Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-05-13


They also insisted on the adoption of
what has-been known as the Cheshire
Early amendment providing for the ap-
plicatiop of the Indiana laws for assess
ment AMI taxation of telegraph and tele-
phone companies, express companies
and palace car companies in this state.
This amendment was defeated in the
senate by O decided majority and that
body favored allowing the present law
in regard to the assessment and taxa
ton of such companies to remain. Con-
ference committees had to be appointed
and for several days it looked as though
there might be some difficulty i'll saving
the revenue law. For, unless both
houses could agree on these amend
ments, the law itself must fail. Finally,
on Saturday, the conference committee
reached an agreement whereby the sem
ate agreed to recede from its position
fixing the basis of assessment at 33 l-3
per cent of the cash valuation and &C.
cept the house amendment fixing such
assessment at % per cent. In regard
to the Cheshire amendment com
promise was adopted which refers only
provides that in addition to the reports
WHlCH Iucy are IctluiiCi w hiohO uhtCt
the new law they shall return the fol-
lowing items: Gross receipts and oper-
ating expense during the year outside of
Iowa, capital stock, number of shares,
par value and market value OF such
shares, real estate owned in Iowa, real
estate owned outside the state, mort
cages, total length Of lines of companies
in the state and outside the state. Upon
the receipt of such statement the state
auditor shall lay the information thus
obtained before the executive council,
and if they deem advisable they may
obtain additional information from the
officers of such company. The execu-
tive council at its meeting on the second
Monday in July shall take into consid-
Grafton all information obtained, con-
sidering the greater value of lines cut
side this state, and arrive at the actual
value of the property Of such lines in
the state. From this shall be deducted
the actual value of the property assessed
to them in other districts in the state
and the balance shall be held to be the
actual cash value of the lines for taxing
purposes in Iowa. Upon this the as
sessment shall be levied and tax paid di-
rect to the state treasury instead Of the
different taxing districts as contemplate
ed by the Indiana law Section 3S was
amended by requiring that the railroad
companies, in addition to the reports
which they are now required to make,
shall report the actual value Of the
sleeping cars run on their lines III Iowa.
There is no way of determining accur-
ately how much additional revenue this
will provide, and some members enter.
tain fears that the reduction Of % pc"
cent as Il basis for assessment will not
return enough revenue. However, L
this happens to he the case, the matter
can be easily adjusted by the Twenty,
seventh General Assembly.
Oil Inspector Knocked Out.
During the closing week of the ses.
sion a number of important measures
were completed, among which are the
following: The bill governing the in
spection of oil was amended to do away
with the Office of state oil inspector and
constitute the different deputy inspec-
tors dictrict oil inspectors to report to
the secretary of state, Their salary
shall in no case exceed 500 per month
and must be paid from the fees and
tn cir number is limited to fourteen.
The chapter on crimes and punish
ments has been amended in many par
ticulars. One amendment provides that
where man marries woman to avoid
prosecution for seduction and then de-
sertS her without cause shall be guilty
and punished for misdemeanor. The
section containing the Sunday laws
caused considerable discussion and had
to be referred to reference committee.
The senate wanted to include base
ball and foot ball among the amuse-
ments prohibited Oh that day. The
house wouldn't agree to this, and the
conference committee reported practi-
cally the present law ON that subject,
with the addition that dancing on Sun
day is not to be allowed hereafter under
apenalty of fine for violation of the
law.
The old soldier members of the legis-
lature held a meeting one night early in
the week for a consideration of the re-
port of the monument commission and
determined that the commission had
outGved its usefulness. The report
which they had before them covered
the time from Dec. /, 1895, to April II,
1897. This report showed that when all
the debts were paid there would be a
deficit of something like $4,264SO. The
report was burdened with many items
for salaries, and among them was one
for 81 months salary at SO per month
as secretary of the commission. This
amount was claimed by D. n Richard
SON The veterans concluded that there
was no necessity for the payment of sal
aries to such an extent any longer and
a bill was provided abolishing the COM
mission and requiring them to turn
over all books, papers and property in
their hands belonging to the state to
the executive council. The council was
also instructed to pay all bills on con-
tracts unpaid as long as the money lasts.
This bill passed both houses without
any trouble and with little discussion.
Some Of the members of the commits
sion objected that they should have
been given an opportunity to be heard
before legislation was determined upon,
but their objections came too late for
the bill had already been passed.
A strong and persistent effort was