Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-04-25


be borne equally by all property.
Railroads wee nov beng -,NN1 /
heavier than the people. In I,oSnS
MIR. RoSsman thought the tax commits
sion should ascertain what property
was ROW escaping taxation and when
the information was sufficient SyS-
tenn could be evolved that would be
just and would lessen the taxes Of all,
MeCabe Cjseredtts Commission.
In the afternoon the assembly met
at O'Clock 10 continue the discussion,
MIR. McCabe said he was conscious
OF the great Importance Of the QueS-
ton. In his study OF the question he
attempted TO be fair, He was COM
miJted to no result other than TO come
to a correct conclusion. He did not
want to question the integrity or abil-
ity OF the tax commission, bat ne con-
tended, the investigation OF these men
had been incomplete asla could not be
styled as thorough The bills relating
! to sleeping ear companies, express
companies telephone aud telegraph
companies had be,a picked to pieces
and sent back to the commission and
nov rested secure in its vaults as dead
and useless. This ana May other
! things he thought marked the work Of
that body as loose and inaccurate. He
| claimed that the comWiSs. on had been
| di2Credited, and by 20 cae but itself;
and that its work was of no value to
! the legislature He then referred to
the discrepancy in the figures on per
sonal property contained in the COVER
nor'S message and the report of the
tax commission and found that to be
another evidence Of the lack of thor
ough investigation, He objected to
the estimating the value Of railroads
on the basis of the value of their
stocks and bonds,
keene Accepts Report.
Mr.. Keene thought that sometime,
possibly many years hence, there
would be equal taxation We lived,
he said, in AN age when some people
escaped taxation altogether while
others paid much more than their
share. He felt that the question be-
fore this legislature was how to make
taxes more nearly equal He felt that
the tax commission should be sup
ported and endorsed in its efforts to
bring about this result. Tie had not
had time to personally investigate and
thoroughly study the question and he
felt much like leaning upon the com
mission for light. Its recommendations
appealed to his good sense and he pro-
posed to vote for this bill.
Williams Business View.
e. A. Williams wanted to take a
| business view of the matter. He saw
no reason why the railroads should
pay either more or less than other
forms of property If these corpora
tons owned one-eighth of the taxable
property of the state then they should
pay one-eighth of the taxes If any one
believed that they owned this amount
of property then they should vote for
this bill. He, for one, thought the
railroads were now paying their just
share OF the taxes and therefore he
| ut NouIu NOlt dSuiu6I inc HitdSult'
orion Changes His Mind.
Judge orion said he had changed his
mind. Two years ago he had enter
tanned the same ideas held at present
by the tax commission. He felt now
that the real question involved was
Is the market value of a railroad its
proper assessable value for taxation
purposes? Our system was to tax the
property of the state In Wisconsin,
he believed, we could not tax incomes
under the provisions OF the constitu-
ton. Under the plan now in vogue "A
good farm or a shiftIess farmer, who
could not make cIds meet, was taxed
equally with the land of the thrifty
agricultuTist who not only makes ends
meet but lays up something besides.
He did believe that the market value
should be considered in determining
the assessable value of railroads Be
cause this was influenced by their
ability to earn money. Money counted
for nothing in this age unless it had
behind it the touch of human energy
anu Ingenuity. lJtdu gnu Was bH
worthless as dead lead But as the
Wisconsin system was to tax property
no scheme should be entertained which
involved the earnings, That was suffi-
cient answer to arguments advanced
by the tax commission and the advo-
Gates of the bill Management then
was the root of the whole matter, and
under our system we were compelled
to separate the market value from that
part Of the market value which in
wolves the management He believed
that principle was wrong therefore he
should vote against this measure.
Dodge Sees Danger.
MIR. Dodge said that he thought the
railroads were making a mistake In
| fighting his amendment. He felt that
if they would accept this the matter
would in all probability rest for sew
eral years II they did not they might
be sowing the wind and might reap
J -. Il \ l.. 4 20 lao