The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-25

! S1.S00 which is paid in license feos into
the state treasury, 81 100 is paid nv Doug
las county.
One of the most important bills Of this
session was introduced in the assembly
this morning py a II Hall of anti-pass
fame. 1t aponsnes the, office of railroad
commissioner and puts the supervision OF
railway matters into the hands Of three
non-partisan commissioners, to be ap-
| pointed by the governor for six-year
terms, at salary Of $1,000 annually. 9he
| appropriation for salaries, clerk hire and
expenses is limited to $4,000 per year. It
| is provided that theipresent railroad COM
| missioner shall be "a member of the COM
! mission until the expiration of the term
for which he was elected One member
| of the commission Shall be an exnert in
| railroad matters. -~---
|
Assemblyman p A orion intends to
! introduce a bill that provides for quite a.
change in the methods of assessing prop
erty The bill, which seems to be along
| the same line as the recommendation
on that subject in the recent report of
| the tax commission, provides that as
SCISSORS shall be selected from larger dis
| tricts than at present, and shall not as
sess property in the districts in which
they are elected but each shall make
the assessment in another district in the
! probably provide several assessors for
| each county, the number to vary accord
| ing TO the population of the county. Sew
eral schemes are suggested. One of
them provides for the election of as
SCISSORS at large by the county, each to
make the assessment In a district other
imam the one in which he lives Another
pan elects the assessors in districts, each
TO be elected in his home district and to
make the assessments in another district
Either or these plans, it is said by the
friends of both, will abate MANY of the
evils of the present methods of assess
ment by making the assessors more In
dependent of the influential party work.
! ers and capitalists among whom he lives
ana upon whom he is largely dependent
for his reelection
The state tax commission has begun to
draft series of bills that will nroba bIv
DE introduced in both houses of the legis
Iature within a few weeks These bills
will provide Increases in the taxes
of various classes of tncorpora tions
for which increases were recommended
IN the recent report of the commission.
Chlef among these will be the 5000 900 a.
year increase in the taxes Of the rail
roads Another bill, it is expected. will
be presented raising the aggregate
amount received by the various citv
treasures, not the state, $4,000 or
Whereabouts yearfren the license paid
py the various street. railway companies
throughout the state. If the present plan
is carried out the telephone and telegraph
companies are due to have a bill intro
duced increasing their taxes about SIS 600
annually 1t is also expected that some
advance may be made In several bills
over the Whitehead law of 1899 taxing
sleeping car, express company, railway
n nNoI
though no definite information is avafla-
BILE as to what this Increase, If any. will
be.
All the bills on taxation will have a
hXed relation to each other, and be built
on one general plan. The bills will all
adhere, as far as can be learned, to the
present methods Of taxing such classes
Oh corporations on their gross earnings
Wnlch are now so taxed number of
pubic utility companies, such as the tel
ephone companies, however NAV be. and
10 certain extent probably will be
taken out of this plan in part at least. as
were the sleeping car, freight line and
such companies by the Whitehead laws
u 81 lo9'. Bills are expected to be intro
yucca providing that the telephone and
Telegraph companies in the state SHAH
We assessed by a state board Droba b11
the TAX commission itself in place of the
present scheme, by which the telegram
companies are taxed on the miles of wire
they nave In the state, and the telephone
companies are taxed on their earn3ncs
another bill which is expected to he in
troduced will require ali foreipn trans
P0rta1lon and forwarding companies to
lie copies of their charters in this e+a+o
and pay fee for so doing.
senator McGillivray introduced in The
senate memorial to congress asking for
the passage of an amendment TO tho
Ieoeral constitution giving congress Joint
power with the states to control trusts
Inc memorial calls for an amendment 70
the constitution which shall endow CON
gress with extensive powers without "a.
pr1VIng the states of their present an
tHorlty III this class of legislation. the
loe;I pelng to give congress and the fed
eraI government concurrent authority
The memorial is as follows:
Inc memorial of the legislature of Wis
SS4 4afan TO the congress of the United
OPINION OF the legislature the multiplicitv
and growing power of trusts and other
cemolnatlons of capital for the purpose
products, including the necessities Of life
is net only a menace to the interests Of
the people. but is the cause of widespread
universally admitted, as is the difficuItv
OF OF devising methods for its eradication.
me congress is limited in its legislation
TO subjects confessedly within the fed
era! jurisdiction. There is, in the nature
OF Things, no uniformity in the legisla-
lures of the states upon the subject
lndeed, some of tile states, it is believed
are ehtrely without adequate legislation
Tor the protection OF their citizens in this
respect. The act passed by congress
some years ago has been pronounced by
me attorney generals of the United
! States to be inadequate The great
| tIustssor combinations prosecuted in one
state, by legislative Investigation or 9TH
other; 1t IS believed that the only sure
remedy for this evil will be found In
giving TO the congress OF the United
states power to legislate upon the sub
| Ject, TO provide for civil suits in the name
| OF the United States and in the courts of
the United States, and for such criminal
prosecutions as may be found necessary,
| even II these corporations are state cor
! porat1ons, and even If they adopt deviscs,
as they have in the past, to carry on
their large commerce. keeping technically
| beyond the pale of interstate commerce
| and the federal Jurisdiction.
1t is not the purpose Of this memorial
to ask that any state be deprived of jul
T ihid which it may now possess in
| TINS pehalf, but 1t is respectfully prayed
mat there shan be promptly submitted
to the legislatures of the states an
amendment to the constitution of the
United States which shall give congress
| full and complete concurrent juris6. ction
| to enact legislation for the suppression of
| the evil, regardless of state lines.
Resolved, That the governor be. and he
| is hereby requested to transmit a copy OF
| this memorial to the president of the sem
! ate, and to the speaker of the house of
| representatives, and to each Of the sena-
tors and representatives from the state
! of Wisconsin.
Another bill which proposes to regulate
| the granting of franchises to corpora
| tons by cities, was introduced in the
assembly by Assemblyman Lenroot. IT