Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1906-04-26
CURRENT EVENTS.
Stolen from the Exchanges that
Come to our Table.

daily. The operators are making all
sorts of preparations for strike; but
whether they mean it as a scare for
both miners and public will not be
known for several days. In the
meantime, the actions of the miners
seem to be most characterized by
fairness.
In 1896 the last year that Mr..
Crawford served as member of the
state board OF equalization and
assessment, Mr.. Crawford was pre-
sent only upon two occasions during
the whole session of the board and
that upon these two occasions the
question of railroad assessment was
under consideration. Mr.. Crawford
according to the official record. sup.
ported motion, which prevailed, to
decrease the assessment of the
Northwestern between WATERFOWL
and Gary from $4,000 to $1,000 per
mile. Mr.. Crawford took no part in
the deliberations of the board in
1895 except when railroad assess
ment was being considered and upon
one of the only two occasions he was
present he moved to decrease rail.
road assessment.
Perhaps San Francisco was a
wicked city and possibly there were
people there, as there are in every
city, whose way of life deserved
punishment. But the most approved
conclusions of modern theology are
that wicked lives bring their own
punishment. The thought that God
suspends the laws of his universe to
visit wrath upon the atoms of man
kind who have displeased him
belongs to more primitive age.
The present age believes that the
laws of nature are fairly steady in
their operation. Man does not yet
understand them all and often runs
counter to them and vhen he does
suffers severely. And in these
instances the good suffer with the
wicked because the laws OF nature
do not discriminate between men as
to moral qualities. The gambler
and the preacher who stand in the
path of a cyclone will both be taken.
The rake and the saint who seek a
place of safety will together be
spared.
Deacon Reeves, who, having been
state auditor for four years, speaks
by authority, calls the latest state
ment of the insurgent newspapers
regarding railroad taxation very
neatly. The lnsurgent papers by
referring to the taxation on rail
roads per mile, and the assessment
on cattle, seek to create the impress
sion that cattle are taxed excessively
high. Reeves explanation is as
follows: "How they do twist things.
Basford gives the cue and the others
fall in line. For instance they say:
In 1901 cattle in South Dakota
assessed per head $3.50. Railroad
tax paid per mile $50. True as
gospel, but the purpose is to leave
in the mind of the careless reader a
false impression. For instance, the
tax that same year on those same
cattle in Brown county was about
26 cents per head for state and
county purposes. For school and
city purposes added, the tax was
probably % or 30 cents per head
as against 800 per mile paid by the
railroads. The same year cattle
under two years old were assessed
at $685. and steers over two years
old were assessed at 1854. The
same year they say cattle per head
in Wisconsin were assessed at 1922
while the railroads paid $5O7 per
mile. The question naturally arises:
Does the Wisconsin assessment refer
to calves, cows or steers, and does
the railroad tax of Wisconsin mean
all the railroads or some especially
valuable lines? Judging from the
way the Basford disciples manufac-
ture their argument as they 60
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