The morning call., 1895-02-13
DANGER Line REACHED
Ready to Rush Bad Bills
Through.
NO SACK HAS YET APPEARED.
But Committees Are Very Active in
Their Work.
AFTER THE INSURANCE COMPANIES.
A Substitute Calling for the Taxation
Of the Incomes Of Foreign Con.
Germs Offered.
AFTER THE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

which have slumbered quietly on the files,
are now being actively urged for adoption.
No sack or at least none of considerable
size, has reached Sacramento as yet. Will
this sudden activity force its appearance?
Elsewhere will be found some of the bills
which good legislation demands should be
defeated.
Despite the able arguments of T. G.
Coogan, w. w. Foote and Julius Kahn,
the Senate Committee on Corporations has
taken an extraordinary position toward the
measures aimed at the insurance COM
panies.
The attorneys were misled last night, as
they thought no action would be agreed
upon till this morning; but in the execu-
tive session of the Committee on Corpora
tions it was decided to make the insurance
companies the target of legislation, and
the committee this morning introduced
substitute for the bills introduced by Sena-
tors Hart and Mitchell. This substitute,
which has the Endorsement of the Com
mittee on Corporations, provides that
foreign companies shall pay tax of per
cent on their gross incomes, and local COM
panies tax of per cent. From the tax
provision the losses of the companies are
exempt.
''The substitute bill differs from the
others only in degree" declared Attorney
T. G. Coogan. "It is measure which
strikes a severe blow at the insurance busl-
ness. If it is desired to receive a revenue
from foreign companies who take money
out of the State, it would be quite easy to
prepare bill which | apprehend would
meet with little opposition. A small tax
on the net income would not, 1 believe,
arouse very strong opposition, but the
substitute bill reported by the Committee
on Corporations is measure which wonld
work great injury to the insurance bust
ness in California"
julius Kahn takes the same position as
Coogan. He believes that the substitute
bill is wrong in principle and will prove
very injurious to the business interests of
the State if adopted. He asks why the
insurance companies should be singled out
for legislation of the sort proposed, and
why the banking corporations and the i'm
porting-houses should be exempt from a
tax of the kind proposed to be levied on
the insurance companies.
The Assembly Committee on Corpora
tions will meet Thursday afternoon, when
the insurance bills will come up before
that body, and an opportunity will then be
presented to Attorneys Coogan, Foote and
Kahn to explain their opposition to the
tax feature applied to gross incomes de-
rived from insurance premiums. If the
Assembly committee takes the same course
as that of the Senate then the bills will be
fought on the floors of both houses.
Assemblyman Reid has introduced bill
to repeal the act approved March IL, 1S93
which provides for regulating "the manner
of receiving and paying fees, commissions,
percentages and other compensations for
official service in cities and counties hav-
ing population of over 100000. and pre-
scribing the duties of officers with refer
ence thereto" This bill was referred to
the San Francisco delegation. 1t is bad
measure and seeks to undo some of the
good accomplished by the Legislature of
two years ago. 1t opens the avenue of ex-
tortion and would, if passed, put the
Sheriff's office in San Francicco and other
city and county offices in the positions
they held previous to the adoption of the
law which it is sought to repeal.
1.-THE bill refers exclusively to San Fran
cisco. 1t was introduced by the Assembly
man from Trinity Why should he so
concern himself with the fees of San Fran
cisco offices is the question which nat
urally suggests itself. The bill will be
fought bitterly in the Senate if it ever
reaches the upper house.
''The bill is bad one," said Senator
Fay. sin 1856, under the consolidation
act, the Sheriff's salary in San Francisco
was fixed at $4,000. Since then, by one
means or another, the fee system grew
until Sheriff Laumeister made $300,000 in
fees, and Sheriff McDade must have col
lected $150,000.
1.-The law: of 1893 put the Sheriff office
back where it belonged, making the salary
$4,000 year. There is under the present
law no excuse or temptation to overcharge
Litigants are no longer robbed, for the fees
go to the city, not to the Office. In conse-
quence the Sheriff's Office sustains itself
If the law is repealed it will open up the
old avenues of extravaganza. 1t applies
with greater effect to the political machine
If you make the Sheriff's office a mint
in the way of collecting fees you make the
political struggle for the place that much
the greater, and the tendency to corruption
becomes very strong. The bill should be
defeated. The present law is good one :"
There are other bills which have slum-
bered quietly on the files since their intro
duction, but which may be urgeG for pas
sage any moment. Senator Dunn has in
troduced three bills, the good points of
which he has not yet sought to explain.
Senate bill 90 is one of them. 1t is enti-
tied IAN act for the protection of patients
from extortion by dishonest physicians
and druggists, /" but no lobby of honest
physicians and druggists have appeared to
recommend its passage. 1t was introduced
January 15 and has gone to the Assembly.
Senate bill 525, by the same author, pro-
poses to regulate tho charges of telephone
companies and of corporations and indi-
viduals operating telephones and telephone
lines.
1t provides that in cities having popu-
lation of more than 10000 inhabitants the
price for a switch shall not exceed cents
and that the rental OF single telephone
shall not exceed So month, and where
two or more telephones are rented by the
same company the rental is not to exceed
81 so a month for each telephone. The