Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1901-01-15


any great extent. 1t should be placed upon
our statute books. This Is for you to
decide. after giving the matter due and
careful considerations
TAN COMMISSION.
The question of taxation is one Of vital
Importance and one that the legislature
must caretuliy consider during this session
would place the burden Of taxation equally
upon the shoulders OF all, SO that no one
class Of nenp,c stali feel i more ,, than an an
the poor man, II he has n little home.
cannot hide aud pays his full share. The
mecnauic cannot conceal his chest of tools.
the poor woman her sewing machine. nor
the farmer his real estate, implements or
stock. IT is the wealthy who evadc their
share Of the taxes; the large owner of per.
credits This class OF property does not
bear its inst burden OF taxation and the
legislator, who could draft bill and have
class of property from hiding, have 1t
placed upon the assessment rolls, and there
properly valued, would be nene zinc .,, to
state escapes tnta es1a This is true, not
only Of Minnesota, but Of other states as
In 1899 the Legislature Of New York ap.
pointed Joint commission Of both houses
Of six nna ter
a most searching Investigation. they have
this to shy Of personal property assess
esmne Of sc to SsHee
Of The the state in his report to the lesislature
ee Of ns st IS ssan
tally correct. This condition OF affairs T..
the state has long been the subject Of
complaint and has been n prominent, feat
ure of the report OF every spectnl commit
tee AMI commission charged with the In
vestlsation cs the subject, and has, been
given serious attention in the annual mes.
sAges of ill governors to the legislature
for more than quarter Of century; and
It never, has been seriously contended by
h" na Il ns
either equitable or Just but it is claimed
that the condition Is Inherent in any sys-
a s Ws is
reached and the difficulty Of placing per.
sonnalty on the assessment roll.
Chicago has recently had n tax revival,
brought about In Il large measure by
change in the method Of assessment. The
old plan OF an assessor for each district
do this work under the supervision OF a
Board of Review. Mr.. Upham, president
Of the board, gives an interesting and in
whereby the assessment In In the city was
raised two hundred million dollars, and it
was done he claims. In the main. by every
feeling and seeing that his neighbor did
likewise. The trouble usually is, that the
person liable for the tax does not want
large amount OF property, while his neigh.
Dor, equally MS well to do, escapes taxa.
ton. Too often the burdens are shifted
them. ana placed upon those. who are I'm.
able to carry them without hard struggle.
for many men otherwise honest, resort to
questionable means to avoid the payment
I realize that it is difficult problem to
find specific method that will place all
but / am sure that better 1methods than
those now In use In our state can be
adopted
| think the concensus of opinion Of all
who have given the subject Of taxation the
most careful study and research, are of
the opinion that revenues should be raised
on real estate and personal proptry. I
am inclined to that view, and believe that
orr own state In time can, and will he
advance could be made in this direction, II
nag New x GOV STATIONS g. tae
but every other, both domestic and foreign
tie law. II said companies refased or
licenses could be revoked: The franchise
law. understand, is working admirably In
New York. and under date of Nov. Goth,
Eoarl Of Tax Commissioners. writes s as '' fo.
lows. 1.-THE first year of operation OF the
franchise law there was an increas, OF
franchise. Of one hundred and seventy mil
lion. This is plnccd upon the assessment
rolls In tax districts where the property Is
located To-. at q and is subject to the local tax
II will not discuss this subject further.
Our. present laws are certainly very de-
predecessors In office. MS well as state
Auditor Dunn, That tax commission should
be created for the purpose Of drafting a
oil requirements. Action should he III kcn
at once. so that said commission wight
Immediately proceed with ttc work in hand
session Of the, Legislature If iris cnnont
be done and the plan n"onn~cd hv state
Auditor Dunn meets wifi! favor the "on,-
Jan. LIST, 1902. know $50 80 r,,,'r.. of
taxation Is one upon w'''r'' t',cro is The
widest divergence Of opinion, hut Il seems
to me that there shonll 10 none ar'r 40
necessity Of a tax commission for e'rtc
Said commission could collect and cnuatr
laws from all the states and select those
would be q vast imDrove""nt over our
present inefficient system of to~,tion. You
vii find this subject Of q ta,,,, commission
our state auditor. and 20" vii, ' d" well III
to read and carefully study the same
BOARD OF CONTROL FOR coRREc.
TIONAL AND CHARITABLE
INSTITUTIONS:
Equally important with the collection Of
taxes, Is proper disbursement Of the
moneys thus received. In round numbers,
1t Is estimated that for the next fiscal
year, $1,000, 10000 will be needed for cur.
rent expenses, and for the one succeeding,
81, 100, 10000, and for new buildings and
repairs, $3.50, 10000, making total for our
correctional and charitable institutions Of
81, $50, 10000 for the next biennial period.
I am convinced that there should be a
board of control for the management Of
all these Institutions, Such board, com
posed of experienced business men, non
ceiving adequate compensation for their
services, and devoting all their time and
energies to the discharge of their duties,
would be a vast Improvement over the
separate board plan, and would result in, n
large saving to the state annually. and this,
too, without in any way lessening the efii-
cheney Of the service to the inmates. The
board would be free from local and pOlit.
fcal influences and all purchases would be
made at wholesale, and after receiving
competitive bids
To illustrate how this would result, !
quote an extract from the report Of State
Bard of Control Of Iowa:
'"The large surplus to the credit of the
state institutions, which amounted on
August LIST, 1890, to 1922, 743. &c. is largely
due to the methods in purchasing supplies,
anil holding nppSon RI n strict No.