Ladysmith news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1906-1907, 1906-09-29
QUESTION OF TAXATION
Where Are We At in the Matter and
What Does the Future
SuggestP

MUSK county the SUBJECT OF taxation
is receiving popular attention. 1t is
serious one that should be handled with
care and judgment.
| Sometime ago petition was present
ed to the state tax commission praying
for the re-assessment of property in
the city of Ladysmith and citing the
alleged under assessment of one of it's
n ntitutions.
Following this, and perhaps suggest
ed by it, came petition asking for
re-assessment of the property of the
village of Weyerhaeuser. This petition
was received and hearing time was
fixed upon it.
Another petition, we are informed,
asked for the re-assessment of the
town of Thornapple. There the princi
pal institution is the Beldenville con-
cern, one of the largest in Rusk county.
1t was singled out, if our information
is correct, as needing re-assessment.
The petition was denied upon the ground
of lack of time in which to re-assess
the whole township.
In this case the Beldenville property
statement was in round numbers $16,-
900, the assessor fixed the value at
$29, 900 and the town board of review
cut it to $4,000. The manager of the
concern is chairman OF the town board,
and, ex officio, chairman of the town
board of review. AS far as assess
ments are concerned he appears to be
lit in capitals.
Disinterested parties place the value
of the Beldenville plant many times
more than that fixed by the owners and
the town board of review-likewise
several times the value fixed by the
assessor.
What the state tax commission would
have done had the petition for re-assess-
ment been filed earlier, is matter of
surmise. The law IS clear on the sub
ject.
AS has been said in this article. this
question of taxation is serious one
that should be handled seriously.
The people of the county cannot af-
ford to be unfair to the industrial in
stitutions. To illustrate. The differ
ence in the taxes of the Beldenville
company on the assessment as equal
lied by the town board of review and
as alleged by the petitioners would be
somewhere between So, 900 and $5, 600
enough to build five to eight miles of
road each year. This amount each
year for the past five years would have
built graded highway one way on
every section line in the township. 1t
would probably have added fifty to a
hundred settlers and doubled the value
of all the real estate in the town. 1t
would have resulted in adding untold
thousands of dollars of personal pro-
perty. By this time the taxes on farms
in the town of Thornapple might be
the lowest instead of the highest in the
county. Pioneering would thus not be
unmixed with it's hours of ease, it's
moments of pleasure. The people
would be participating in the bounties
with which nature had blessed that
town, bounties which had called the
reaper in the institution that levies its
own taxes, bosses road buildingl and
appropriates the blessings of provi-
dence.
Is this all dream? Is it rant? Is
it the natural order of things that pre-
walls and should "the public be damn
ed?'
The tax question should be handled
with care-by whom?
Taxes are a necessity. All must
bear them-all should be considerate
in the matter. Those who can we'll af-
ford to pay should not be the first
to seek advantage. The multitude will
rule at it's pleasure. Those who hap
pen for the moment to be possessed
of power can we'll afford to handle that
advantage with consideration for those
who grant the power The source of
power can command attention.
There is no reason why reasonable
degree of harmony shall not prevail.
Nothing but the czarism of those favor
ed with temporary power prevents it.
Another year is coming and others.
Pique Coats.
think the pique coats with vide
shoulder capes are the most attractive
for little child. The capes are seal
loped and worked in the buttonhoIe
stitch, and the small turnover collars
are finished in the same manner
Large polka dots, embroidered above
the ,callops in the solid satin stitch
have charming effect The prettiest
hat to wear with this coat is one OF
piQue ScallOped around brim and