The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-03-17
OUR LANSING LETTER
Report of the Work of the State
Lawmakers.
GOVERNOR HAS ATKINSON BILL.


Of the Bill-Proposed Amendments to
the State Constitution-High School Ex-
cursions to Lansing.
Lansing. Mich. March 4.-By the
lime this letter il read the famous At
kinson bill for the taxation Of railroad.
telegraph. telephone and express COM
panies, concerning which so much has
been written and said during the past
three years. will doubtless be a law
whether valid law or not remains to
be seen.
The legislature has finished its con-
liberation Of the bill. which is now in
the hands Of the governor. The fact
that every member Of both houses Of the
legislature, except four who were alb
sent, voted for the bill in the shape in
which 1t finally passed. leaves no rea-
SON to suppose that 1t will be vetoed.
The Pingree men, leaders and all. voted
for the amended bill, although they
were not entirely satisfied with some of
its provisions.
The senate played havoc with some Of
the provisions Of the bill. but still left
It In quite acceptable shape. The
amendments made by that body dropped
the governor and secretary of state
from membership on the board Of asses
sors, made the auditor general chair
man of the board, but without vote;
increased the number of civilian MEM
bers from two to three, and provided
that they should be appointed only dur
ing the sessions Of the legislature and
be subject to confirmation by the sem
ate; provided that the franchise should
be taken into consideration with all
the other property Of company in fix
ing such company's valuation instead Of
being valued separately; struck out the
provision that companies should make a
detailed report of receipts of every sta
ton on their line, leaving them to re-
port their entire receipts from what
ever source derived" changed the PEN
atty for failure to pay taxes from so
per cent. and subsequent forfeiture Of
charter to 2 per cent. q month; reduced
the salaries of members of the board
from $1,000 to $500 and all expenses,
and increased the salary of the secre-
ttary from 81 200 to 81 800.
The friends of the original bill were
particularly opposed to the changes rel
alive to the appointment Of members Of
the board of assessors, relieving the
companies of the necessity of reporting
the receipts Of each station, and re-
ducing tn esalary of assessors. They
at first determined to make a warm
fight in the house against concurrence
In these amendments, but at the last
moment withdrew all opposition, the re-
suit being concurrence by a unanimous
vote.
Two Sides to the Question.
There is considerable speculation as
to why the friends Of the original bill
accepted the senate amendments so
gracefully. They claim that they have
been advised by competent authority
that the provision relative to the APP
pointment Of the assessors is not bind
ing on the governor, and that, not
withstanding the specific provision that
the senate shall have the right Of con-
firmation, he can make the appoint
ments Independently of that body. On
the other hand, the other side insists that
1t was simply case of making a virtue
of necessity, the Pingree people vot-
ing for the amendments only when a
canvass showed that they were sure to
be concurred in, anyway. A few days
will demonstrate which is right, for the
bill requires the governor to appoint
the assessors within five days after the
passage of the bill.
1t will be a year or more, or not until
the first assessment under the new law
is made, before the law can be brought
before the supreme court for an opin-
Ion as to it's constitutionality. While
the cases recently brought by Governor
Pingree under the telephone assessment
statute, and which were argued in the
supreme court today, will determine the
much mooted question whether the tax
imposed by the Atkinson bill is a specif-
&c or an ad valorem tax, the decision on
this point will not dispose of the bill
The principal point relied upon by the
railroad companies Is not involved in
the cases argued today. so 1t is impossi-
BILE that the primary school fund may be
held out Of the money due from the
companies affected by this bill for quite
time, pending the decision as to the
constitutionality Of the statute.
Large Increase in Earnings. q
In this important connection 1t may
be interesting to state that the Michi-
gan earnings of railroad companies for
1898 were $S1. 646,S79, an increase Of $3,-
365, 402, or 11.9 per cent. over those OF the
previous year. Under the Merriman
specific tax law the railroad taxes this
year would amount to s1100,000, as
against $4,000 paid last year.
The next great tax fight will be put
up by the copper and iron mining COM
panies Of the upper peninsula. Several
bills to impose specific tax on iron and
copper ore have been introduced, but
the farthest advanced bill affecting
these interests is the Dudley measure
which provides for the taxation Of the
stock Of every corporation Of whatever
nature doing business in Michigan. This
bill was reported out a few days ago
by tire special house joint committee on
taxation, with the recommendation that
1t be passed. The copper interests hus-
tied its representatives on here, how
ever and the following day the bill was
referred back to the joint committees.
IT is expected that the struggle over
this matter will greatly eclipse that put
up in opposition to the Atkinson bill.
The electors OF the state will be called
upon at the April election to vote on
three propos amendments to the con-
stitution, all of them being of much i'm
portance. No further amendments
will be submitted this year as the time
within which the necessary preliminary
IaCfelaffon con he pnopfod has avnired