The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-13
Hon. Thomas D. O'Brien Reviews the Work Accom-
plished in the Last Two Years.
On the Record Made in Protecting the Interests of the
State, the Friends of the Governor Ask
for His Reelection.

the legislature met, to propose to them
three measures which would HAYS fesuit-
ed in giving immediate relief. In his
message to the legislature the governor
advised, first that foreign corporations
be compelled to pay a. license upon en-
terlng the state, equivalent to the amount
which must be paid to the state for the
forma ton of domestic corporations. Sec
ond, that foreign corporations be taxed
in the same manner as domestic corpo-
rations Third, that the PERCENTAGE of
gross earnings paid by railroad corpora
tons be increased so as to secure to the
people of this state about the same
amount paid by the same railroads in
other states.
The first recommendation, requiring the
license fee to be paid, was embraced in
what is known as the Sommerville bill,
and through it a considerable sum has
been realized by the state.- The second
was not acted upon; consequently, for
eign corpora tons, such as the large coal
companies, machine companies and the
Standard Oil company; while hansactlng
business in the state amounting to mil
lions of dollars; pay practically no taxes
towards the support Of the state. they
our our police officers, of our courts, that you
and have, but, as have said, they
give practically nothing towards their
support. They pay taxes only upon such
small amounts of merchandise as happens
to be in the state upon the first of May
each year, but moments reflection will
show you how infinitesimal this amount
IS dS cOInpdTSU Will luo IdAeS Ld0S
should pay.
The third recommendation on this sub
ject, i. e., that the percentage of gross
earnings should be increased from 3 to
per cent was rejected by the Republican
senate. Nobody except the companies
vino were to- pay the tax disputed the
fairness of the proposition. Raflr3ad COM
panies in Massachusetts,, New York,
Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin pay a higher
percentage of their gross earnings to
each of those states than that proposed
by Gov. Lind. The Republican house of
representatives passed the bill. the en-
tire Republican press of the state ap-
proved the measure, but the railroads
were able to defeat the bill in the SEN
ate; the senate's Judiciary committee re-
ported against it upon the ground that 1t
was unconstitutional.
MEANT MUCH TO TAXPAYERS.
There is no question had Gov. Lind's
recommendations upon the subject Of tax
alton been adopted, that a sufficient rev.
enue would have been derived to pay
the entire expense of the state. OF
course, this would not have resulted in
abolishing all other taxes, you are
taxed not only for township and school
purposes, but for county and for state
purposes; the corporations L have men
toned are either escaping taxation alto
gether or apying an insufficient amount,
and if they We're properly taxed and you
relieved of the necessity of contributing
to the support Of the state, the equality
in would have been just SO much nearer
than it is at present.
Now, this is not political question.
A Republican believes in justice and