The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-05-01
$%3,92O,0o0.Oa
TAX STEAL.
csauto.d's Violating Of Hls Pledge
vss an Endorsement Of the
$3,s2o,oeo.eO Tax SEAL

Although the document was sent
broadcast owe the state about month
ago. this Is the first time that the
subsidized organ has mentioned 1t.
1t is really astonishing what a little
incident will constitute the voice of
the people" when a politician Who has
betrayed his constituents and has sold
his birthright for a mess Of pottage.
Is listening for some sort Of an ex-
cuse with which to ease his CON
science.
Replying to the charge that Mr..
Crawford changed front with regard
to the gross-earnings law, the Sioux
Falls Press affects to think that It
is creditable to him that he did 50,
which was as follows:
II vote for this bill ON the ground
that since voting. before l have re-
Of my district requesting that vote
Tor this bill. That feature Of the
bill relating to the exempting of all
the lands of any railroad onpany
paying d the gross-earRiags sys-
tenn, from taxation. is asaiasf my
Judgment, but do not desire to set
up my judgment against the only ex-
preston l have from my district on
this subject"
Mr.. Crawford's change of front is
commended on the ground thot he
"a needing the voice of the peo-
pie" but what are the facts?l
The gros6earnings law was enact
ed In 1883. The railroad interests ex-
pended fully 500, 600 in "persuading''
the legislature that such a law was a
righteous one, and 1t seems to have
| done the business.
This law was odious to the people,.
The Northern Pacific railroad was a
gigantic corporation. It owned every
alternate section of land within q
strip forty miles wide across the ter
paying taxes on this land. and 80 it
position WHICH, -EXEMPTEb IRIS
ENTIRE HOLDINGS OF REALTY
FROM TAxATION.a
Honest Abe Van osdel. sharing
the tne, feeling g .a b911 as 1 fhs imposition N Dana7 in in,
gr~oss-earnings law, but it failed of
passage. Another bill was introduc-
ed two years later, and it passed the
lower branch of the legislature. but
was stolen before it reached the up
per branch.
tatives Of the railroad companies
aroused public indignation and every
where in the territory the failure, OF
the legislature to repeal the gross
earnings law was denounced. The
following. year (1888) Mr.. Crawford
was nominated for the council. The
people of his district had taken quite
an interest in the railroad laws, and,
with their minds directly on the
~gross-earnings law, the members Of
the convention which nominated, Mr..
Crawford adopted the following reso
luton: ~
Resolved, That all classes Of 4
erty in the territory should bear
equal share OF taxation"
There was not the least doubt
about what that resolution meant. It
was 9 direct blow at the gross-earn-
Ing Law. M was so accepted: THB
THE FOLLOWING JANUARY RE-
PEALED THAT LAW BY UNANI-
NOUS VOTE.
But the railroads at once got busy.
Their high-priced lobbyists wera
FASTENED to Bismarck. Excitement
ran high. a junketing trip was pro.
bribery and t%reachery and selling
out" and violating pledges were rife.
For days the tension was at q hiRh
pitch. The columns of the daily preas
were teeming with reports OF plots
and counter-plots.
- The he fight GIT against ggi at the re-enact@ent
wobbled first one way and then the
other-but the railroads finally got"
him. Mr.. Crawford himself and those
who got" him know how 1t was done.
AS q means of easing his onneci
ence. It is said that Colonel Bylard,
interests in Mr.. Crawford's district.
"DetitiOned" Mr.. Crawford dny4nv the
thick Of the fight to change front,
hence the explanation" which MI.
Crawford offered and which is ap-
provingly quoted by his Sioux Fails
newspaper 0lgan;
OF THD GROSSHARNINGs Law
IT MEANT THAT A STRIP OF
LAND EQUIVALENT TO A OOM-
PACT AREA TWENTY MILES WIDE
AND p PRACTICALLY G;4ILIy THREE Re- HUN
B Bfsf1 ENC s15f The nlh kS1L heHG;
COMPANY, WAS EXEMPTED FROM
TAXATION-AN AREA AS LARGE
AS NEW JERSEY AND LARGER
ISLAND COMBINED. This tract
e CO Ind e %%n,,s $4,000 so1 as1eA
MILES. II assessed at, only five dol
S22, 4O0, 600. or A MILLION MORE
THAN THE TOTAL RAILROAD AS
SESSMDNT TODAY IN SOUTH DA-
kOTA. The law stood from 1883 TO
statehood, 9 period Of seven years.
II the average assessment was only
twenty-five mills on this valuation.
the total amount Of taxes for the sev.
en- years would have been $3.s2Oyooo.
That seems to be about the sort
Of q tax steal that Mr.: Crawford en-
dorsed when he listened to the voice
Of the people" from his district as
against his pledge to the Convention
which nominated him to stand for
equal taxation and against the nach-
nations Of railroad corporations.
The excuse which the ~insurge0t or
gan in Sioux Falls offers fer TITS
bare-faced theft In the matter Of
taxes Is one that Mr.. Crawford him
self seems especially anxious to heep
in the back-ground-at all events. he
IL no setting 1t forth in his speeches.
The people Of South Daksta wsuld
like to hear from the govern0r. Does
he. or does he nOt,Iwish the "defeAoo'