Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-03-26

s5upported 81 Demo senators .
e was BY Democratic representatives.
The principal argument against the
measure is that imposes on the
iron industry a burden which no other.
Industry has to bear and this d no
doubt true so far as state taxes are.
concerned. It has never been pro.
posed to tax the output of a factory,
Of Touring mill or of stone quarry.
But In the case of the latter conditions
are such that the ordinary tax reachesl
the quarry by the assessment method
to as full an extent as other classes
OF property are reached. It would
clearly not be in the public interest toI
tax the output Of Touring mill or al
factory, as the burden would ultimateI
~ fall not on the producer but on the
consuming public. A tax, for instance,
OF > cents barrel on -four would add
by so much to the price of the -four.
+ + !.
Tnere are, however, some products
on which a special specific tax ia
levied, not by the state, but by the
federal government. Spirituous and
malt liquors, for instance, are re.
CURED to bear a very heavy direct tax.
SO are cigars. No one sees any in.
justice in this, because it is a tax to
which they are accustomed. A ton.
mage tax on iron ore, however, is an
innovation and, like all new things.
Is regarded with suspicion by conser.
vative people. There are several rea,
sons relied on to warrant it's imposi.
ton. The first of these is that the
deposits of iron ore are the gift of
nature to the state. Every ton mined
and shipped away by so much de.
prives it of resources which can never
be replaced. From but very little of
ore so shipped does the state receive
any compensation. The profit all goes
to the mining corporations. At the
same time they are reducing the sec.
lions of the state in which they oper-
ate to desert, which, when they have
taken away the ore, will be utterly
worthless for any purpose whatever.
When they get through there is moth.
Ing left but hole in the ground, as
the tax commission puts it. The taxes
mining companies pay are insignificant
when compared to the value of the
property. What that value is no man
can tell. The president of the United
States Steel corporation, in his report
to the company, estimates the value
or iron ore in the ground at 81 ton.
The mining companies report known
deposits to the extent of ], 192,5O9,757I
tons of iron ore. Mr.. Bjorge's con
tentfon is that this should be assessed
for taxation purposes at $4,000, 900.
It actually is assessed at $1S6, 900, 900.
The rate paid on this low valuation
varies from about to IA mills, the
average being 10.5 mills. The aver
age rate of taxation throughout the
state In 1898 was 1898 mills. The
question asked is, why should the
farmer and the business man, who
are constantly adding to the material
resources of the state, pay so much
more towards the public revenues
than the mining operator, who is rap
idly depicting it of it's natural wealth?
The tonnage tax is in the last de.
gree unpopular in st. Louis county,
although under the provisions of the
Bjorge bill the tonnage tax is levied
only for state purposes, leaving other
taxes to be collected in the ordinary
way on the assessed value of the
mines or mineral lands. The unp0p-
ularity of the measure seems to be
very largely due to fear that the
imposition of the tax will be resented
by the United States Steel corpora
ton and that it will abandon the pro-
posed construction of steel plant at
Duluth. According to the report of
the house committee which went to
Duluth to look into this matter the
plans under consideration involved
the construction now of a $12,O0O,O00
plant, to be ultimately increased to
one involving the expenditure of $685.
100000. In his speech in the house
Mr. Congdon intimated that if the leg
islature passed tonnage tax law this
plant, instead of being built at Du-
luth, would be moved over into Wis
consin. The plant, if erected, is un-
derstood to be designed for the reduc-
ton of low grade ores which it would
not be profitable to carry down the
lakes.
+ !.
The pork" BILL as the bill appro-
priating 100000 for roads and bridges
Is characterized by members from the
Twin Cities, has passed the senate
and has been sent to the governor for
his approval. The amount voted for
this purpose is 100000 in excess Of
that voted two years ago.
.....7a + i.
Hereafter railroads which sell liq-
uors on dining or buffet cars will be
required to take out license, the Ad-
ans bill for that purpose having
passed the senate. The license fee