Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1883-10-15

,'S'sJ "AnaAsAA pSOSAslOu t4lBI1 ~ tQE Hi.
Inois constitution Of 1870, under which
sbsolute uniformity Of taxation i sa.
cured, texceptiDg " to the Illinois Cen.
trai railroad, which by 8 contract with
the state. made twenty five years ago, pays
a communication in lieu Of taxation) ali IN.
road property OF every description, in.
cludlDg the rolling stock and franchiaes.
being assessed BY the state board Of
equalization. The total valuation Of
each road within the state, divided bv
the number Of miles within its limits.
the value Of each mile thereby ascer.
tained, multiplied BY the number Of
miles in each county, is certified TO bv
the county clerks Of such counties and
subjected to q uniform rate Of taxation
for every purpose. But it NAV be urped
that under the Illinois constitution of
lS4S the legislature provided that the
Illinois Central railroad should psy a
per centage Of rs gross earnings into
the state treasury in lien of taxatiop.
and that the law was upheld by
the courts. This is true; but in sddi.
ton to the language contained in arti.
Gle nine, section one, of our constitution
is the provision that the Legislature
should have power to tax corporations
owning or using franchises and pr1yi.
leges in such manner as it should from
time to time direct, which is found in
each OF the constitutions referred 10.
Under that of 184S it took the abIest
efforts Of Abraham Lincoln to convince
the supreme court of the validity of the
law IN question, and no Legislature
OF that state since the adoption of that
OF 1870 has ever recognized il as q pre-
cedent. An examination of the section
OF the proposed constitution in auss-
ton shows that tax to be valid
under it must be on the valuation of the
property OF every person and corpora
ton; that all shall rsJ tax in proper.
tlon to the actual value Of his, her OF its
property, and not on gross earnings; and
to settle any doubt upon the matter of
equal and exact burden section two Of AZ
ticle fifteen provides that the property of
corporations, except for charitable, relie.
lous and educational purposes now ex-
lsting and to be hereafter created, shall
be subjected to uniform rate of taxa.
ton with other property. But the con-
tributor italicises the words
"such value to be ascertained
and fixed in such manner as
the Legislature shall direct by general
law. such laws to be uniform as to the
class of property or subjects upon which
they operate" Suppose this was stricken
out, would any sane person honestly
deny that the legislature did not posses
such power? The section as reported BY
the committee contained provision for
the assessment of railroads by local
assessors. This was objected to for the
reason that by it the prime
object had in view by the com.
mittee and the convention, viz:
Equal taxation would be thereby defeat.
ed. the franchises and rolling stock es-
Gaping their just share of the public
burden, and was stricken out. In the
excitement of debate an addition that q
tax on gross earnings be allowable was
carried, but when such excitement had
subsided was thrown out by an appar-
emily unanimous vote, and subsequently
the italicised portion of the section was
brought forward by the most ardent and
conscientious advocates Of the peoples
rights.