The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1901-03-15
Question of Equal Taxation a
Matter the LEGISLATORS Have
in Mind.
ELECTRIC ROADS ALSO INCLUDED
Supervision of II. and Il. Societies Is Up
Again-Labor and the Gar
nishee Law.

so-called equal taxation, not that an
equal tax bill will be passed by either
house this week, but that this very
important topic will be given much
careful consideration. Every one Will
agree that this matter is probably the
most important and VeXatious with
which the legislature will have to deal,
and it cannot be disposed of offhand.
! There are a multitude Of bills cover
! ing the general subject in the hands Of
the committees. and the first thing to
be done is to sift these out and take
the best features Of each for the pur-
pose of drafting the best measure pos
sible. The house railroad committee
has progressed TO the point that it is
DESTROYS of holding joint sessions with
the senate committee, and these meet
ings will be arranged at once. The
! bill introduced by Chairman Chandler
Of the house committee on railroads
was drafted by Attorney General Oren,
and will doubtless be used rs the
basis for the completed document. It
emhodieS many of the features which
characterized the Atkinson bill so
called. which has been passed by the
! lower house several times during the
past four years. The sentiment Of
the house committee is clearly in IA
vor Of including the property Of eX-
press. railroad telegraph and telephone
companies i'm single bill, and against
the creation Of n new commission TO
make the assessments the desire be-
! ing to have this work done by the
state tax commission. The state adj
ministration favOrs these two propo-
sitiOns, and it is. therefore. safe to say
| that this will he the conclusion reached
! by the two houses. OF course. an
! endless amount OF detail remains to be
arranged, and il win be some time
before a measure will be ready to be
! reported.
Electric Roads Propose to Fight.
Speaking Of railroad bills suggests
! the fact that ii is very apparent that
persons interested in the electric rail
WAYS. already constructed or project
ed. propose to fight the bill bringing
these railways under the supervision
Of the commissioner Of railroads. 1t
! is natural for all companies, whether
steam or electric. to desire rs little
state supervision as possible. but ii is
obvious that the lack Of supervision
Will not work in the interests Of the
public The argument used against
! the bill placing the electric roads I'M
der the supervision Of the commission
or is that if this is done, the steam
roads will have the best Of it. In
other words. that the commissioner
will discriminate against the electric.
! There is. Of course. no more reason
! for making this argument than for the
steam roads TO insist that they will
! be Disseminated, but 1t has worked
well in other cases and may in this.
! For instance, every attempt that has
been made for years to place building
and loan associations under the super
vision of the state bank commissioner
! has been defeated with the argument
that the commissioner would discrimi-
nate against them and i'm favor Of the
! banks. The result has been no super
vision Of building and loan asSOcia-
lions whatever and some very disas-
trous experiences for the people.
Supervision of Is, and l.. Societies.
The lOoting of the Citizens Building
and Loan association of Flint has
! finally opened the eyes Of the legiS-
lature to the necessity Of strict state
supervision Of this class Of institu-
tionS. and the result has been the pass
Ing in a few moments Of n bill which
has been persistently rejected by the
law builders for many years. While
the new law is by no means perfect.
| it is a very long step in the right di-
rectiOn, giving the state the right to
inspect the books and affairs of any
association at any time. and to resort
/ to heroic treatment whenever it is dis
covered that the business is not being
honestly or otherwise properly con-
Quoted
Economy I'm Appropriation.
The taxpayers Of the state will no
doubt stand solidly back Of Chairman
! Dingley Of the house committee on
ways and means in his demand that
The StricteSt and wiseSt economy char
aSteriZe the appropriations to be made
this year. In order that his colleagues
might not 60 into this matter of voting
the peoples money out Of their peck
cts blindly, Mr. Dingley has made an
exhaustive compilation from the bills
| pending i'm the two houses. to show
! the exact amount that is asked for by
| each and the aggregate amount they
call for, together with n comparison
with appropriations made for similar
purposes two years ago. 1t will be
recalled that the legislature of 1897
reached the high water mark in the
matter Of appropriations, the aggre-
gate amount appropriated being &c.
1874 1000. Considerably more than this
was asked for as is always the case,
and n greater sum might have been
withheld without any particular detri-
ment TO the service. The total asked
for this year is 81, 66. and this
/ foes not include the appropriation for
the general purposes of the state gov
eminent which cannot be made up UNI
til the last day of the session, and
which two years ago amounted to ST.
DOS. S64.72. This last item is not likely
to be any less this year, so that If the
legislature should appropriate all that
i Is asked for the aggregate would close
! ly approximate SS,000.0OO. as against
a total of 1884 900 two years ago. But
oil that is asked for will not he appro-
priated, and the showing thus early
made by the chairman will go a long
way toward opening the eyes of the
legislators to the imperative necessity
for pruning the appropriation bills
very thoroughly but with care and dis
elimination. The chairman made a
strong address to the house few days