St. Paul daily globe., 1895-09-21
HOUSE FILE 532,

House files have occasionally ac-
quired some notoriety in this state
There was a famous, or rather a no.
torious file some years ago that orig
mated in the house, that was as
mild hammered file as ever scut-
tied the treasury of a state. No.
l57, we believe, was its designation.
1t took the grasp of the state for
arrears of taxes off the lands of a
certain railway corporation and re-
mitted to the fortunate owners
Some of whom were members of the
legislature, as it afterward ap-
peared-to the tune of nearly a mil
lion dollars. Other files have con-
tained their woodchucks, but we
doubt if a sleeker one ever slipped
through a legislature than the one
contained in the act whose file num-
Der is the caption of this article.
1t is a plausible-looking face that
its title bears, that of IAN act reg
ulating the taxation Of steam ves-
sells, boats and other water craft"
Mr.. McInnis stands sponsor for it
and it is a monument to his ingenu-
ity as well as to the stupidity of his
associates, outside Of Duluth. 1t is
a short act, only three sections being
sufficient to hold it's purpose. The
first of these provides that 'in con-
sideration of the annual payment
into the state treasury by the owner
of any steam vessel, barge, boat or
other water craft, owned within this
state, or hailing from any port
thereof, and employed in the navi-
cation of international waters. of a
sum equal to 8 cents per net ton of
the registered tonnage thereof, such
payment shall be received in lieu of
all taxes and said steam vessel,
barge, boat or other water craft
shall be and the same is hereby
made exempt from all further taxa
ton, either state or municipal"
The remaining two sections are but
the rind that holds the milk of this
cocoanut.
Outside of the Duluth delegation
fhere were probably not half dozen
members who knew what the ton
mage Of a water craft is. They all
knew something about railroad ton
mage, and had more or less vague
idea that, in some way, it was con-
nected with gross earnings. Just
what representations were made to
the members by the promoters, the
trainers, of this particular wood
chuck is not known now. 1t will
probably be made known later when
the members begin to explain to their
constituents. 1t is supposed that
they understood that it was a tax
of three cents a ton on the freight
tonnage carried by the boats, thus
assimilating it to the three per cent
tax on gross earnings. Anyway the
act was passed, and the state auditor
is beginning to get returns. He may
get enough out of it to reimburse the
state for printing the blanks pro-
Hided for in the second section of
The act, but it will not amount to
much more. Practically it exempts
Rll water craft from the payment of
any but a, merely nominal tax.
The registered tonnage of a boat
Is capacity. not the weight, forty
rubic feet constituting the ton. The
number of tons it can carry is an
pther matter. Tonnage is not a cri-
terion of value either. A barge may
have the same tonnage as North
West" and cost a twentieth as much
DR. less. We have no statistics at
hand of the tonnage of the vessels
hailing from or to hail from Duluth
under this alluring act, but the 23, $50
Fteamers and vessels engaged in the
,oastwise trade of the United States
have a tonnage of 4,6S4,029, or an
lyerage Of little less than 200 tons