The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-17


The Hodge bill, to extend the term
Of the county auditors was advanced
to the calendar by the following vote:
Yeas-Barr, Currier. Dunham, French, Full
johnson, A G., johnson. ". E, Keller, Mas
terman, Miller, Macarthur, McHale. Potter.
Pottgieser, SchalleT. Sevatson, Sheehan, Smith,
Sperry, Stebbins Stevens. Stockton Sven
ingsen. WyIuan. Young-3o.
Nays-Collester. Culkin. Dunn, Howard.
Jones, Knatvold. Larson, Morgan, Peterson,
Ringdal. RoEerud, Spencer. Theden, Thon1p-
son, Thorpe. Yale-l6.
While there was a special order for
the afternoon, the four gross earnings
taxes on sleeping car companies.
freight lines, express companies ana
telephone companies, all Of which had
been favorably reported by the COM
mittee on taxes and tax-laws, Senator
Hanson moved that the senate go into
committee of the whole TO consider
the Reeves bill which the same COM
mittee had recommended for indefinite
pOstpOnement.
1t did so, with Senator Thompson
in the chair
Senator Hanson favored the bill He
said the bin aimed TO make Mr.. Rookie
feller pay his just share of the taxes
Of the state. Mr. Rockefeller had his
ore reduced, not by Minnesota labor,
but in other states.
Senator Greer said that If the bill
ly as could be estimated would be
100000 less than the revenue from the
mines under the land tax. The state
would get about S123, 600. as against
$4,000 on the present basis. He be-
heVed that a ton of ore should bear
its portion Of the burdens Of taxation
with bushel Of wheat They should
stand together. If it should occur that
the output should SO increase, 1t would
be due to the advent of good times,
and this would restore the former valu-
atlcns OF realty, so that the state could
in no way prove a loser. By the ton
age tax. it required an army of spoilers
and detectives TO protect the interests
Of the state. With the land tax, the
mines were as accessible as other prop
erty.
Senator McHale called attention to
the fact that it was provided that If
over 10000 tons were taken out of a
SecIlons II would constitute a section
otherwise it would be mineral land He
did not consider this fair. A mine
should be confined to the property
right where the ore was taken out.
Senator Morgan took issue with this.
The value Of a mine should not be
computed by its area, but by its de-
pOsit. Suppose Mr.. Rockefeller or Mr.
Carnegie did not feel satisfied with
the price Of ore. They would then mine
10, 100 tons Of ore from the Mountain
Iron mine, and pay $505 tax, and this on
property which had paid into the
treasury during the year approximate
ly s127. 900.
Senator Hanson said the mine was
assessed for only $3.50, 900.
Ore, Mr.. Morgan continued, might
be worth 20 cents or rs cents a ton,
yet the Reeves bill proposed to tax 1t
5 cents a ton. all alike was this fair?
There was no more reason, he believed,
why mines should be taxed on their
output, than that mills should be.
Senator Howard said that before the
state decided to overturn its ordinary
methods of taxation, ii should make
sure that the tax would be a success.
The tonnage tax had been tried. It
Melted the state S105, 900 in eleven years.
The total output returned was less
than Il, 900, 600 tons.
The new tax had turned into the
state treasury more in the last year
than the gross earnings tax had in al
those eleven years. If the St. Louis
county assessor did not do his duty, the
state board of eoualiza ton, under the
law, could raise the assessment 10 an
equitable plane. He believed the ton
mage tax was unconstitutional. The
cost Of collecting il, even if it could be
enforced effectively, would be greater
than under the land tax plan. The min
ers, he averred, wanted a tonnage tax
They could eYade taxation better. They
could let the mines lie idle twenty
years without yielding the state a cent
Of revenue.
Senator Reishus charged that Car
neg1e and Rockefeller had made the
taxation problem a special study, and
had had their men on the ground
throughout the session. These men
were bright, shrewd business men, and
when they opposed a bill that was just
the bill he was going to favor.
Senator Hanson said the Iron Noun
tain mine was valued at $12, 600, 900, but
only assessed at $3.50, 900.
Senator Wyman said the reasons as
signed by Mr.. Reishus might be gen
orally sound; in this case he thought
they were faulty. Some Of the attOr-
neys who were trying to beat this bill,
he thought, were the Rockefeller attor-
neys, yet the Rockefeller interest had
leased the mines TO the Carnegie con-
Germ and had 10 more interest in the
thing. All they had TO do now was 10
collect their leases.
Senator Spencer said that at the
opening Of the session he had been ap-
preached by the representatives Of the
mines who asked him to support q
specific tonnage tax. He was elected
against candidate Of the mining In
terests and he wore no iron collar.
Senator Ilts said he had favored the
bill originally, but after hearing the
arguments he had decided to vote
against it. The mines were worked by
American labor, and they deserved
well Of the people Of the state.
Senator Hodge thought the Thorpe
bill would secure to the people a fair
tax on the mining properties.
Senator Spery wanted to know why
the senator from St. Louis had op-
posed the repeal of the old law
Senator Spencer said it was a ques-
ton Of the method Of passing the bill.
which was high-handed.
Senator Sperry said that the tonnage
tax would more nearly DO exact jus
4 tice to the owners Of the mines. The
people Of st. Louis county were on
posed 10 it. but they should not be al
lowed TO dictate to the whole state.
They said there was no demand for
the law, in spite Of the fact that the
4 people had declared for II.
The bill, ii had been tntinated.
would inValidate the Thorpe bill, re
Gently passed, but he maintained that
it had been carefully drawn and this
objection had been entirely obviated
Senator Sheehan said that after
fourteen years trial of the tonnage
system. and getting less than the sin
gle year had realized, under the new
system, it was no time, in his opinion,
TO go back TO the tonnage tax Give
/ the present system q trial
In response TO 2 question by Senator
/ Sperry he said the output was in
creasing. He argued, however, that the
assumption that the value Of the mines
would not further increase was not
raaS0Da HE