The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-16
HOPPER AT MADISON
is FULL TO THE
BRIM
Nearly a Thousand Bills In
troduced, Most Important
of Which Is the One to
Change Method of Taxing
Railroad Companies = Its
Features.
Special to The Globe.

MADISON, Wis, Feb. 15.-At the
close of the season of new business
in the legislature this week, a total of
$50 bills had been introduced, or So
less than two years ago. A few more
may come in by special permission.
About 250 came in the last day, and
many of them of great Importance.
Among the latter were measures in
Guiding the administration bills for
taxing railroads and corporations, for
the regulation of railway rates, to curb
federal employees in their political &C
tivity, forbidding discrimination in
phone rates, applying civil service
rules to state employees, making Satur-
day afternoon a legal holiday, making
elective several important offices that
are now appOintiYe and several anti
trust bills.
Mr.. Cady, chairman of the judiciary
cOmmitte, introduced what many con-
slider an administration mortgage tax
alton BILL which provides that a tax Of
L per cent shall be levied for each 81 of
Indebtedness which may be secured by
mortgage; the tax in all cases to be
paid by the mortgage. Executory
contracts shall be deemed to be mort
cages, for the purpose of this act,
and all such mortgage and bonds or
obligations secured thereby shall be
exempt from all other taxation The
tax imposed shall be paid to the re-
cording officer, to whom the mortgage
is first offered for record.
Taxation of Railroads.
The most important bill, however,
and one that will perhaps be as bitter
ly contested as any in the legislature,
is that to change the system of rail-
way taxation from a license fee to an
ad valorem basis. This is a reform
for which Gov. La Toilette has longed
for and which the tax commission rec
commended. At the hearing last week
given the railway magnates by the
committee on assessment and collec-
ton of taxes, the former made strong
objections to any change, and many
lobbyists are now on the ground to
prevent the passage of the bill if pos
sible.
The bill is entitled 'to provide for
the taxation of railroad companies"
1t constitutes the state tax commits
sion as a state board of assessment of
the property of railroad companie. In
the properties to be assessed are ''all
franchises, right of way, road bed.
II clCAo5 SldlIOIS, terminals, rolling
stock, equipment and all other real
and personal properties of the COM
panies."
The bill does not apply to the prop
erty Of street railway companies.
The state board Of assessment is to
have free access to all the books, pa
perS, documents and records WhatsO-
ever of the companies, and has power
TO summon and examine witnesses in
the process Of making it's assessment.
The companies are to file with the
board full and complete reports be-
tween July L and Aug. Is of each year,
setting forth the history of the road,
all change in the ownership or consti-
tuition of the corporation, the stocks
and bonds and all securities and COL
lateral, and the market value Of the
same. If any company refuse to file
the statement or refuse to appear
when summoned for examination by
the board, that company shall thereby
waive and forfeit all right to question
or contest the justice or accuracy of
the assessment.
The board is to ascertain the true
full cash value Of the property of each
OF the railroads during the month of
September each year. The secretary
of the board is to prepare a complete
list Of the property, with other sta
tistics.
On the second Tuesday of Novem-
Der Of each year the board is to sit
at the capitol for a sufficient time fol-
all who desire to appear and be heard
as to the merits or injustice, or other
feature of the assessment but the sit
ting is not to last longer than Dec. IS
Between the first Monday in De
cember and the 18th of January an
nually the board shall determine the
aggregate tax on all other property in
the state, and from this data determine
the average rate Of taxation on the
other property. This rate so deter
mined is to be the rate charged upon
the railroad property
Some License Fees.
The remaining sections of the bill
are re-enactments of the present IL
cense fee system, and stipulations al
the procedure to be followed in the
event of litigation in contest of the
act so that the state shall by no means
lose the taxes on railroads equal al
least to the amounts now paid by the
companies.
The license fee system taxes rail-
roads upon their gross earnings pei
mile, or So per mile for roads thai
nave very low earnings. Four per cent
is charged roads that pay $4,000 pei
mile or more in gross earnings. is
per cent, those that pay between $4,000
and $1,000 per mile; 8 per cent, those
that earn between $4,000 and $4,000 PEI
mile, and So per mile, those roads thai
earn less than $4,000 per mile. Rail-
roads operated on pile or pontoor
bridges are charged 2 per cent of their
gross earnings. Under the license fee
system the roads pay half their tax
semi annually