Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-01
TENDERS ADVICE
ON AMENDMENTS
CITY CLUBS COMMITTEE REM
DERS REPORT
URGES DEFEAT FOR MOST OF
THE PROPOSALS
Only Measures Deemed to the Interest
of caIifornians Are Those
Known as Nos. 8, 20,
2e, 80 and 80

Because of the long speeches and ar
guments at the City club session yes
terday at the Westminster no action
was taken on the report of the special
committee which digested the proposed
constitutional amendments.
The report had been asked for some
time ago and the debate between As
SCISSOR Walter Mallard and Prof Carl
@. Plehn made the reading of the con-
clusions timely.
The findings of the committee, which
consisted of Marshall Stimson, chair
man; T. J. Douglass, PROT. Melville
Dozier, Russ Avery, @. w. Chase.
Charles Cassatt Davis, Torrey Everett,
George Drake Ruddy, r. G. William
son and Henry D. Barrow, were as fol-
lows:
your committee appointed to con-
slider the proposed amendments to the
state constitution to be voted for at the
next general election beg leave to re-
port as follows:
Defeat No.
mo. This amendment proposes a
radical change in our tax system. The
separation of state and local taxation
is provided for and an attempt made
to have the state taxes paid by tax
on the gross revenue of public utility
corporations and a tax on banks and
trust companies. The principlt of this
amendment is good, but for the follow
ing reasons 1t does not seem to have
been worked out properly in the various
provisions of the amendment; 1t does
not provide that the corporations shall
pay any part of the bonded indebted
ness Of cities and counties. Based on
the present figures Los Angeles county
would seem to suffer a tremendous loss
IL. H.. 70
be made up by higher assessment or
higher tax rate on private property.
After careful consideration of this
amendment your committee report un-
favorably to its adoption.
Amendment No. IA, increasing the
salaries of the state officers, is, in the
main, a good amendment; but 1t con-
- tains proviso increasing the salary OF
the lieutenant governor from $3.50 to
$4,000 for the four years, without pro-
viding for any increase in his duties;
and your committee feel that an at
tempt to put through a job of this kind
by putting 1t in an otherwise worthy
amendment, merits the defeat of the
ent re amendment. The legislature
must submit amendments that are en-
tirely free from Objectionable features.
Amendment Nos. 16 and 32-No 16
contains many admirable features, but
it takes off the limit of time for the
should be considered in connection with
amendment 80, which contains the
same proposal to limit the expenses of
the senate and assembly; and your
committee recommend that amendment
16 be voted against, and that amend
ment 80 be supported.
Let Mortgages Stand
Senate amendment No. 26. repeating
the section of the constitution assess
ing mortgages as part of the real
estate in the opinion of the sommittee
should be defeated. The constitution
provides that all property is taxable;
that all property which is not real
estate is to be regarded as personal
property Therefore it would lie within
the power of the assessor to tax these
notes secured by mortgage as solvent
credits and would raise the question be-
tween the assessors and the lenders of
money thus disturbing the rates of in
terest and creating general confusion:
Our system at the present time is well
understood, and it seems useless to dis
turb the present conditions.
Senate amendment No 20 increases
the time for maturing of state bonds
from twenty-five to seventy-five years,
and seems to be a desirable amend
ment.
"Senate amendment No. 81, relating
to the extension of the terms of exist
enee of corporations, PRESENTS a more
difficult question. 1t seems desirable to