Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-01-22

]
abandoned, whatever other take
were imposed. Experience so ia
had shown it to result very satlsfac
torily. The tax under it had almos
doubled i'll two years. This show
Ing. when the imposition of othe
methods of taxation was to say th'
least difficult and of uncertain re
suits, seemed to justify, if not de
mand, its retention on the statut,
books. The Judge read from tn
annual reports of the railroad com
panies, to substantiate his position
and quoted from the acts of Congress.
to show within what narrow bound.
the authority to tax railroad property
had been clrcumscribed.
The importance of the proposed
change can scarcely be estimated
There are now in operation in this
Territory about GO miles of railroad
The Oregon Railway and Naviga.
tion Co. is operating 800 miles, and
is, as we know, penetrating the Cas-
cade mountains, adding to its line
$50 miles. Four other companies
are operating 125 miles. They are
all in their infancy, yet in the year
1854 they paid into the Territorial
Treasury S4S. .953.G5; without any
trouble to the Territory, in hard cash,
tax en- their gross earnings. OF
this sum the Northern Pacific has
paid S37, ,751. 80; should the business
of the roads increase, as that of other
companies has done, the receipts
fiom this source, he had no doubt
will grow to $4,000 yearly. In
Minnesota, under the old system
there wcie 1S0 miles of road in op-
eration and the tax resulting was
$50 800. In 1854, under this same
law, the tax amounted to $625 COG. .46
In answer to a letter addressed to
the Oregon Railway and Navigation
20, he had it. that the gross earn
ings in 1885 were SGi0, 900; the tax
upon which will be $4,000. On
thei1 boats, and in addition to this,
they paid 2,519. and upon Palouse
lands, over $1,000. From the
Northern Pacific, he had the follow
ing, Published in a New York paper:
Gross earnings, from July 1st to De-
cember 1st, for the whole road, &c.
G27 .0OO, extending more than one
million for the same period pre-
cedins, showing how the revenue
from that source will expand.
Abiding to the bill already intro
duced in this House, to take the
place of the gross earnings law,
should it be repealed, to tax the un-
patented lands, he said: 81 am op-
posed to it because it is wholly WIS.,
ionary. and unwarranted by any
precedent. 1t attempts to tax some
thing which they have not, for they
forfeited their right to those lands
long since, and they will never have
that land to tax unless Congress-, in
its wisdom. sees fit to give them an
opportunity to retrieve it. 1t would
result in long and doubtful litiga-
ton. The validity of the gross
earnings law has been attacked on
the ground of unconstitutionality;
but l deny that it is so. l am op-
posed to the repeal of the gross
earnings law because it has been
tried in other Territories and States,
and has been foond to be the best
possible mode of taxation, and be-
cause the money comes in upon the
day upon which it is due and with
out any trouble on the part of our
officers. The substitution of anoth-
er law will from year to year di-
minish our revenue as fast rs the
company makes sales of their prop
erty or as rapidly as they suffer n
forfeiture of their lands.
Iwish to impress upon you this
fact, that the Northern Pacific Com
pany has no equitable or legal claim
in the unpatented lands OF this Ter
ritory, and the memorials presented
here for the forfeiture of these lands
by the friends of this bill admit that
fact upon their face. AS to the le-
gality of the Gross Earnings Law, we
have the action of the last Legisla-
ture in which there were many as
good lawyers as there are in this
to support it; Congress has not
disapproved it; the Chief Justice Of
this Territory has declared it valid
in case where the question was in
dispute. A similar law is in opera
ton in many States, and the Su-
preme Court of the United States
has declared it to be the most FEAST
bic and practical mode of taxing
corporations. Again, the same mode
of taxation was in force in the State
of Minnesota for more than fifteen
years and was upheld by all the
courts. There is nothing in the Or
Sauic Act TO preven, Cur imposing
this personal tax upon any corpora
ton III addition to any property tax,
but the latter proposition is not be,
fore this house. The franchise Of a
corporation is property and may be
taxed. Now, if this tax upon the
gross earnings of these roads is not
enough, make it heavier. but do not
give it up. The earnings of these
corporations never diminish-they
always increase and l am confident
that when the Northern Pacific com
pletes its road through the Cascade
Mountains to Puget Sound, its busi-
ness will so increase as to make the
revenue from that company alone
amount to $3.50, 900. Judge Denni-
son then read a newspaper report OF
the decision of the Supreme Court
in which tho unpatented lands OF
the company were declared non-tax-
able, and for fear that it might he
charged that this was only news.
paper talk, he afterwards read the
entire decision which he said he had
obtained at much pains. "This
opinion, as will be seen. holds that