The Washington times., 1902-02-11
NOTED WOMEN ARE
ASSEMBLING HERE

success has cffectually reconciled them to
I the disgrace.
Her grandmother refused TO pay tithes
TO the Church of England and year after
year sat in her door knitting and de-
nouncing the law, while her goods were
seized and sold for taxes in the streets.
Her granddaughter inherited from her
the sense of injustice of taxation without
representation.
ScnOrita Huidubro.
Senorita Huidubro. delegate to the in
tcrnational suffrage conference in Wash
ington, who has just arrived was born
in Talca. Chile. where she has spent most
OF her life. Spanish is her native Ian
guase. but she has also perfectly thor
ough knowledge of English She is a
Young woman with an interesting story
Her father coming to this country on
business. met Boston girl. wooed and
won her and carried her to her South
American home. The senorita's mother
is direct descendant of Gov. Silas Hop
kins. of Massachusetts, one of the sign
ers of the Declaration of Independence
and of Mayflower ancestry
Living Now In boston.
Senorita Huidubro has come to live for
the present in Boston until she has fully
grasped certain ideas which she will car
ry out upon her return to her own coun-
try. Boston is not, however, wholly for
eisn to her, as she was sent there as a
child for number of years
Senorita Huidubro is a most impress
slve and charming young woman She is
OF splendid physique. has culture, exoui-
site courtesy and charm of manner. and
ner conversation IS feast of interest
Poetic, magnetic, with the ease of grace
OF cne accustomed to the highest social
privileges, she is a remarkable figure in
boston lie. Her lectures are most pop
ular. treating as she does upon subjects
Whlch are as yet entirely new in this
Countr.
MISS Margaret A. Haley of the Chicago
I'acb6rs' Federation. who will play n
prominent part in the convention. has re-
Gently come into prominence through her
work in connection with Miss Catherine
GogSin AMI ner fellow-workers il, school
which has saved Chicago millions of dol
lars in taxes that the rich corporatior.s
had avoided paying
The appropriations for schools in Chi
cago have long been inadequate. and
wherever the board of education needed
SloOo.OuO or 2.0eo eco for any purpose il
has been IN the habit of deducting il from
the teachers salaries A few years ago
about 1000 Of the 5000 teachers in Chi
caso organized a teachers federation.
Having reason to believe that the short
age of money was due to the fact that
most of the large corporations were
evading their legal taxes. they appointed
two young teachers. Miss Margaret Haley
and Miss Catherine Goggin. committee
10 investigate. Then the battle royal
began tetween two little schOolmarms
and all the mcst powerful corporations
and trusts in the State combined !
Battle for Equal Taxation
The women's enquiries revealed a most
extraordinary state of things Up to 1875
the railroads of Illinois had been as
sessed an annual tax on their franchises
In 1874 the assessment was S3l 600, 900, in
1875 only $50 coo 0C0. and from 1879 20 the
present time they have not been assessed
at all. In 1874 the franchises Of the two
little horse ear lines which Chicago then
had were taxed at 81 coo 600. but in 1899
the franchises of the 700 miles of electric
and cable car lines in Chicago were not
taxed cent. About 1873 the railroads
apparently found out that it was cheaper
TO bribe the officials whose duty it was
to apportion their taxes than it was to
pay the tax. Other corporations found
out the same thing. OF twenty-three
large corporations that the teachers in
vestigated, the majority were not as
sessed at all, and the others were as
sessed on only a small fraction of their
actual property. These twenty three cor
porations were the gas and coke com
pany, the telephone company, an electric
company, and twenty street railway com
panies
The women tried to induce the officials
whose duty it was to tax these corpora
tons 10 tax them. Finding that they we're
in league with the tax-dodgers, and were
determined not to comply with the law.
the women engaged an able lawyer and
took legal action to compel the officials
to do their duty. The corporations fought
hard: they exhausted every resource of
evasion and delay, they appealed the case
up from court to court, but the law was
clear and the evidence of fraud over
whelming, and the Supreme Court of Illi-
nois. has ruled that they must pay. The
decision will add millions every year to
the revenues of Chicago. Hereafter there /
will be money enough to keep the schools |
open the full term, and to pay the teach |
ers their salaries. All the other munic- |
ipalities in Illinois will also profit by |
the decision.
nTEn TOGETuEp