The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1901-01-18

mates that this is the Ideal system,
but advises continuance OF the pres
| ent license system, percentage on
| gross earnings per mile for the pres
emit. The commission advises that the
telegraph companies be assessed by
a state board as are the express, sleep
ing car, and other companies.
AS a whole the commission has
j done a great deal of work and the dis
| position on all sides is to commend
the report. There is great deal OF
work that does not make much show,
as, for instance, the comparative Ia
! BILE of income and outgo for ten years,
! quoted in Governor LaFOllette's mes
| sage Labor Commissioner Erickson
is coming to the front as his thorough
| work as a statistician has long ago
| attracted attention. Although an APP
| pointive office, it looks as if he would
! hold his post under the new admins
| tratiOn as under Governor Scofeld,
/ and this without criticism. The elab
! crate tables in the new message show
! ing the comparative per centages OF
/ real and personal property on which
/ taxes are paid is Mr.. Erickson's work.
Governor La Follette's Report.
J In some ways it would have been
well if Governor LaFollette could
: have had before him the full findings
of the tax commission. His message
/ appeared two days after the tax re-
/ port. The latter, specifically stating
the increased taxes that corporations
/ should pay, was in a fair way OF be-
coming the demand of the state and
may yet be. 1t is a moderate de-
4 mand. The sum of 100000 would be
a good deal for you and me to pay,
but by the time it is divided between
| the great ST. Paul company, the
! Northwestern Railroad company, the
! Wisconsin Central and the little
| companies, it would not prove very
! bitter dose The Northwestern Mu-
tJlal Life, which does not begin to deal
in the millions invested that great rail
read corporations do, had over $780,
! 600 increase saddled Oh it, with prac-
! tically no notice. TO be sure, a fierce
effort will be made this winter to
| shake it off, at least in part. The con-
! tentiOn of A. Z. Hall in his speech
| Of two years ago was that the rail-
roads should pay a million dollars in
! crease, though to be moderate he put
an increase of about $630,00OO0O on
| them. To find the tax commission
!
Now then if the governors message
had been written in the light of this
report, the combined demand of COM
mission and governor would have been
cOmpulsive, and it may be even as it
! is. There is this fear, however. that
! Governor LaF0Ilette's discussion Of
taxation, opening up especially the
question Of the escape from the asses
Of info No rih
the door for objections that the COM
mission and the governor are not
agreed. The fact is the tax commission
confined itself to the matter of cor
p0rations escaping taxation, reasoning
that beginning must be made some
where as the time would not permit
the commission to cover the whole
field. Governor LaFOllette, however,
devOtes much of his message to the in
teresting subject of personal property
escaping taXation-which. as every
| body knows, is q tremendous leakage,
though one most difficult to abate. 1t
| is possible the railroads. when called
on to pay, may plead this evil of per-
! sOnal property escaping and ask that
| the tax commission reform that abuse
as we'll before the state adopts more
radical policy of corporation taxation
There seems to be some misappre-
tension as to Governor LaFOllette's
| idea of the duration of the tax COM
! mission. The term of office of the
commissioners is ten years, although
| of course the state may abolish this
| system at any time. Governor La
Toilette reasons that merely to study
| and devise a state system need not re-
Quire so much time. In this he is
right. He takes the ground that the
powers of the commission should be
materially increased the commission
to be authorized, to examine into the
| justice of even local assessments and
machinery employed to punish abuses.
And in his message he says that
with such powers as these, the COM
mission would have enough to do to
| continue indefinitely, but without these
added powers it's work could be soon
done. Because of this misunderstand-
ing; the insistence that commission
! expenses be kept down and because he
advises that the statistical work be
transferred to the state bureau of
statistics. and that the commission re-
| port to the governor, the impression
is abroad that the commission as now
operating certainly is not very near
the governors heart.
Other Things in the Message.
The second major topic treated by
Governor LaFollette is primary cleo
tons, and his friends say by these
para graphs he has concluded the de-
bate. Certainly the sentiment so
strong sometime ago is toward giving
the plan triad. Governor LaFollette
touches on a score of topics and teens
with recommendations. His proposal
to put women at work as factory in
spectors, and give them at least one
seat as university regent and normal
school regent makes the Women's
club happy and a good many of us
men. Mrs. LaFollette, by the way.
will hold frequent receptions and for
the first time for some administra-
tons the members will be brOughtwith-
in social reach. 1t cuts quite a figure
when a distant member brings his
wife and daughters to town and finds
a cozy parlor awaiting them.
/ Uniform City Government.
Madison is fortunate in it's assem-
blyman this year, the young attorney,