BY MEYERS & MENGEL. TERMS OF PUBLICATION. Tb e Bkpfobd Gazette Is publi?hest inflexible integrity and the most incorruptible honesty, | X I and that ho will administer justice i without fair, favor, affection or parti aliiy. REMEMBER, That you are in duty hound to vote as sound judgment dictates, regardless of party, and that, If you do so, you cannot conscientiously support John W. Geary and Henry W. Williams at the coming election. Judge Packer and his Taxes. To a modest man, like him whose name heads this article, the publica tion of the following facts is most dis tasteful,J>ut Uiey are forced into the light by the constant, malignant and willful falsehoods of unscrupulous Rad ical newspapers and irresponsible Rad ical speakers. Failing to find any as sailable point in Judge Packer's pri vate character, and conceding that his wealth is the result of industry, they now resort to a most unjustifiable and malicious attack upon his integrity as a tax-payer. They do not stop to ask if the assertion is true, but upon the reckless charges of a small sheet, pub lished in the borough of Maucli Chunk, and one individual of as little authority, they base this disgraceful and flagrant violation of truth. We will see, "how plain a tale shall put them down." It is alleged that Judge Packer sought to evade the payment of taxes, legally assessed against him, and that he only paid them on compulsion. We will now show that this allegation was con ceived in falsehood, presented to the public in a spirit of partisan maligni ty, and adhered to with a persistency that finds no parallel save in the low est depths of defamation. In the winter of 1866-67 Judge Pack er, being then Vice-President and the largest stockholder of the Lehigh Val ley Railroad Company, determined to make the city of Philadelphia his resi dence,as the duties ofhisposition in the company,the ill-health of the President, and his own private affairs made his presence a necessity—almost continu ously—in this city. This fact was well known at the time to many of his per | sonal friends and business acquainten ces. He made efforts to purchase asuit able house during that winter and spring, but finding none to suit him, he made hisjresidenceat the Merchants' Hotel, where he had during the past ten years, spent much more than half his time. In the spring of 1867, the assessor of Mauch Chunk called on Judge Pack er for a statement of his property for the purpose of assessment, and was then informed of his change of resi idence, remarking that the taxes on his personal estate would be paid in Philadelphia, but that his real estate in Muuch Chunk would be assessed there as usual. The assessor very properly, made his return, assessing only his real estate ; but the county commissioners, without notice to Judge Packer- added his stock in the the Lehigh Valley Railroad to the as sessor's return. When the collector called for the payment of taxes thus assessed, he was informed of Judge Packer's entire wil lingness to pay the amount due on his real estate, hut objection was made to the payment of any tax assessed by the county commissioners on his personal estate, as he was a resident of Philadel phia, and was assessed there. At this point, the Commissioners of Carbon County consulted counsel, as did also Judge Packer. The latter con sulted Hon. W. A. Porter, lately one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, and Furman Sheppard, now District Attorney of this city. Both these gen tlemen advised Judge Packer that he was not legally bound to pay the tax es assesse 1 in Maueh Chunk on his personal property; that he had the same right to chose his place of resi dence as all other citizens had, and Philadelphia his residence, he could be assessed for taxes only on his real estate in Maueh Chunk. After receiving this opinion, Judge Packer stated to the counsel of the Commissioners and of the borough that he proposed to pay the taxes rather than endure the annoyance of a law suit, even although his counsel advised him that he could not be compelled to pay. He. proposed (hat if he could be as sured that no difficulty would arise in the future from this cause, that he would pay the taxes for 18G7. The counsel for the Commissioners advised them that they could not assess Judge Packer for an other year, and that any attempt on their part to do so would be fruitless, and they then received the taxes with that understanding and upon that a greement. It is, indeed, strange that Judg* Packer, rich as the Radical papers rep resent him to bej should not have the same right that the poorest man in the State . s, to decide whether Mauch Chunk shall be his residence, or some other place. The true secret of all this fuss is that Judge Packer paid such immense taxes, as the following state ment will show that the Mauch Chunk VOL. 65. —WHOLE No. 5,511. authorities were loth tologsehirp: In the year 1865 the total amount of : / taxes levied fur the borough of Maueh Chunk wag $71,815 88 Of this amount Judge Packer paid ... 50.186 48 For 1866 the total taxes were 63.548 23 Of this amount Judge Packer paid... 44.106 57" For 1867 the total taxea were 54.625 53 Qt this amount Judge Packer paid... 33 373 70 Total amount levied for the three yearn ending December 30. 1868 189,987 14 Total amounts paid by Judge Packer tor the three years ending December 30, IS6B, nearly 67-100 and over § of the whole 127,750 75 Subsequently to these assessments, a Republican Legislature passed a bill exempting the stock of corporations, in the hands of the individual stock holders, from taxation for State, coun ty or local purposes. Under this act, approved by Governor Geary, on the third day of January, 1868, Judge Packer's railroad and other stocks, in common with the stocks of all oth citizens of the Commonwealth, became non-assessable and exempt from taxa tion. Thus the revenue derived from Judge Packer's personal property, as well as that from every other citizen in the State, was remitted by the act ola Rupubliean Legislature, approved by a Republican Governor. And yet, one would suppose from the character of the assaults made on Judge Packer by the Radical press and Radical speakers, that he is a dishonest man for not nullifying the act of January third, '6B, and forcing the Commis sioners of Carbon county or Phila delphia to accept what is not due to them, and which a Radical Legislature and Governor said should not be as sessed or collected. What difference, then, could his change of residence have made to the county and borough after the passage of this law ? Very little. In 1868 Judge Packer was and could only have been assessed for his personal salary, mon eys at interest, and some other small items. This was done in Philadelphia where the Judge has since resided and voted. In Mauch Chunk he was-and is still assessed as a non-resident on his property taxable then. Thus it will be seen how a simple statement of facts emasculates the tissue of Radical falsehood of its design, and vindicates an honorableand worthy citizen. But this is not all upon this subject of taxation. On the representation of irresponsible and subordinate revenue officers in this city, Thomas J. Bing ham, of Pittsburg, and the Hon. John A. Bingham, orators imported and hired by the Radical State Committee | to canvass this State for Geary and ■ Williams, knowingly concealed from ; the public the amount of State and na ; tional taxes paid by Judge Packer iu the First Collection district in this city. They falsely and mali ciously assert that the records show the payment of only sß.jo, and this is taken up and published throughout the length and breadth of the Common wealth as truth. Nothing can ho more utterly and intentionally false, as all per. ons who pay tax on their in comes well know. The very printed scedule furnished by the United States Reveuue Department, upon which tho return of incomes is made, shows to the credit of every stockholder the a mount of tax withheld by a corpora tion on the dividends declared, which amount would be added to the divi dend, if not withheld as a tax of the corporation. Thus the tax so with held is paid on the incomes from these dividends by the corporation, on the nature of the trustee for the stock holder. The amount thus paid is part of the profits due Judge Packer on the earnings of the Lehigh Valley Rail road, and if not paid by them, would be returned, aud accounted for by him. What, then, is the amount paid by Judge Packer, to the United States and the State, on his income from his interest in the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and the taxes on the tounage and gross reciepts of his proportion of stock ? In the year 1886 it amounted to $ 86,219 In the year 1887 it amounted to 66,111 In the yoar 1868 it amounted to 104,208 Making a total in three years of $256,538 After refuting succinctly and iu detail this base calumny of the sup porters General Geary, we ought to expect a measure of atonementof their great crime, by a retraction of their falsehoods, and the publication of the truth as it is. Public decency, which has been shocked by the false accusa tion—common honesty which has been wantonly outraged—public character, which has been ruthlessly assailed, and the repudiation of the citizens so. malignantly traduced, all demand that this base and wanton deception should have a full and and public re traction in every Republican paper, and from the mouth of every Repub lican speaker; from Governor Geary and Daniel Kalbfus, down to John A. Bingham and Columbus Delano, the imported orators from Ohio. Wheth er such magnanimity will be evinced or not, Judge Packer, will outlive all the slanders that have been heaped upon him, and find his triumphant vindication in the suffrages of the honest men of the Commonwealth.— Philadelphia Aye.