The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-02-08
I W Y E|QU|AL |. |! ]. [.
ARE TAX DODGERS
BOLD ACCUSATION OF CITY AS
SCISSOR MINOR.
In Talk at Retailers Get Together
Dinner for the City Officials, He AS
sails the State Boards Methods
Other Speeches by Officers Of the
City.

At the get-together' dinner given
last night at the Hotel Nicollet by the
Minneapolis Retailers association for
the city officials, City Assessor @. J..
Minor created a sensation by an out
spoken talk about the state board Of
equalization.
In explanation Of the extra and un-
equal burden Of taxation that has been
laid upon Minneapolis, Mr.. Minor
showed how the state board had in
| creased the assessments here without
warrant or reason. He went further
| and singled out two members of the
board and practically accused them of
being tax dodgers. One was G. NJ.
Sprague Of Sank Center, chairman Of
the board and also chairman Of it's
banking committee. Mr.. Sprague, he
said, had quite forgotten to make re
turn Of the undivided profits in his
bank. The other was Louis G. Nelson
Of Owatonna, chairman Of the commit
tee on goods and merchandise. This
committee had recomm ended and Sc
cured an increase Of 80 l-3 per cent in
the assessed valuation Of Hennepin' s.
goods and merchandise, in the face Of
the fact that that valuation had al
ready been raised 20 per cent by Mr..
Minor himself. On the, other hand, the
same item in the returns Of Steele
county, Mr.. Nelson Is county, had been
cut down 20 per cent. Mr.. Nelson had
returned his own goods and merchan-
disc at Owatonna at $4,000, when his
| comm ercial rating showed that the re-
turn should have been much higher.
The board was sarcastically charac-
terized by Mr.. Minor as an all-wise
body, incapable Of mistake" that
! mr. a Hv3 70 hy1cS
than did the men who conducted that
business. ! s...@-
Mr.. Minor $ talk was one Of a number
made by various heads Of city depart
ments who were introduced by w. M
Regain, president of the retailers organ
ization. The affair was quite informal
but the talks were all earnest and en-
ness men some notion Of how the city
affairs were conducted and how they
) might aid greatly in municipal eficien
cy by their counsel and assistants. MI
Regan first called upon George D. Day
; ton to speak for the hosts Of the occa
sion.
| Favors Municipal Subway.
Mr.. Dayton, after adverting to tn
benefits to be derived from such a fore
gathering, spoke Of some conditions tina
and high insurance rates were two oh
stacles, he said, to business progress
, that ought to be ameliorated in som
: way. An interesting suggestion he mad
+ was that some plan might be evolve
: for municipal subway in the bushes
+ district which would carry all wires all
. ing UP Of pavements. Such subwa
. would make possible the installation Q
: a central heating plant that would. fr1
: nish steam to downtown bui1ding
4 4 in fuel bills for some buildings. iOw1
e pa7a re s s. %ssR 5ns aB e yaf
q Of radiation, where i central plant ccul
e do the work att 20 Or rs cents, as ia
. been demonstrated in others cities.
Ralph w. Wheelock, private secretar
J. tothe mayor, speaking for his chief, "ou
n might ke]p the mayor in his work. "
= Merrill Favors New Trolley Project.
. "A. E. Merrill, president of the cour
Il Gil, showed how the government 0
d Minneapolis differed from that of mos
other cities because Of. the executiv
IT and administrative functions devolvin
t, upon the council in addition to the OF
;. binary legislative one. The responsi
l. bilities Of the council were by so niue
the heavier and more important. Fo
that reason the advice Of business me
was doubly welcome and necessary. H
8 hoped the present council would prov
worthy Of the magnificent chamber i,
which it convened finest on tn
; continent he had been told. For hi
+ part, adverting to the request soon +
g come from the new Minneapolis t
. Mankato trolley Line for entrance to tn
q city, he was in favor of permitting it
e tracks to reach the heart Of the bust
= ness district. az ,-~.s- -,
$ Chief J. R. Canterbury gave many il
# teresting figures illustrative Of tn
growth Of the fire departments wor
t, expenses expenses Firemen, he said, We're we're moe
e ern slaves, spending six-sevenths o
is their time away from their families an
! peculiarly subject to disease. Thei
k hours, he thought, should, be shortened
Ambulance chasers,' the shys
o ter" lawyers, who follow up accident
n to secure damage cases.. received sal
II castle attention at the hands of Git
il Attorney Healy, who told how success
!. full his department had been in savin