The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1895-02-16
One Of the Most Important Prob
lens of Legislation.
SCHOOL AND LAND CONTRACTS
A BiIl I'm the House Provides for the
II iuting aud Distribution of Medical
Reports Among the Profession.

1 ing contest over the remission OF pen
alties on taxes, and now these questions
will come up before the joint senate
and house committee. The indications
are that for the coming year it will like
ly be reduced to u per cent. for delin-
quencies with a 1-2 per cent. penalty.
An attempt will be made to either re-
bate the penalty and interest on the
taxes of 1928, provided they are paid
this year, or to rebate the penalty and
reduce the interest from 20 to 10 per
cent There will be a provision to the
general county law providing that pen
alties and interest collected be credit
ed to the different funds pro rata in
stead of keeping it all in the general
! fund. The measure TO put counties on
cash basis by abolishing contingent
and other funds and requiring the sal
aries of officers to be paid in warrants
| payable from the same fund that all
other warrants are drawn against, is
quite popular in the committee, and it
is believed such a bill will be reported
favorably. The present bills will per-
haps be consolidated into a substitute
BILL which will perhaps contain some
conditions for the protection of the pres
ent officers, Withholding it's operation
for several months, for instance, and
putting a safety guard around all pres
ent outstanding salary warrants. The
opposition to the salary and contin-
gent fund system is that in nearly ev-
cry county in the state all the available
moneys are put into these funds against
which salaries and preferred claims are
/ a xrrbi1 ha Wit
the county-the furnisher of supplies,
the contractor the juror. the witness
all are paid by warrants drawn on a
/ fund that is barren of moneys and is
certain to be so long as there is any dam
ger of the two funds referred to running
dry.
The proposition to compel the accept
ance of warrants by the county treas
urers in payment of taxes has been
thoroughly discussed. 1t is not popular
and is believed to be extremely danger
Gus. The experiences of other states,
of which the committee has been made
familiar, have shown that it is disease
breeder instead of a purifier. To be at
all safe it would require so many limita-
tiOns thrown about it, so many protect
ing clauses, that it would really de-
stroy it's usefulness. The opinion of the
committee is about settled that the
measure is not a good one and would
not operate to the best interests of the
county government nor the people. An
adverse report can therefore be looked
for.
There will be some big contests in the
senate within few days over bills now
! in the hands of the judiciary commit
tee. The downfall of the speculative
rich people Of the state during the past
two years has been attended with much
distress. Both the mortgagOr and the
mortgage has found any amount of un-
satisfactory things in the present laws.
and each is now working to get a
change.
one of the most remarkable bills be-
fore the senate committee on judiciary
is that regarding homestead exempt
ions from debt The present law pro
vides that a man of family is entitled to
a homestead valued at $1,000, which
shall be exempt from attachment or
| other lien of a judgment or other cred
| itor. One Of the bills introduced on this
| subject proposes to raise this home
stead exemption to $1,000, which, it is
| said is equivalent to the California law.
Another believes it should be an acre
of land with improvements in the city,
| or 40 acres with improvements in the
country, providing the value of the same
is not in excess Of $4,000 Others want
it reduced to $4,000, and some still lower.
The committee has been at work on the
subject for some time. 1t has, however,
been unable to agree on a report, one
member standing out for the present
law, and others for IS, 900. The average
opinion of the committee is that the
figure should be fixed at $500, and this
will very likely be the result after it is
fought out on the floor of the senate.
Another important bill is that regard
ing the possession of mortgaged prop
erty sold on execution during the year
for redemption. There is a strong feel
ing that the original owner should be
in possession, securing all Of the profits
from rentals and so forth, during the
redemption period. and the committee
is so hopelessly divided that it will be
unable to agree, throwing the different
bills into committee of the whole. In
the house committee the sentiment
seems to be for a bill Withholding the
sale until the redemption period is up,
and then giving the purchaser imme-
date possession
USURY LAW.
The senate committee has been able
| to come TO an understanding on the
usury law, and will present. in lieu of
the many now before 1t, a substitute
bill fixing the legal rate of interest at Z
per cent. per annum, and the maximum
rate at II per cent Helms bill provided
that the party paying usurious interest
might sue inside of two years to recov-