the question of taxation. I want to 

 call your attention to one thing in connection with the taxation question 

 and that is with relations to farms. I can't conceive that it is proper 

 and right to say that farm land shall be taxed at its market value upon 

 the market. In the ordinary course of trade that is the usual basis, 

 what it is bought and sold for on the market. No other class of property 

 is taxed upon the same basis except land and perhaps town lots, be- 

 cause what a thing sells for on the market in the ordinary course of trade 

 fails to take into consideration other elements, such as income and other 

 things which have to do with the proportion of public burden. Every- 

 body should bear his share of the public burden, whether rich or poor, 

 whether high or low, whether he is in affluence or whether he is not, 

 everyone should bear his share of the public burden, and I want to say 

 to you that in the incoming legislature if tax revision is indeed sought, 

 it should have one great thought at least in mind. That is that 51.5 per 

 cent of the property of this state is entitled in the fixing of its value for 

 taxation purposes to have taken into consideration not alone its market 

 value but these other elements of value which after all determine what 

 revenue if any that produces and returns to the man who is the property 

 owner. 



Now in conclusion may I just branch for a moment to my own depart- 

 ment of the state government. I want to say to you who operate fairs, 

 and to you who come from business houses in this state and who come 

 from farms in this state, that the happiness of the people is not only 

 dependent upon a reasonably operated government in so far as expense of 

 that government is concerned, but perhaps more important than all is 

 that 'security which we call obedience to law and order. I want to say 

 to you that a nation or state without a people obedient to law and order 

 is not a state, it is nothing more than an anarchistic congregation of peo- 

 ples gathered together. I want to say to you that in the next five or ten 

 years there is coming a contest between those who would have the law 

 say to them you can do with this as you want, you can obey it or not as 

 you see fit, apply it to the other fellow, but let me have liberty and license. 



