The Dolores star., 1902-02-21

pealed.
BY n vote OF thirty-four to twenty
one the House Tuesday agreed to the
recommendations of the finance COM
mittee which deprived the board of
equalization of power to assess corpor-
ate holdings and vest that authority in
the assessors.
Among the amendments suggested to
the fiat tax section Is one eXempting in
surance companies from the operation
of the law. 1t Is claimed that this
would put domestic companies on Il
plane with foreign corporations, which
is not the case under the workings of
the present law. 1t is generally agreed
that all corporations should be treated
alike. and that the rate should be 2
cents on each $1,000 of capitalization,
where the. par value of the stock is
more than 81. and cents per 1000
shares where the par value is less.
The House on Wednesday continued
the debate on the revenue bill. In or
der to avoid double taxation 1t was de-
tcrmined to assess real estate and the
mortgages thereon as unit. This
was the intent of the old law, but some
assessors did not properly interpret it.
Onerous court fees provided In the orig
inal bill were stricken out by acclama-
ton. The state will lose S2S,OOO in
revenue, but it is believed that the
fees did an injustice to litigants. The
House refused to exempt druggists
from the payment of the SO license
imposed on the sellers of liquors.
The missing roll call on the third
reading and final passage Of the reg
ular session Of Tanquary's employers
liability bill has been found. 1t was
folded up and hid away in the Senate
journal. and its resting place has been
fingered by n score of persons since the
labor organizations began their search
for the missing bit of paper. To Sen
ator j. Frank Adams of this county
belongs the credit for the discovery.
The find was made Tuesday afternoon
during session of the Senate commit
tee appointed to investigate the disap-
pearance of the roll call.
The agitation for the repeal of the
Bucklin amendment was renewed Fri
day. The House committee reported
favorably upon the Adams bill to ac-
complish that purpose. but recon-
mended that after 1t passed second
reading 1t be submitted to the Su-
preme Court for an opinion upon its
validity. This morning an agreement
will probably be reached to postpone
consideration of the repeal bill until
after the revenue bill has been dis
posed Of This should cause the issue
to be first determined in the Senate.
Senator Bucklin and his friends claim
n majority in both houses.
After the reading of the journal
Monday morning Mr.. Ballinger of Park
arose to question of personal privi-
lege. The Republican had asserted on
Sunday morning that he had intro
duced railroad commission bill, know
ing that 1t was unconstitutional and
hoping TO use 1t to wiring favors from
the corporations for his many relatives
who Were employed by the roads. As
Mr.. Ballinger proceeded 1t was appar-
ent that he was very much affected
II presented the bill in good faith"
he said. Il believe the Democracy
owes 1t to the people of the state to en-
act it. Its cOnstitutionaity has been
affirmed by the highest court in the
land. One provision Of my bill l con-
| slider of especial Importance. and 1t
was suggested by the death of my son,
| who was killed while acting as engi-
| neer on the South Park. September
| 21st. 1t provides that the commission
| shall inspect the roadbed and equip
ment of the roads and see that they
are safe. If such law had been on
the statute books my boy might have
been alive, and its enactment now will
save many lives"
| In discussing the revenue bill the
| other day Mr.. Montgomery condemned
| the Supreme Court for compelling the
| rectification of the assessments Of the
| board of assessors. Judge CMnpbell
| returned from Europe in order to make
| that decision" said he. 1T would have
been to the eternal credit of the state
IL he had remained In Europe. The
purpose of the decision was to permit
Judge Riner to get his nose in. and he
succeeded. His opinion was not le-
gal but political opinion. Nay, nay,
not that-ft was corporation decis-
ion. 1t will go down to posterity as
the greatest monument TO disgrace
| ever erected In this state. The Judge
| went even farther than he was asked.
He not only declared the board of thjr-
teen assessors unconstitutional, but he
announced that the Legislature could
not vest assessing power In the fifty
| seven assessors sitting as n board. He
said that an assessor had no authority
outside his own county. We have
l hfty-seven sherifs created by the same
1 law as the assessors, and no one ques-
tlons their power outside their home
counties. 1t is an inherent power in
the Legislature to confer additional au.
thority upon statutory or constitu-
tional officer SO long as that authority
makes for the interests Of the state
That was never questioned untn we se-
cured new class Of lawyers and cor.
| o0ratiOnS decided to dOdDe their taxcs y