The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-03

from the coal miners Oh felIlSy1Vdiilet,
when they appeal from the king of the
coal trust to the president of the peo-
pie. believe the time has come when
the people of this country must say to
these coal barons:
eff you cannot so conduct your
business that we can at all times and
under all circumstances depend upon
a supply of fuel from you; If private
ownership Of these vast resources Of
nature makes it impossible for us at
all times to get fuel which is as nee
essary to us as the air we breathe
and the water we drink then we will
take possession Of these fields our
selves and conduct them In the inter-
est of the whole people,
mo matter under what form of gov
ernment we live it's power must nee
essarily be sufficient to protect the in
terest of it's citizenship, and govern
ment which has the right to take
citizens life; to incarcerate him and
to arbitrarily levy assessment upon MS
property for its support, has power
enough to solve these questions In the
interest of the people, If honestly and
courageously administered.
Prosperity Depends on Tax Laws.
Zone of the greatest of these pow
ers Of government which affects the
material welfare of it's citizens is the
power of taxation, and the peoples
prosperity inevitably depends upon
how wisely this great power is used
and how equitably the tax burden is
apportioned.
1.-The Republican party of this state,
under the direct and immediate leader
ship of my opponent in the present
campaign, attempted to solve this
problem by the aid of a tax commits
sion, which labored for many months
at an expense Of some $4,000, and
finally presented a tax bill and report
which was submitted to the legisla-
ture at special session. 1t in turn
took up the consideration of the tax
code and after thirty odd days of dis
cussion and at an expense Of 100000
or $4,000 to the state adjourned, haV-
ing repealed the tax on dogs as the net
result of It's labors, besides the enact
ment Of certain proposed constitutional
amendments.
'Trhe bill proposed by the commits
sion only submitted one new subject
of taxation, to-wit: the taxation of
franchises. Aside from that the bill
was a codification of our present tax
laws, with the addition of new, expen-
sive and inquisitorial machinery for
enforcing these laws. In the report
accompanying the code the commits
sion no less than fifteen times con-
demned the bill which they themselves
submitted. Thus The mountain la
bored and brought forth a mouse
Put Penalty on Industry.
"Now, am not so vain as to claim
that I have a patent remedy for all
the inequality of taxes from which we
suffer today, but I do think that
few general propositions can be &C
cepted by all Of us. Every tax system
he dor fol
principles:
"First-The certainty Of taxes; that
is, that the state must be certain Of de-
irving revenue therefrom.
"Second-Ease of collection; that is,
that the state may be able to collect
its revenue with the least possible ex-
penSe.
"Third-That the taxes must be so
levied as to prove the least burden to
society.
This involves the adjustment of the
tax in such manner as to rest it's
weight upon those best able to bear it,
placing the heaviest burden upon those
who derive from the government the
greatest benefit without laying too
heavy a hand on industry and filming
those who are industrious.
'Is it not true that taxation should
bear hghtest upon industry? He who
produces, and who, therefore, by his
efforts, either physical or Intellectual,
adds to the general wealth, and who, by
his efforts, tends to the increase Of tax
able property-the state gets a double
benefit from him, first, in the added
wealth, and next, in the taxes levied
upon it.
LET me illustrate briefly what would
have been the effect Of the successful
use Of the drastic machinery proposed
by the Republican tax code recon-
mended by Gov. Van SAINT in regard
to the manufacturing industries of this
state:
Ruin Minnesota's Manufactures.
"The census of 1900, page 449, vol. 8,
gives the value of Manufacturers ma
terials for that year in Minnesota at
$1T0,851 $40, and the value of manu-
featured products at $262,655,SS1, a to-
tai for the two items of $433,507,521.
eff this entire amount of actual VAL
uation should be taxed as provided by
the proposed code at a tax rate of, say,
25 mills, it would have produced a tax
burden upon the manufacturing indus
try of Minnesota of over $4,000, 900.
which is five-SeVenths of the total
amount Of taxes collected within the
boundaries Of the state for all state,
school, county, city and local purposes.
again, the census valuation of ma
chinery, tools and implements used in
the manufacturing industry in 1900 was
$37,953,943, whereas the present tax
able value Is less than 10 per cent Of
that. The strict taxation of the ma
chinery in accord with the letter of
the drastic tax code, therefore, would
have increased the taxes upon the
state manufacturing plants something
like ten times.
Tt Is plain enough from these facts
that the application of the drastic tax
code enforcing the personal property
tax would absolutely crush and wipe
out the manufacturing industry of
Minnesota, and give the manufactur-
ing trusts of New Jersey an absolute
and clear market within our common
wealth.
Are the voters, the workingmen, the
taxpayers, the thousand large and
small manufacturers of our state will
ing to approve tax code which would
tax out of existence Minnesota's in
dustries in the interest of the tariff
protected trusts of New Jersey?
ITO bring this home to you, let us
consider the manufacturing industry
of Ramsey county.
Farmer and Laborer Pay Bill.
"The actual census value of material
and manufactured articles of manu-
Clui WetS 3I0J0o1JofO Luz lutlcIldlS
and 39,425,79S for manufactured prod
ucts, a total of nearly $60,000,000. It is
therefore apparent that the enforcement
of drastic tax code upon the per-
scnal property Of the manufacturing
industry of Ramsey county at an aver
age rate of rs mills would impose
tax burden Of over $1,0O0,000 upon the
manufacturing industry of this coun-
'ty alone, which would mean the
prompt destruction of those industries
which now employ 10000 workmen and
pay out from $S,000,000 to $10,000,000
per annum in wages.
1.-THE farmers of the state would
have suffered likewise. To cite my