The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-05-05
OUR LANSING LETTER
A Week Of important Results in
the Legislature.
BUT ADJ0URNMENTN NOT FASTENED.

the AthihHon Law tncOnstltutfOnal -
Opinions Differ AS 10 What the Legisia-
ture VIII Now Do--None of the Special
Chart'rs -, - Ie pcaled This Year
Anti-T ,w.
LansiI 49,, May 2.-This has
been g Important results. al
though ,Ats ic-l.tS have not tended to
hasten IT, date Of final adjournment.
On the contrary they have rather tended
to prolong the session
Although the legislature has done more
than an ordinary weeks work, the i'm
portant results are due to the supreme
court, that tribunal having done what
was generally expected 1t would do
when called upon to pass on the consti-
nationality of the Atkinson railroad tax
law, which, by the way, applied as we'll
to the property of telegraph, telephone
and express companies. In unanimous
opinions the court declared this law to
be unconstitutional thus throwing the
entire question back upon the legisa-
ture for adjustment. There is no use
denying the fact that a very large ma
jority of the leading attorneys of the
state never had the slightest doubt that
the law was unconstitutional so the ac-
ton Of the court has surprised no one
very much. A very great many of the
legislators who voted for the bill were
fully convinced that it was unconstitu-
tional and voted for it simply because
their constituents demanded it.
Not the Atkinson Law.
AS a matter of fact the Atkinson law
was not before the. court in the cases
decided, the law involved in those cases
being the act of 1881 which provided for
a board of state officials to assess the
property Of telegraph and telephone
companies. This, act, however, was
Identical with the Atkinson law, and 1t
was attacked by the governor for the
purpose of having settled the questions
concerning the legality of the more i'm
portant enactment.
While the justices saw fit to file three
concurring opinions in the case, they
made their points very clear, there be-
ing but two questions involved in the
case. They first determined that the
tax was not specific but a property
tax, both the title and the body of the
act distinctly stating that 1t was a
tax on the telegraph lines, which is
property. This being determined, 1t
simply remained for the court to decide
II the act. provided for the taxation of
this property on the same basis as all
other property that does not pay
specific tax, the constitution providing
that "the legislature shall provide an
uniform rule of taxation for all prop
erty not taxed specifically"
decided q thn t-it1a
not uniform, the act OF 1881 and the
Atkinson law providing that the prop
erty covered by them should pay the
average rate of taxation, county, mu-
nicipal and state, throughout the state.
No other class of property is required
to pay this rate, the court saying that
"the rate is determined in a different
way, and is different in amount from
taxes upon other property which con-
tributes to state taxes" That is the en-
tire proposition, and measured by the
rule, the law necessarily went down.
Opinions Differ.
The question now is, What will the
legislature do. Opinions differ on this
point. There is a large faction that ia
vors increasing the specific tax rate so
that the railroads will contribute about
$1,500,000 a year. Railroad Commits
sioner Osborn, who has nearly computed
the taxes that will be paid by the rail-
roads this year, estimates that the rev.
enue will be about $1,050,000, as COM
pared with $4,000 paid last year. In
addition to this, those who favor this
plan advocate enacting a specific tax
law for telegraph, telephone and ex-
press companies to take the place of
the act of 1881, just declared unconsti-
tutional. / believe that this is what
will be done before the legislature adj
journs, although the matter is not like
ly to be settled for several weeks.
Those who oppose this plan are not
agreed on any definite bill. Governor
Pingree says he will not sign specific
tax law, and thinks a law drafted along
the lines OF the Indiana statute, which
practically provides for local taxation
under the supervision of the. state
board, is the proper thing with which
to overcome the objections raised by
the supreme court to the Atkinson law,
and IL is altogether probable that this
will be adopted as the Pingree pro-
gram. However, 1t need surprise no
one If the governor falls far short of
getting such measure through the
legislature. AS before minated, not a
few legislators voted for the Atkinson
law against their judgment. Having
yielded to their constituents In this re-
gard and the results having proved dis
astrous, they will now assume the re-
sponsibiity Of voting their own convic-
tions. These will impel them to sup
port bill increasing the specific rates
Of taxation on the ground that this will
produce the revenue desired and is a
system whose legality has long since
been determined.
No Charter VIII BE Repealed.
The action Of the house has demon.
strated that,none Of the special railroad
charters will be repealed this session.
That fight was waged to a finish few
days ago, and the result was disastrous
to the repeal bills. The battle was
fraught with pointed, not to say exceed
ingiy unparliamentary and ungentle-
manly personalities, and ended with
the passage Of the substitute bill nam
ing the secretary of state, state treas
urer and commissioner Of railroads
..sal