The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-01
THAT is THE DEMAND MADE BY
THE MERCHANTS OF THE
CITIES.
PETITIONS AND PROTESTS
AGAINST THE 10 PER CENT RAISE
ARE VERY NUMEROUSLY
SIGNED
WILL MAKE A FIGHT MONDAY.
The Gage Will BE Thrown Down at
the Meeting of the State
Board.

Five hundred legitimate retail
merchants of st. Paul and Minneapolis
signed petition yesterday to the state
board Of equalization asking that body
to rescined it's arbitrary sweeping in
crease of Is per cent in the assessment
of property covered by the item,
Goods and Merchandise" Twelve
copies of this petition have been dis
tributed over the business district of
the Twin Cities and they will be cir
culated for signtures until Monday.
On that day the state board will hold
it's last meeting of the present session,
and it will be waited upon by COM
mittee of the interested merchants
with the petition. In the meantime it
is thought that the petition will con-
tain the names of not less than 5000
retail merchants and firms.
At a mass meeting which will be
held in the council chamber at the city
hall in this city tomorrow night the
merchants will organize and take
formal action towards the protest
which they will make against the in
creased assessment. This meeting
should have been held last evening,
but owing to the fact that the work
of obtaining names to the petition had
only been begun and that the meeting
had not been generally heard of, it
was thought best to postpone organiZa-
ton until a larger attendance of inter-
ested tax payers could be obtained.
The petition is sensational in its
terms, as it brings out clearly the i'm
piled threat that if the state board
does not rescind it's order and equalize
assessments against which there are
complaints, the affected merchants will
carry the controversy into court. 1t
sets forth, in substance, that the assess
ment between the legitimate retailer
and those of the merchants of the
larger interests is unjustly levied; that
it is arbitrary and contrary to the laws
Of the state; that the smaller interests
are assessed from 60 to 100 per cent,
while the assessment of the larger
holdings ranges from to 20 per cent;
that the state board of equalization, by
applying the Is per cent raise upon all
merchants, has caused the imposition
Of an extraordinary burden upon the
smaller interests of the Cities" The
petition seeks to have those interests
undervalued brought UP in percentage
to those of the merchant who has
heretofore borne the greater burden of
taxation" and it concludes that If the
state board refuses to reScind its order
the matter will be carried into litiga-
ton, in which event and collection OF
all taxes under the assessment would
be baked.
Merchants who are leading this fight
against the increased assessment said
last night at the city hall that certain
lawyers were already making a special
effort to bust" the assessment as 1t
stands and thereby block the wheels
of prosperity. so-called, of the munich
pal, county and state government in
the correct maintenance OF public IN
stitutions. They said that the object
of the lawyers was to let the state
board adjourn without protest from
the merchants and then attack the
whole assessment in the courts. The
merchants said that they had started
this movement under the form of pc
tition and protest in order to fOrestall
the proposed suits However, if the
state board refused next Monday to
accede to their demands they would be
compelled as source of personal pro-
lection to resort to the courts.
1.-The smaller merchants are deeply
in earnest in this fight" said a retail
dealer last night to a reporter for the
Globe, "and they intend to have
their rights. We have no objection to
an increase in the total assessment If
the board will only make this increase
| after equalizing unjust assessments.
| But arbitrary increase in the total as
sessment without equalization is not
! to be tolerated. By going before the
! board next Monday and presenting our
grievance we hope to bring about g.
compromise that will keep the trouble
out of the courts. Litigation would
block the collection Of the tax, and, as
| a consequence, our schools, and in fact
| every public institution, would suffer.
But to the courts the question must
| go if we do not get our rights. AL
ready merchants are arranging TO
establish a fund with which to secur
attorneys, and these of st. Paul have
the hearty cooperation of the legiti-
mate retailers of Minneapolis. The state
| board of equalization shall not thrust
| upon us tax burdens to which we are
| not entitled. We are all willing to pay
| taxes upon just assessment, but we
will not stand for the sweeping raise
of the assessment through which only
| the larger commercial interests can
| possibly benefit"