The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1898-04-08
THE EXTRA SESSION.

4 III snail nave inc rlPnJ OF way until
finished. The ball opened with the
very first section, which provides for n
board of five assessors to be appointed
! by the governor. There was storm
of amendments and substitutes provid-
ing for elective boards, appointive
boards and boards part elective and
part appointive, and although an
amendment of the latter class, proposed
by Rep. Scully, was adopted, it was re-
considered and a substitute offered by
Rep. Graham, of Kent, was passed
unanimously. IL provided that an adj
interim board of assessors shonld be
composed of the attorney general,
! auditor-general, secretary of state,
state treasurer and land commissioner,
who should serve until Jan. 1899, and
at the general election this fall board
of two should be elected, one for two
years and the other for four, the audi
tor-general to be chairman eX officio
Thereafter one member of the board
should be elected at every general
election for a term of four years. This
/ is regarded as mutual concession
with the balance of favor on the Pin
gree side. Section . was amended by
cutting the salary of the secretary of
the board from $1,000 to $1,000. And
this was voted for by the Pingree men.
| There were none but minor changes in
sections three, four and five. Section
six caused considerable discussion but
was finally left as in the original bill;
i. e., the board of assessors to make the
rate of taxation on railroad and other
corporations included in the bill the
same as the average rate throughout
the state, exclusive of that for local
improvements. Rep. Shepherd, of Che
boygan, wanted to make the rate of
taxation on railroads a specific one of
"a of / per cent, instead of requiring
them TO pay the same rate as other
property pays. He also wanted TO eX-
empt railroads north of the forty-fourth
parallel. He declared the section of
the Pingrce bill unconstitutional on
the ground that the legislature could
not delegate its power 20 fix the rate of
taxation. Col Atkinson said q of
per cent railroad tax would be an inn
provement of the present tax on roads,
which, he said is a of / per cent.
But" added he, "shall we go home
and say to our constituents the rail
roads shall pay only "a of per cent,
while other people are TO pay 2l5 per
cent on their homes? This would be
another crime against the people. :"
Atkinson insisted that the Pingree bill
was perfectly constitutional. As to
the proposed exemption of roads north
of the forty-fourth parallel, he said,
there are roads north of Alpena that pay
per cent dividends and pay no taxes. ="
1t was all clear sailing until section "a
was reached and then small scrap
took place as to the compensation of
the members of the board, but it was
left at SO per day. One of the most
important amendments made to the bill
was offered by Representative Crippen,
of the upper peninsula. 1t provides
that in arriving at the rate of
taxation on railroads the board
of assessors must add to the val
uation of all other property the
valuation of the railroad property,
which will tend to largely decrease
the rate imposed on the roads After
a few more minor amendments had
been made the reading of the bill was
completed. After all the amendments
had been acted upon, Adams, of Kent,
moved that all after the enacting clause
be stricken out, but the committee
arose before vote could be taken on
the motion and the House adjourned.
The following day Adams renewed his
motion TO strike out all after the en-
acting clause and made a long speech
in favor of specific taxation. Adams
motion was lost, only half a dozen vot-
ing for it. The committee arose and
reported the bill. The call of the
House was ordered, on motion of Rep.
Chamberlain, and the bill placed upon
its immediate passage. Rep. thinner
man moved the previous question. 1t
was carried, only Harris, Rulison and
Smith voting against it. The measure
was then given immediate effect.
In hot speech Senator Forsythe de-
clared that if the Pingree bill became
law, without other legislation preced-
ing it, it would result in increased
freight rates in rural districts and
great injustice would be perpetrated
upon the farmers and people of small
villages He, therefore, offered res
olution calling upon the governor to
send in message on the following:
First, bill to equalize freight rates;
second, bill to repeal existing special
railway charters; third, that the tax
bill be so amended as to include mining
and other corporations, and to provide
for uniform tax of per cent on the
cash value of all their property. The
Senator took occasion to roast the gov
ernor and said his 'henchmen are
sordid, hungry, selfish horde.
The Senate voted unanimously to
postpone indefinitely the matter of UNI
seating Senator Hughes. This allows
him to retain his seat and adds one more
vote TO Pingrees side.
Both houses have passed resolution
expressing sympathy with the Cubans
and indorsing the policy of President
MnIgiv Low ar,J cnpnracc