The true northerner., 1899-05-03
DECLARE LAW ILLEGAL.
The Supreme Court Administers q
Body Blow to the Pingree-
Atkinson Act.
IS PRONOUNCED UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
The Governor Determined tn Have
More Equitable Assessments, and
Says "a New Tax Bill Must Be Passed
movement on Foot 10 Dust Trusts
from the state.
Tspecial Correspondence.l ]

Lansing, May 1.-The constitutional
ity of the Atkinson railroad taxation
law was practically denied by the state
supreme court in a decision rendered
Wednesday ayafternoon. The decision was
rendered in the case instituted by Gov
Pingree and the Tecumseh Telephone
company against theauditor generation
the purpose of obtaining judicial con
struction upon a similar law providing
for the taxation of telephone and tele-
graph property. The result is that the
law fails, the governor wins Il case
which he preferred to lose, and the At
kinson law must be replaced by one
providing for taxation of railroad prop
erty on the basis of the company earn
ings. The decision was unanimous. In
brief, the court holds that the telephone
and telegraph taxation law, which il
very similar in its operation to the At
kinson law, provides for tax on prop
erty based on its value, and is therefore
not a specific tax. AS it is not spe-
cific tax, and does not provide n uni
form rule of taxation, as required by the
constitution, for all property not pay
ing a specific tax, it is void and uncon
stitutional. The attorney general says
this is a death blow TO the Atkinson law.
and means defeat for the governor in his
long fight. So far as the telephone and
telegraph companies are concerned il
is the opinion of the attorney general
that they should not be assessed To-
cally under the general tax law.
Since the PingreeAtkinson act for
general taxation OF railroads has faiHed
TO survive the scrutiny of the supreme
court the anti-Pingree members of the
state senate have begun movement to
enact a law for increasing the specific
tax upon the earnings of railroads, ac
Cording TO the former system. They
will oppose any proposition Gov. Pin
gree may father for enactment of al
law similar TO the Indiana act under
which railroads are taxed locally It'll
is argued that such a law would not
suffice for Michigan, since the educa
tional funds of the state are, under the
constitution, dependent upon the mon
eys received from the specific taxes.
The anti-pingree senator's concede that
the republicans ought to do something
TO equalize taxation in order to offset
and campaign which the democrats
may propose making on tax reform
platform.
Gov. Pingree declares that he will
insist on the enactment of railroad
tax law built on the principle of the
Atkinson law just declared unconsti
INxrf ha l,,,.
drawn so as to meet the courts obiec-
tions. He says he will not sign any
bill increasing the present specific tax
rates, and will keep the legislature in
session all summer unless such law
as the people demand is enacted.
The governors advisers are urging
him TO call special session of the leg
islature next fall to submit to the peo-
pie certain propositions to amend the
constitution designed To make possible
the enactment of valid law providing
for the taxation of railroad property
along the lines of the Atkinson law
These advisers want these matters con-
sidered at a session when nothing else
is up to discuss to distract the atten-
ton of the legislators.
Both houses of the legislature are
just now very much interested in anti
trust legislation. Michigan has an anti
trust law which was enacted in 1889
and, although it has never been tested
in the courts, nor, in fact, any applica-
tion of it ever been made, the impress
sion seems to prevail among the au-
thorities that it is not of sufficient
scope and stringency to meet existing
conditions. 1t has, therefore, been de.
cided TO repeal it and enact one calcu-
lated TO furnish Michigan all the pro-
lection it needs in this connection.
AttorneyGeneral Oren has filed an
opinion to the effect that the secretary
of state must accept and file articles
of association of foreign corporations,
whether their terms of existence and
amount of capital stock exceed those
allowed to corporations organized un-
der the Michigan law or otherwise.
Speaker Adams read Thursday morn
ing long message to the house urging
them to pass at once on the bills on
hand and to adjourn to January /,
1900, and hear the report of the commits
sion on the Michigan Central and other
special charters.
The house committee on labor has re-
ported a substitute bill providing an
eight-hour work day for miners. 1t
is an adaptation of the Utah law which
has been sustained by the courts.
The house has concurred in the sen.
ate amendments to the closed fish sea.
son bill, thus continuing the open sea.
son and defeating the commercial fish.
ermen of Michigan.
JASON.