The Liquor Tax Again

Very many of our state exchanges hnre quotcd the Courikr's article opposin the turning over of the liquor tax to the counties.approvingthe position taken. But our off-horse neighbor of the Ypsilanti Senthiel quotes it disapprovingly, aud remarks : We say, let the countles have this money, and the cllles and villages thus share lt with the townslilpH. It comes from them. T he saloons In Ypullanll, Ann Arbor and Manchester, Saline and Dexter, would have poor plcklng lf It were not for thelr ccuntycustom. In sraall vlllages thepeople are nearly or quite relieved from vlllage laxes by the liquor tax. Thai Is the surroundlng country pavs the tax of the vlllage. In larger places thè liquor lax Is exhausted in extravaganee aud other taxes are not made appreclably llehter. These are the reasons why the proposiüon to put the llquor tax in the couuty treasury is opposed. The Sentinel's assertion that it is the country custom that keeps our saloons running, and that pays the municipal tax in many villages, is hardly complhnentary to our country friends, nor do we believe it entirely truthful, either. Of couise there is some country custom, but where do the countrymen get thelr money to spend ? Do they not get it of the city or village buyers who pay them for their wheat or grain or produce ? Our farmer classes do not sell their products among theniselves, but depend entirely on the villages and citics for their markets. If they are fools enougli to spend that money for liquor the fault lies with them not with the people of the cities. Furthermore the country does not pay policemen nor raise a large poor fund, neither does it incur many other absolutely necessary expenses that fall to the lot of the city. If the country is to have the tax, then in all fairness let It have the saloons also. But what about the collection of the tax? Take this money away from the cities- let them have little or 110 interest in its collection, and where is your offlcer or offlcere to enforceit? If the editor of the Sentinel has ever had any experience upon a village or city council, he must know how difflcult it is to get the tax collected ; let the money go to the county and the tax wlll go nearly or quite uncollected. Just stick a pin there. It is virtually taking a step baokward. The off side is the wrong side on this question, Bro. Sentinel. The asserlion that this tax is used in extravagance is not borne out by facU. It may be In a few instances, but ia nlnetynine cases out of a hundred it is used for necessary expenses, many of them caused by the presence of the business within the municipalities.