The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-11

Better and more efficient sprinkling
inspection could be had If the task of
watching the men doing the work were
placed in the hands of the police de-
partment. This plan would also do
away with eight inspectors now draw
ing salaries from the city, ,ea
$50 much benefit will be derived by
the state institutions at st, Anthony
park by the new sewer system being
laid in that section that l think an
appropriation of at least $4,000 should
be made by the state to help defray the
expenses of building the sewer.
mo just taxation system can be had
until we do away with property assess
ment and have a uniform income tax
law, enforced by the national govern
ment.
yearly st. Paul loses many thousand
dollars by the present method of tax
ing railroad property. II We had an
ad valorem system the valuation of
st. Pauls taxable property would be
increased at least 80 per cent, and a
levy could then be made against that
class of property for improvements"
These are a few. extracts from an in
formal talk given by Comptroller
Louis Betz before the Chamber of
Commerce yesterday afternoon.
Statements Made in Informal Talk.
Mr.. Betz did not deliver an address,
but after giving short talk on taxa
ton, answered questions asked by the
members of the chamber. 1t was in
answer to the questions that the state
ments above quoted were made.
'Is not the expense of maintaining
the city and county building almost
twice as great as the cost of caring for
the federal building?" asked j. w.
Cooper, former president of the cham
Der and one of the Organizations prom
inent members.
Il have been told that it is So" Mr..
BetZ answered.
and" continued Mr.. Cooper, "are
not more employees hired to care for
the needs of the building than is really
necessary? And is not this the case In
other departments? Mr.. Betz. would
not investigation show these conditions
to exist in the city and county govern
ment?"
81 think an investigation" replied
Mr. Betz, would show that more men
than are actually needed are employ
ed. You know that in st. Paul, as in
all large cities, it is the practice to
reward party workers and to pay po-
litical debts with positions in the city
service. Consequently, as many jobs as
1t is possible to make are created. NOW,
while more men are employed at the
city building than are actually needed,
the salaries are small. An investlga-
ton would also show that the several
departments Of the city government
are efficiently managed.
Taxation System Is Defective.
At the opening of his talk Comptrol-
Ter Betz said that the city is in need
of a more flexible system OF taxation.
"IJnder the present system" said he,
"the city charter provides for specific
amounts for each department. Residues
from one department cannot be shifted
to another There should be a maxi
mum mill tax limit instead of fixed
sum. and then as the city grows and
its property becomes more valuable
the revenue that the city derives from
taxation will increase correspondingly.
The taxpayers should see that an
amendment to the charter is enacted.
"Out of 139 cities in the United
States whose population is more than
10000, ST. Paul Is among the lowest
in the rate of it's taxation. This speaks
well for the citys efficient and econom-
ical government. Our rate of taxation
would be much lower il the city could
collect taxes against the great railroad
property lying within it's corporate
limits. The valuation OF the property