The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-22

Wesley K Walton, of Rich county,
carried off the honors in the election
for secretary Of the state board OF
land commissioners, at the first regu-
lar meeting yesterday forenoon.
The two members of the board ap-
pointed by the governor qualified be-
fore going to work, in the sum of
SIS, 900 each. Mr.. Walton's sureties be-
ing Arthur l.. Thomas, James A. Miner
and John E. Dooly. while those of Mr.
Reese. of Sanpete. were Sven o. Neil
son, w. d. Livingston, j. p. Madsen, 5.
p Larsen, John Carter, Anthony Mad
sen, John H Hougaard, Z. I. Parry.
H. D. Reese, Thomas Edmunds and
John Davis.
This little formality having been gone
through with, the board proceeded to
read the law which created and de-
fined it and decided where it was at,
so to speak. The secretary read while
the encouragement put the construc-
ton upon the statute. All this was
done in executive session.
Of course the board viii have a clerk
anu Olt VIII DC dIDOlllCNS III a Lew
days. After communing with itself for
short time the board yesterday de-
cided to take an adjournment until
tomorrow morning.
There are several applications for
lands and leases of lands which will
not be made public until the envelopes
containing the applications are opened
and passed upon And this action will
not be taken until the commission has
oysfa IN IN Iof
ings have been held in the office of the
attorney general. but this practice will
have to be abandoned Immediately.
There are rooms in the building in
view, but those who have the matter
in charge do not care to have anything
said about IL until arrangements have
been completed
INSURANCE LAW.
Although reluctant to admit it, it is
a fact that the secretary of state does
not have all the hopes imaginable as
concerns the collection of fees from
the various insurance companies. 1t
appears there is d defect in the law as
passed by the legislature. 1t will be
remembered that the wiseacres of the
two houses, Critchlow OF the lower. and
Sutherland of the upper, discovered a
whole lot of flaws in the bill and as a
4NoulL AllC saint WAS GUaeHQbQ-
Instead of an insurance bill which
would have resulted in a license" of
so much per annum, the law now states
that gross tax" must be paid.
The act itself declares: Section l.
Every company doing business in this
state shall pay to the state annually a
tax of ~ PEI cent on the gross
premium of said company collected
from policy holders within the state,
CiIhiapfr hnt h.
lowed in section,3 of this ac+
Section :. Every such comrany Shall,
on the 3lst Gay of March of each year
furnish to the secretary of state a
sworn statement Of the total business
transacted by such company in the
state prior TO the 31st of the December
preceding. Such statement shall be in
the form prescribed by the secretary
of state and shall show:
"F'irst-The gross amount of the pre-
miums collected from policy holders
during the year, or since the last re-
port.
''Second-The serial numbers of the
policies issued during the year or
since the last report, together with the
premium collected upon such policy.
Provided that the statement to be filed
In 1896 may be SO filed on or before the
S0th day of April. 1885,
The paragraph marked "2" is the one
on which the insurance men hitch with
the secretary. 1t is claimed that ac-
cordfng to the paper which is being
sent to each company that no resident
agent can swear TO the serial num-
bers That only the home office can
certify TO this statement of facts.
Further that the provision which is
contained in the second subdivision of
section and which carried with it the
following language:
Provided; That whenever any such
insurance company shall have paid a
tax within the state upon its property.
1t shall be entitled to deduct from the
amount OF Inc said " per cent. on its
gross premium receipts, the amount of
such tax paid upon its property"
The hypothesis is that the last sec
ton, and one upon which the secre-
tary is evidently basing the language
of his blanks, although he is not
authority for the assertion, applies to
the amount of gross premium paid
during the year 1895 in the state of
Utah" There was no state of Utah"
in 1895, and while kilograms have been
received from several insurance firms
all over the country saying they would
make deposit right away, wires were
sent out last evening instructing them |
to wait awhile and take their time as
something was likely to drop.
Another point is that while the |
Hyams bill provided for a license |
the last measure enacts a tax" This |
according to the general law, as quot |
ed by insurance men will not stand /
until next year. AS result the final |
action of the courts will be watched |
with a great deal of interest. One |
agent stated yesterday that the APP /
proXimate amount received by the |
state OF Colorado last year was $4,000 |
and il was expected this state would |
get about one half as much, if the law |
was carried out.
MILITARY MATTERS.
The governor said yesterday he had |
made no appointments to fill the |
vacancies on his staff, as yet. It is !
probable he will do Sc about Saturday. |
A meeting has been called for the ap- |
l,f