226 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



can strike out whatever is non-taxable, and the rest is left. 

 Then I would have a law which would forfeit any property 

 not reported, one-half of it to go to the State, and the 

 other half to the man who ferreted it out. That is my idea 

 of the only law that can ever bring these men out. God 

 speed the day when it comes ! 



Mr. Shaw. After five years' experience as an assessor, I 

 have come to the conclusion that the only way by which we 

 can procure the justice for which we ask is to make the 

 people give in a list of all their property, wherever it may 

 be located. The assessors are the ones to judge whether it 

 is taxable, or not, not the person who has it. The 

 gentleman from Connecticut has,- I think, hit that nail 

 directly on the head. 



Mr. Parker of Holden. One inconsistency in our law, 

 as I understand it, is that the money loaned upon mortgages 

 in Massachusetts is not taxed. I have found by a little 

 investigation that about two-fifths of the property in 

 Massachusetts escapes taxation in this way. Now, it 

 appears to me, as a person who pays taxes upon property 

 that is all visible, and expects to pay a fair per cent with his 

 neighbors, that there is no reason why a neighbor of mine 

 who may have $100,000 invested in mortgages upon property 

 that is ample security should pay no tax. If he has a note 

 secured by personal property, floating property perhaps, he 

 is liable to a tax upon that ; but just as soon as the money is 

 invested in something that is tangible, where the income is 

 sure, he goes free, he pays no tax ; and those of us who pay 

 taxes maintain his children at school, and if he should 

 happen to come to want, we maintain him in the poor-house. 

 It seems (o me that this is a question in which farmers are very 

 much interested, and this is the place to agitate the question 

 and have the influence of the State Board of Agriculture 

 brought to bear upon the members of the Legislature. I 

 know you are handicapped to start with. There are more 

 people in the Legislature who loan money on mortgages 

 than there are who borrow, and for that reason you will find it 

 difficult to pass a law of that kind. It seems to me there is 

 no remedy except to send men to the Legislature who do 

 not belong to that class. Then perhaps you would get 



