The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-10-24
OUT WITH AN AXE
st. Paul Globe Wants to Defeat
Gross Earnings.
The Tax on James ]. Hills Road Will
Be Increased Instead of Dimin-
ished.


the gross earnings tax amendment.
WhyH 1t says that this amendment
instead of increasing the tax on rail
roads will reduce it, Why then, should
this Democratic railroad organ wish
to defeat it2 AS is well known The
Globe is owned by President Hill of
the Great Northern road. It is equally
we'll known that the merger railroads
through the Northern Securities com
pany have supplied money lavishly to
carry on the Democratic campaign to
defeat Governor Van SAINT. Why
then, should the paper and party own
ed by Mr.. Hill and paid for by his
money seek to defeat law which they
say will reduce the taxes on his..rail
roads2,
The answer is very easy. 1t is be-
cause it won't reduce, but will very
materially increase the tax on both
the Great Northern and Northern
Pacific earnings. OF course every one
admits that on the traffic wholly with
in the state the tax will be increased
from three per cent to four per cent
This, too, it should be remembered is
much thesssslarger part of the gross
earnings tax. .and an increase of one
third on state traffic alone will bring
it practically up to the total of the old
- Dat ,kasI Of Sc or 10 go
where do Great Northern and North
ern Pacific freights and passengers
come from to go TOT A. glance at the
map will show this. Both cross what
used to be known as the great Ameri-
can desert, and from hundreds of
miles receive and...distribute practi-
cally not a pond of freight. After
North Dakota is passed no freight in
large amounts is received until the
Montana mines are reached and next
come the freights from Spokane, the
state of Washington and Seattle.
Now few sample 6gures will snow
just what worries the master of The
Globe and the dictator of the Demo
cratic campaign. The distance from st.
Paul, to the state line at Moorhead
is 243 miles, and from Moorhead to
Seattle is 1880 miles. Under the pres
emit law therefore, the Great Northern
pays Minnesota tax on but Upper
cent of the through freight rate be-
tween Seattle and ST. Paul. On all
through freights between Seattle and
Duluth it now pays on 10 per cent of
the rate. On freights between the
Anaconda mines and st: Paul 1t now
pays 90 per cent and between the
mines and Duluth on 80 per cent of the
rate. Under the new law it will have
to pay uniformly on all the freights
between all these points SO per cent.
The Northern Pacific on. through
freights will....also pay an increaseG.of
almost exactly one-third. Now where
do these merger roads expect in the
near future their great in crease of
businessf Why is the Great Northern
building the greatest freight vessels
the world ever saw for use on the Pa
cific ocean to and from Scatter What
does the merger magnate mean when
he Gays that in few years "if let
alone he will make the trans Pacific
business of this country equal the
trans Atlantic2 1t all simply means
that within a few years the through
freights over these merger roads to
and from Minnesota for the distribu-
tion over the lakes and the Burlington
road will dwarf all their other bust
ness. And 1t means that on all. this
business they will have to pay the
large increase of tax and that is all 1t
does mean.