The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1903-03-20
LETTER FROM WILSON.
Hon. Geo. w. Wilson Defends His Bill,
n. r. No. 1913, Against the Crit
icisms Of the Minneapolis NJ VA
Journal and Other A
Papers.

icisms Of the Minneapolis +
Journal and Other N
Papers. y
49,
House of Representatives,
St. Paul, March 9TH 1908.
Editor Adrian Guardian:
Ihave been sick week and been
home in the meantime, and my
attention has just been called to an
article in your paper of the 18th
ulto, headed n. F. Ho. 1893 Will
son." and in which you copy from
the Minneapolis Journal.
In explanation thereto would say,
Sam johnson, the bank examiner
is a pet of the Journal and it is said
he wrote the article referred to and
many other articles in that paper,
trying to boost himself. The fact
is under the law the state auditor,
the examiner and the railroad and
warehouse commissioners have
authority to look after the railway
company business and there is q
clash and divided responsibility and
consequently a friction all the time.
The railroad and warehouge COM
missioners, nor none of these parties
have power full enough to do what
they want or ought to do. The
Journal claims that johnson un-
earthed back taxes. The facts are
he did nothing of the kind. The
railroad and warehouse commission
ers ascertained that there were
taxes that had been omitted and
called the railway companies be-
fore them, and as a matter of
courtesy they asked Mr.. johnson
also to come. After their confer:
ence the railroad and warehouse
commissioners insisted that the rail-
way companies had omitted some
taxes and that they must be paid.
After the meeting was over with,
johnson went to one of the COM
panies and demanded a check for
the amount that company was
claimed to be back. The check was
handed over he turned it into the
state treasurer, amounting to some
five or six thousand dollars. They
raised the hue and cry that he had
ferreted out something that the
railroad and warehouse commission
ers had failed to do. The back
taxes which was claimed accrued
by reason of rebates refunded, the:
railroad and warehouse commits
sioners have for a long time been.
waiting for an opinion from the
Attorney General to determine
whether or not the railway COM
panies should pay gross earnings
on rebates but no answer from that
Office. My bill is worthy measure
and think can show it; if report
il favorble from the committee the
bill will be printed and I will send
you a copy of it. I have requested
the sub committee, to which this
bill was referred, to confer with the
state auditor and with the railroad
and warehouse commissioners about
it. There is some kick against the
bill from some of the railway COM
paines because they think it gives
the railroad and warehouse commits
stones too much power over the
question as to what the uniformity
of booking-keeping shall be. spent
many days on this bill and I know
that I am right on it. It is not a
strike against johnson, for I care
nothing about him or anybody else
that it may hit but there is a
scramble and a friction as tc
authority and I want to stop that,
and above all to get the taxes
collected that the state is entitled
to.
Yours truly,
GEO. W. WILSON.
Guardian.
DUCKS IN BORAX
LAKES.