The Lamar register., 1902-03-19

Inc RuSn senate amendment, pro
viding that the state board of equal
Zation shall not have power to asses,
any tramway, electric road. cable roat
or street railway located In the street,
of any city or town or upon the public
road, was carried. 10 to s.
The House went on record as favor
ing the repeal of the Bucklin Austria
lasian tax amendment. Tie vote OF
the proposition came after an all day,
debate, and was something of II sur
prise to the opponents of repeal, whC
thought that the decisive defeat.
which the repeal had sustained In til,
Senate had taken the vim out of it,
friends The test came on Il motion IL
indefinitely postpone the Adams re
pealing bill. This was beaten, u
yeas to 33 nays.
Senator Joel II. Smith had distin
guislied visitors Monday. The Ear
of Fingall and Colonel v. ]. c. de
Burgh called upon him in the Senat,
chamber. He led them around the cap
itOl building. took them up into the
dome and showed them the wonders OF
the world; down into the cellar and lea
them gaze at the big game they can no
longer hope to get shot at, and let
them look at the state officials for a
brief moment. He then took them over
to the House, which he explained to
them as known throughout the state
as the cave of the winds. Then they
passed through the cloak room into the
Senate chamber.
"I am o Democrat" said Senator
Bucklin yesterday, when questioned
concerning the story that organized III
ct with him as the candidate for gov
ernor and the Australasian tax amend
ment us the principal plank in its plat.
form. so long rs my party adheres
to the principles which attracted me to
it | shall support its tickets and ad-
wise my friends to do SO. | was once
n Republican, and was honOred by
that party. Then a time came when
1 could not agree with its policies and
Joined the Populists. A year ago,
with the other Populist senators, |
entered the Democratic caucus, and
that remains my home"
Shall the corporations be assessed
upon the average market value of their
stocks and bonds. minus such proper
ty as is not actually used In the opera
ton of their business. or shall the
state board of equalization return to
the old method and endeavor to deter
mine the cost Of duplication and disre-
gard the intangible values attaching
to the property? That is the problem
with which the Senate is confronted.
In the opinion of the many the Martin
Schweigert amendment adopted by the
House is SO loosely drawn that the
assessing power may Disregard the
value of the stocks and bonds, and
base the valuation upon other evil
dence. Senators Clay b. Whitford
and John Rush are leading the fight
to have the value of the stocks and
bonds the sole standard OF valuation,
while Senators Seldomridge, Hume
Lewis and w. II. Adams favor giving
the board more latitude.
An important measure considered by
the House is the Montgomery remedial
act to validate the assessments of
1901. Owing to the puzzling court de-
cisIons and the conflicting assessments
made, especially on corporate property.
there has been some doubt as to
whether the corporations could be
forced to pay their taxes. In order
that no loophole might remain this
remedial act was passed. The Martin
bill, to increase the tax on premiums
Of insurance companies from two to
two and one half per cent. thus adding
$50, 600 to the yearly revenue of the
in, M nftnr II hod
been recommitted to the committee Of
the whole in order that the large mu-
tual companies might be made subject
to the tax. 1t is the desire Of the
legislators that fraternal insurance
companies shall not be subject to the
tax, but in attempting to accomplish
that purpose, some of the gigantic mu-
tuals were exempted. The exceptional
clause finally adopted reads as follows:
provided, that nothing In this net
shall be construed as applicable to or
Canizations which conduct their busi-
ness as fraternal societies. on the
lodge system, or which limit their GER
tificate holders to Il particular secret
order or fraternity"
The bill to repeal the Bucklin amend
ment Is dead. On the attempt to adopt
the favorable report of the committee
of the whole, Mr.. Rawalt offered an
amendment that the committee recon-
mend that the enacting clause be strick.
en- out of the Adams bill. The roll call
as first announced showed that the re-
pealers had lost, the vote being 80 to
81 Their victory was soon changed to
defeat by the announcement by Mr
Davidson that he changed his vote
from no to aye. Mr.. Fall and Mr.. Bell
did the same, and the final result was
33 to 20, killing the Adams bill. The
final vote stood: Ayes-Bell, Bradley
Bolsinger, Burwell, Galley, Cannon
Carripger, Chisholm, Cunningham
Davidson. Fall. German. Hammond
Hart, Hearth. Judkins. Kennedy, Lor