The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-01-23

notable for its length The governor
was elected in November BY the larg
est majority ever given candidate
| for that Office in the state and he
made recognition of his great Ilajoy-
| ity by delivering the longest message
ever delivered by a governor in the
state.
Taxation Question to the Front.
Governor Johnson gives the question
of taxation tire post of honor in the
form Of prominence. He calls atten-
ton to the fact that heretofore all
property had to be taxed equally upon
the basis of estimated value, but that
under the new constitutional amend
ment it was only necessary to- make
taxation uniform in a class His rec
concentrations for taxation under the
new constitutional amendment we're
incislve and drastic. The value cf our
iron mines and the Importance of
making an appropriate tax upon them
was one of the features of the mes
sage which will have a telling feet
upon the legislation of the witt He
shows that in the commerce. world
the United States Steel cEfl oration
put the valuation of the - mines at
over 100000, white IA the taxa
ton world they are paying on onsy
$70,090,00O
The message recommends many inn
portant things, among them being the
abolition OF passes and reduction of
railroad fare to cents per mile The
abolition of passes may not be very
popular with the members of the leg
islature, who from the beginning OF
the state and the beginning of rail-
roads have enjoyed the pass priv
ilege, but the members accept the
changed conditions of affairs with
come up smiling just as if they
liked it.
Bills have been introduced in both
houses forbidding the issue of passes
to any one but railroad employees and
their families and also requiring the
railroads to carry passengers at 2
cents per mile. The dilemma is that
they cannot hope to get the 2-cent
fare in force in time to help out the
present session of the Legislature and
the members will have to pay the old
time regular rate in going to and from
their homes during this session.
Many Bills of Reform Nature.
Governor Johnson in his message
recommended the creation of a tax
commission and bill was promptly
introduced in the senate the next day
providing for this tax commission. In
fact, the first two days there were
thirty-three bills introduced in the
senate and nearly all of them of a re-
form character. Reform is stalking
wildly through the corridors of the
marble capitol and clapping its hands
with JOY at the startling revelation of
so much that is wicked in this world
which needs reformation.
It is certain, even at the beginning,
| that this legislature will be one of the
most laborious ones which has ever
met in the capitol. The great major
ity given the governor has evidently
led him to feel that he is not the gov
ernor of the Democratic party, but the
governor of the people of the state,
and his message has really been rev.
elation to the lawmakers in showing
what is necessary to be done to ad-
vance the interests of the common
wealth. The people are to be con-
graduated upon having made a jug
handle election. The legislature never
had such power for taxation as it has
this winter, because it has always
been held down by the constitution
but the adoption of wide open tax
amendment in November has changed
oil this and the owners of iron and
Dther valuable property in the state
will shortly realize that they can nc
longer escape paying their just pro
portion of taxes.
Separate Schools for Sexes.
One of the bones of contention thi:
winter will be the question of estab
fishing a girls reformatory independ
ent of the regular reform school o
the state. The Red Wing people ant
all the friends they can secure ar,
opposing a separate school for girls
While this Is undoubtedly great mis-