Baker County GaArchives News.....Grand Jury Presentments December 30 1846 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Lindy Hard ssautyvalleyfarm@worldnet.att.net December 18, 2003, 9:12 am Albany Patriot [newspaper] microfilm Apr 16, 1845-Nov 1847 GRAND JURY PRESENTMENTS. GEORGIA, BAKER COUNTY} Superior Court, December Term, 1846 The Grand Jury, in closing its labors for the present Term, present the following remarks, suggestions and recommendations, whith a request that they be published. We have examined the Clerk’s Office together with the Records of the several Courts, Records of Deeds, &c., and find them neatly and correctly kept— indeed we cannot too warmly express our appreciation of the services of Mr. Seth C. Stevens for his faithful and exact performance of all the duties which devolve upon him as Clerk of our several Courts. The Treasurer’s books we find neatly and correctly kept: They show the following condition of the County Treasury:-- The indebtedness of the county is 2177 48 The assets of the county are as follows: Due from John Sikes’ estate 1348 66 Due from the Tax Collectors for 1845 382 72 Taxes for 1846, exclusive of insolvent list 935 90 _______ 2677 28 $499 80 Leaving a balance of assets over indebtedness in favor of the county of $499 80. Although at present there are no available funds in the hands of the Treasurer, yet we are of the opinion that they will all be made available within the ensuing year. We have examined the Tax Receiver’s and Tax Collector’s Digest, and find them unexeceptional in every respect, and we take pleasure in stating that Mr. A. J. Swinney has performed the duties of these offices in such a manner as to deserve the confidence of the community. The amount assessed for State Tax for the present year is $1957 73 ½, and for county purposes the sum of $979 86. We allow the Tax Collector, as an insolvent list, the sum of $87 92 in the State Tax, $43 96 on the county Tax. We are happy to find that the taxable property of our county is steadily increasing. The roads and bridges in this county, so far as we can asertain, are in tolerable good condition, with the exception of some roads in the first district, and the bridge over the Chickasawhatchie, known as the Powell’s mill bridge. We recommend that the Inferior Court enforce the penalities against those commissioners of roads and bridges who shall neglect to perform the duties required of them by law. That part of the road in the first district leading from Albany to Gillionville has been entirely neglected, and is in a very bad condition. We recommend that the Inferior Court assess a Tax for county purposes of fifty per cent on the State Tax. We recommend that the Inferior Court procure suitable furniture for the jail. We allow Charles W. Robey, Tax Collector for 1845, $13 42 as the balance of his insolvent list not previously allowed him on the State Tax for that year, and $6 71 on the county Tax. There are some subjects of public importance to which we could call the attention of our fellow citizens. From the examination of the Tax laws of our State, we find that they are too complicated, and the duties of the Tax officers are too indefinite to be generally well understood. We hold that all laws should be simple and clear, and that the duties of our officers should be well defined. The principle upon which our Taxes are assessed is in our estimation wrong. We hold that each citizen should pay taxes for the support of Government according to his means. Instead of this our present Tax laws discriminate several hundred per cent between different classes of property, and even between that of the same class. The lot of land which is worth but $5 pays the same tax as that which is worth $2500, either of them being pine land would pay about 25 cents, whilst a few feet of land in an incorporated town, worth the same amount, ($2500) would pay a Tax about 31 times greater, or $7 81. This unjust and absurd principle runs through all on present tax laws, in most cases throwing the burden of the support of Government on those who are least able to bear it. In connection with this subject we cannot refrain from expressing our sense of the injustice which is done to this county in common with other new counties in permitting non-residents to pay taxes in other counties than that in which the property is located. We hold it to be unjust to exempt any part of the property of the county from paying its equitable share of the taxes necessary to build and keep in repair public buildings, bridges, &c., whilst that property is being benefitted by the contributions and labor of others. The subject of Education is one of vast importance to all our citizens. We conceive that upon their intelligence depends the purity and stability of our Government, as well as their individual happiness and proseperity. We therefore believe it to be the duty of the State to provide an efficient system of Education, which shall extend its benefits to every child in the State. We believe that the law which requires the payment of taxes as a qualification for voting at some of our most important elections is founded in bad policy, and is contrary to the genius and principles of Republican Government. If a citizen has property it is always subject to the payment of taxes—if he has no property it is wrong that the State would disfranchise him and hold a mortgage on his freedom for the pittance which he may be enabled to pay. We believe that men should be entitled to vote in all matters of public concern, because they are freemen, and not on account of their ability to pay a large or small sum of money. The laws on this subject are but little better than a dead letter, they are odious to the community because contrary to the principles of our government and we recommend their repeal. The present organization of our Inferior Courts is in our estimation not well calculated to secure the ends for which they were constituted. Five Justices in each county are required within the year to hold two sessions of the Inferior Court and six sessions of the Court of Ordinary, besides attending to all the public interests of the county without compensation. It is not strange under such circumstances that we too frequently find these offices filled with incompetent men.—We believe that a single judge learned in the law and well qualified to perform the duties required should be substituted for the five which now occupy the bench of the Inferior Court, and that adequate compensation be allowed him. As there has been a strong desire expressed on the part of a considerable number of our citizens that the County Site should be at Albany instead of Newton, and believing that the people should at all times have the privilege, as they undoubtedly have the right, to express their opinion on all subjects of public importance which concern them. We recommend that the Legislature at its next session pass a law authorizing the people of this county to assemble at the precincts on a certain day and vote for or against such removal and authorize such measures as will enable the people to carry their expressed opinion into effect, provided it can be done without expense to the county. We tender to his honor Judge Warren, assurances of our high appreciation of the able and impartial manner in which he has discharged the arduous and important duties of his station, and to the Solicitor General our thanks for the faithful discharge of his duties and for his courtesy and assistance to our body. FRANKLIN O. WELCH, Foreman. George B King, Jesse F. Reynolds, E. Richardson, Aaron M. Smith, E. W. Teddlie, Murphy Taylor, Charles W. Robey, Thomas J. Johnson, James Chance, Peter Cody, Nelson Tift, E. H. Swinney, Jesse Slocumb, W. G. Pierce, Reddin Faircloth, Jesse W. Goodson, John Jackson, Nathan Jordan. I dissent from that part of the report which recommends a repeal of the tax qualification for voting. JAMES CHANCE. I dissent from the propriety of the Grand Jury entertaining the subject of the removal of the Court House, notwithstanding I acknowledge their right to do so, because I believe it will run into political or sectional measures. JAMES CHANCE. A true extract of the minutes of said Court, this 15th day of December, 1846. SETH C. STEVENS, Clerk. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 9.0 Kb