Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-18
STATE LOSES TIE FEES
Failure of legislature to Pass
Bill Deprives State Of
Revenue.
Records of Corporations Kept in
Loose Manner..Fail to Rein.
corporate.
Another Assessment Problem
for the Legislature...Capital
City Comment.

apparently insignificant bills deprived
| the state of many hundreds of dollars
which 1t might have had as we'll as not
| in the way of fees of corporations.
These bills related to the records of
corporations and the reports and filing
of papers. AT present company is
organized by publication of a notice
and fling the papers. Under the law
the company is required to report an
nually on its business. All charters
expire in twenty years. AS matter of
their reports regularly to the secretary
of state. There Is no penalty for not
making the report, as in Illinois, where
failure to report forfeits the charter.
and as a consequence Iowa corpora
tions do no reporting. If a company
| goes out of existence notice is pub
lished, but there is no requirement that
| the secretary of state shall be notified.
| One of the bills which passed the house
and which was lost in the senate re-
quired that corporations, shall make
annual reports and fixed penalty
| therefor and made the provisions for
| having the secretary of state keep a
good record of the same. If this bill
had been passed it would have been
possible to get the records on corpora
tions into some sort of shape that the
state would have actual knowledge of
the work of the companies But 1t was
not passed. The records are incom-
plete and unsatisfactory. Many cor
porations We're organized prior to 1882
and all such ought to reincorporate.
They are doing business illegally IL
they do not incorporate again and pay
the extra fee. But there is no authority
anywhere to compel them to incorpor-
ate again. The other day one of the
officers of big coal mining company
was notified from the secretary of
states office that the charter of his
! company would expire soon. This was
y size by request. The officer wrote
thanking the Office for the information
and promised to prepare the papers and
reincorporate on time. But he had be-
come connected with the company
some seventeen years ago and did not
know anything about the date of the
charter. If there was some way of get
ting at these companies they could be
forced to reincorporate and the state
would get many fees. Perhaps half Of
the companies organized prior to 1882
have remained in business and yet not
| 2 per cent of them have either made re-
ports or reincorporated. Perhaps dur
| ing the year the records will be fol-
lowed up as closely as possible and
some of those who have failed to REIN
corporate will be prosecuted just for an
example to the rest. Only In this way
can the state get its due.
Ex-C Congressman George M. Curtis,
of Clinton, was in Des Moines yester-
day on business. Mr.. Curtis was one of
the preliminary commission arranging
for the Iowa exhibit at the Louisiana
purchase exposition, and he offered a
motion in the last meeting to the effect
that the commission should ask for not
more than 100000. In fact he was in
favor of asking for $150.000, and now
believes that If the commission had
asked for just what 1t wanted and had
not made an estimate confessedIy too
high it would have Jared better at the
hands of the legislature. But he is very
well satisfied with the $125,000 and
thinks that Iowa can be we'll represent
ed with this sum. But there will be an
other session of the legislature of Iowa
before that exposition opens, since 1t
has been postponed another year, and
the commission soon to be named by
the governor may succeed in getting
some additions to the fund by proper
- of
The executive council of the state Is
up against another assessment prob
lem for the future. The legislature
enacted law requiring reports from,
the freight lines and assessment of the
same much after the manner that
sleeping cars are now assessed. The
assessment is not to be made this year,
but next winter the companies are to
make full reports on the entire business
done in Iowa during the current year,
so that If they are to make this report
they must begin at once to secure the
information and get their books into
shape. Governor Cummins has been
investigating this matter and it is
probable that very soon blanks will be
sent out notifying all such companies
of the designs of the state of Iowa in
the matter of making assessments. The
railroad companies will be informed
that they must notify all companies
doing business over their tracks of the
new law. The companies doing busi-
ness in Iowa are not officially known
and it will be a difficult matter to get
at all of them.
There has been much inquiry as to
the exact wording of the bill which
the grain dealers secured at the hands
of the last legislature. 1t is as fol-
lows:
"If any tenant of farm lands shall,
with intent to defraud. sell. conceal, or
in any manner dispose of any of the
grain or other annual products thereof
upon which there is a landlords lien
for unpaid rent, without the written
consent of the landlord, he shall be
guilty of larceny and punished accord
ingly."
There is much difference of opinion
as to whether or not 1t Is wise to raise
a large sum to be offered as bonus
for detectives in securing the convtc-
~