St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-27
NO REASON TO FEAR.

TIE lOllOWlHS leILeI.
Please publish a synopsis, or at least the
intent. of the mortgage tax bill introduced
by Mr. DoNNELLY. | have just completed ar
rangements to place large amount of out
side money in this state OH mortgage secur-
ity. but do not want to go to any further ex-
pense in the matter if any laws are to be
passed which will result in not only with
holding any money intended to be invested
in this state, but i'll withdrawing any hereto
fore placed when it becomes due. If we are
finished in Minnesota and arrived at that
condition where we can prohibit any more
Eastern or foreign capital from being invest
ed here, ], for one, am not satisfied with the
pinnacle arrived at. and will move to some
locality where dry rot, DoNNELLYs, cham
bers of commerce and general paresis are
not so apparent. have been away and may
be mistaken i'll the intent of the new law,
but have seen enough to know that we have
been terribly injured by the idiotic bills
talked of and the imbecility displayed by the
''Old Men of the Sea- i'll the chamber of COM
merce. Yours truly,
A FRIEND OF MINNESOTA.
The purp0rt and scope OF these bills
have already been explained several
times in our columns. They are two in
number. The first one, which has been
recommended to pass the senate, pro-
vides for the listing of all mortgages,
whether real OF personal, with the as
SCISSOR for the purpose of taxation, and
requires that they shall be stamped by
him as having been so listed before
they shall be entitled to be recorded or
filed. The only objection to this bill is,
that it causes the mortgage some
trouble when he undertakes to get his
mortgage of record. At the present
time mortgages are listed for taxation,
as they will be if this law is enacted:
but now the assessor is put to the labor
ious task of going through the records in
the registers office to secure the data
for the purpose. Under the new law,
provided it passes, he will have COM
plete list i'll his own Office of all such
taxable instruments. AS the bill was
originally drawn, there was no proper
provision made for getting mortgages
off of the assessors books when they
had been satisfied, and the GLOBE does
not know whether, as it now stands,
confusion from this quarter has been
guarded against. But. in any event,
there is nothing revolutionary OF dan
gerous about the measure. 1t is simply
device for securing accurate and
trustworthy bookkeeping.
Mr.. DONNELLY'S other bill. which is
called bill for an act to equaliZe taxa
ton, is bird of different feather. 1t
has not come up as yet for conSidera-
tioD, but its general object is to sub
ject not only mortgages owned by resi-
dents of the state to taxation, as is done
at present, but also mortgages owned
by non-residents, and permits a mort
gagOr owing debt to a nonresident
mortgage to pay the fax ON the mort
gage and deduct the amount so paid
from his mortgage debt. The GLOBE
some weeks ago gave a, detailed state
ment of this bill and showed that it was
unconstitutional and incapable of en-
forcement even if enacted. This posi-
ton was supported by the quotation Of
conclusive authorities, the unanimous
holding of which was that mortgage
under laws such as ours was personal
property, the residence of which was
the residence of its owner, and that it
could not be made amenable to taxa
ton in another forum. This law will
probably never pass, because there is
too much intelligence III the legislature
to permit such thing; but if it does
and the governor approves it, it will
make no difference, because it will be
imperative.
In general the GLOBE does not think
that its correspondent or any one else
will have any reason to remove from
the state or abandon legitimate business
on account of what the present legis-
lature will do. This legislature is an
ointed for great work in the way of
ameliorating the condition Of the down
trodden; and 1T is buckling down to the
task fearlessly, honestly, enthusiastic
ally, and with the highest wisdom. The
friends of monopoly whose interests
have been corruptly favored in past
years by seryile partisan legislatures
are trembling because the day Of their
eXaltation is ended, and are STACKING
the most conservative measures which
make against them with the cry of
anarchy" This discourages and con-
fuses the unwary and the timid. But
capital is safe in the hands of senate
and house such as we have now, where
sympathy with the condition of the poor
is united with practical experience and
the profoundest respect for the law and
the constitution.