Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-10-27
R[gFLL|OE< A linn
s
State of Linn fuse, to, Obey
Mandates of Iowa
Legislature
WILL NOT ASSESS RURAL PHONES
Supervisors Pass Resolutions That a
Mutual Line Is Not a Corporation
Subject to Special Taxation But Law
Is Very Clear on the Point-objec
ton to Decorating Contract Weak. :.

Special to Times-Republic an.
Des Moines, Oct. 27.-The state of
rebellion existing in the state of Linn,
of which the metropolis Of Cedar
Rapids is the capital, has been called
to the attention of state officials, but
the attorney general is too busy just
now with other matters to make the
necessary inquiry before tie rebellious
subjects are brought to time. The re-
sistance to the laws of the state COM
menced q year or more ago when the
county auditor reported to the state
auditor that owing to the fact that
the reports made by telephone lines
We're SO mixed up no asse ssment was
possible of the rural and f;lrm lines in
the county and by dtrec ion Of the
board no effort was made to collect the
taxes. Now the situation is changed
and the legislative body of the State
of Linn, sitting in the town of Marion,
called a county seat, has resolved upon
general assembly in regard to rural
tele- hore lines. rec1ting that:
Whereas, said companies or line
are not incorporated, have no capital
stock. are owned severally, are part of
the real estate of the sew eral owners
and as such are assessed " ith the said
real estate to the owners by the local
assessors, therefore, be 1t,
Resolved, that all asse ssments on
rural or farmers telephone companies
or lines in Linn county, as returned by
the executive council, be and the same
are hereby cancelled for the reason
that such assessments are double and
erroneous, and the county auditor is
hereby instructed and directed to omit
from the tax list all said ru1 al or farm
ers' telephone companies. or lines, not
incorporated, as returned by the exe-
cutive council fer 1904"
Thus ror the first time it is reveal
ed that the rebellion is real one and
not an incident to getting things so
badly mixed that nobody could
straighten them out.
At the state house the code was con-
suited and this definition OF telephone
company was pointed out as given by
authority of the general assembly for
the guidance of all law abiding citi-
zens.
"The word company as used in this
act. shall be deemed and construed to
mean any person, co-partn ership, asso-
citation. corporation or sy 1dicate, that
shall own or operate, or b. engaged in
owning or operating any telegraph or
telephone lines whether formed or or
ganized under the laws of this state or
elsewhere"
The attorney general says the word
"any" doesn't mean few or part Of
the companies or persons operating
or owning telephone companies and
officers and of the county officers in
ninety-eight Of the counties of the
state Failure to collect the tax as
provided by the code of Iowa is made
punishable by fine or imprisonment.
It is found upon investigation that
the rebellion organized in the State Of
Linn last year and now continued and
made permanent by legislative act,
resulting in the state getting no tax
from the large number Of lines in the
vicinity of Cedsr Pands This is a,
small matter however, as the taxpay-
ers in other counties can easily make
it UP.
The call for the conve 1tion of CO.
operatives at Rockwell, Iowa, next
Thursday, makes spicy reading. The
meeting is specifically fer the pur-
pose of organizing an association of
the cooperative grain companies to
fight the grain trusts, with headquar-
ters in Des Moines. The attempt to
induce the commission merchants at
grain markets to refuse to handle bus
mess from the farmers or co-opera-
tives is denounced as "a high handed
and open violation Of the laws of trade
and decency, and the perpetrators Of
such an Infamous outrage should be
given to understand that their UNDER
handed tactics and disgraceful conduct
is blot on the fair name of our state"
The call continues:
'.It cannot be that the time has come
when a company, organized and incor-
porated under the laws of this great
state, composed of leading and up
right business men with an aggregate
wealth of half million dollars, is
not to be permitted to do business in
this land of the free and the home of
the brave Such, however, is what
the self-appointed guardians of the
grain trade would have us believe, and
in our opinion the time has come for
the men who grow the grain and own
the land, to rise up in their might
and wipe the last vestige of the grain
trust from the state of Iowa"
The state capitol commission is en-
gagged in the hearing of the suit brought
by a printer of Des Moines to put a
stop to having the decorative work
of the state capitol done by one who
does not live in Des Moines. The in
terest of the plaintiff in the case, while
nominally that of taxpayer, is in
fact more, because he represents the
abor unions and it is sought to have
the work done by Des Moinees labor.
But it is found also that wherever
Mr. Garnsey does work he employs all
the local labor that is found to be
competent, since 1t requires a small
army OF workmen to undertake such a
large job. The plaintiff in the suit to