Morris tribune., 1905-03-04
ST. Paul, Mimi, March 1st, 1905.

49,
week Some members of the committee have
worked on this new code all day for days at
time, nights and Sundays. If the new Code be
comes law the state of Minnesota will owe
a great~debt of gratitude to Chairman Ander
son and to Messrs. Roberts, Wallace, Ofsthun
Perey and in fact every member of the com
nittee. These have gone over not only
every provision of the proposed Code, but also
all the provisions of the old lava task the
magnitude of which can hardly be conceived by
a person who has not tried to hunt thru all the
session laws to find what the law now is on
even one subject. Criticism of the code jim it's
amended form must be more less without
foundation, because the judiciary committee
has carefully gone over every provision which
provides for the slightest deviation from the ex-
listing law The whole Code will now be taken
up by the House on general orders,
Representative Rachie of Lac qui Parle,
fathered bill which repealed the present cur
rupt practices act. The bill provoked lively
discussion in the House, many members think
ing with Mr.. Racine that the present law only
encouraged perjury. The real sentiment OF the
II ouse was of course for corrupt practices actI
which would be effective, and when Mr..
Racine found what the provisions of the Code
rvere on the subject he withdrew the bill
+ + /
Carl Wallace, of Minneapolis, has introduce
ed a bill providing for the state grading of hay.
With the growth of hay shipping, it has become
quite necessary that there should be an Impair
tial Judge Of thegrade ofhay between the seller
and he buyer The bill provides for inspection
along the-lines of the present grain inspection.
/
The committee on taxes reported out two
1mpc rtant bills on Saturday, the stone bill
taxin inhertances and the Thayer tax ferret
bill Tho Stone bill as reported, provides for
tax on inheritances of over $1,000; one fourth
Of one per cent when to wife minor child, 6
one PER cent when to other direct heirs, and j
fl We per cent when to any others. The plan of {
taxing inheritances is in vogue in many states,
but Minnesota has been unfortunate as to
have had three previous laws declared uncon o
stitutional The present bill is thought to e
IN Get all legal objections and is so framed that v
its provi sions are fair and equitable. c
The Thayer tax ferret bill will provoke Il
81 UGH discussion before it is finally disposed or tt
but Mr. Thayer is prepared to make a strong s.
fight for it. The bill is practically the same
as the Iowa law and Mr. Thayer went at the
$ ubiect right by sending lettert to each county o
treasurer of Iowa asking for information as to n
the operation of the law. | have read every II
one Of those replies, and found that II out OF s
the 90 treasurers responded. In some counties II
no ez IRA taxes was collected and in other counties
the amount of moneys and credits taxed had
been more than doubled, and has remained on le
the tax rolls ever since. The extra taxes II
{ objected on property that had absolutely es- p
capped taxation amounted in the whole state to $
the enormous sum of 81 81 $50 II. Bear in d
mind this is not the amount of extra property
placed on the tax rolls, but the amount of extra
taxes actually collected. Many of the treasnr-
ers after citing the direct benefit of the law,
stated that the best result after all was that
people were much more careful in returning
their property correctly for taxation A few
treasurers could say nothing good of the law, n
but maintained that it drove money out of the :
country raised interest rates, and placed too t
heavy bnr1en>on the widow with a small II
fortune.
Mr.. Thayers bill leaves the matter entirely
in the hands of the county commissioners to 8
employ not employ tax ferrets to find untaxed
property. The greatest compensation that can =
be paid to the tax ferrets is IS per cent. t