Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-02-27

jOrity Of votes. To give the half-breeds
still another chance in the event of
such Il contingency Mr. Nye of Supe-
rior has bill providing that in case
no candidate has a majority at the
primary election the two highest can
didates shall go on the regular ballot
and be voted on at the general cleo
ton.
Still another bill has come in from
Mr.. Sprague. of ElkhOrn. continuing the
vote on United States senator to the
candidates voted for at the primary
election. The feeling seems to be
that none of these measures will 90
through When the provision was
made in the primary law for the NOM
ination Of candidates for United States
senator ii was admitted that such nom
ination could he only advisory and
could have no legal binding on any
legislator. although it is expected no
legislator would oppose a majority
party choice. The prelude of what
will doubtless he warm fight two
years hence may be said to be now
sounding
Mortgage Taxation Again.
Two subjects of particular interest
to farmers will again give sleepless
days and nights to the legislators be-
fore the end of the session. being the
Torrens system of land registration
and mortgage taxation. The Torrens
system has been repeatedly turned
down 10y past legislatures, but Senator
Stcndall, who champiOned it two years
ago, has again brought it to the front
this winter A more intricate subject
to deal with is mortage taxation. Wis
cOnsin has had mortgage tax laws be
fore, has one now in fact, but they
don't seem to work. In his recent
message to the legislature Governor
Davidson urged that an effective law
be enacted. A great many members
of both houses have spoken out in
favor of the exemption from taxation
of this form of credits. but it is said
the lawyers of the senate are hard to
rouse on the proposition.
The farmer members as a whole. it is
said, are in favor Of mortgage taxa
ton. but ii is probable that many are
unaware of the intricacies involved in
such Il plan. OF course the theory for
the exemption is that a taxation of
both the mortgage and that portion
of the value of the land which is rep
resented in the mortgage as security
presents practically double taxation.
because the land is subject to assess
ment. The attempt will be made to
gel bill through to do away with
this double taxation by removing
from the tax lists all lands covered
by mortgage in an amount equal to
the mortgage for which the land is Sc
curity.
Accurate Information Secured.
The state tax commission. during
the past two years, has been making
a thorough investigation Of the mort
cages in each county under direction Of
Professor +. s. Adams. of the Uni
versity Of Wisconsin. This data has
been secured from the Offices of reg
listers Of deeds and is probably the
most accurate information Obtainable
In addition the commission has had
a few expert men assessing property
in different counties Of the state. so
that i comparison can be made with
the report Of the local assessor in each,
locality.
Besides this the tax commission
now requires an annual report from
each register of deeds of transfers Of
real estate with the additional in
formation If the property is mort
gagged. II is believed with this data
enough information can be furnished
to prevent overlapping OF double tax
alton if the mortgage law is passed.
An important measure to be con.
sidered 1T this session is that for I'M
income tax. Two years ago Il constl-
tutiOnal amendment providing for IN
income tax was adopted. This win
have to he put through the legisla-
ture again this winter before being
passed upon by the people. There
seems to he no disposition to oppose
the proposed legislation.
Hughes Anti-Tights Fame.
Hssemblyman Hughes. the Obligin@
Dodge county editor, who kindly con-
scented to stand for the sacrifice so
that the session might not go by with
ont a freak bill, is reaping the eX-
pected fame from his anti-tigllts meas
ure His picture is being paraded on
front pages with those Of actresses in
more or less abbreviated attire and his
photograph is in great demand. The
last straw came the other day, how
ever, when a yellow New FORK journal
sent Oh IN order for his autograph
Perhaps the best joke Of it all. how
ever. is that many newspapers are