Morris tribune., 1909-12-24
INHERITANCE TAX
FOR PRESIDENTS
BASED ON DECISION IN
NEW YORK.
Gossip and Guesses about the
State Fair Board Fight which
is Hard to Get Straight--A
Speaker who would Speak.

OU. L dul, Dcc. AA-l uc dtUOEuCy Sou-
eral has come into the lime light with
declaration of his intention to go
after those bloated bondholders who
are dead. His contention is, and it is
based on a decision in the New York
courts, that shares of stock in Mime
sofa corporations held by deceased
non residents are taxable under the
Inheritance law of 1905. Some person
put Mr.. Simpson onto this when he
was in the East recently. The ques-
tion came up in connection with the
death of the late John Stuart Ken
nedy, large holder of Great North
ern stock. The decision of the New
} York courts is to the effect that the
inheritance is not mere certificate of
stock which the eastern holder has in
his safe, but his actual share in the
physical property, which, under the
Inheritance, tax law, is taxable in the
State where it exists. The contention
is that such inheritances can be reach
ed as in the collection of any other
debt, the probate and district courts
being the collection agents. There
seems to be considerable merit in Mr..
simpsons find,, as the amount of
stocks in Minnesota corporations held
outside the State is believed to aggre-
gate many millions of dollars. It is
said that State Auditor Iverson is CO.
operating with the attorney general
in making out list of the States
corporations whose stock is likely to
be held abroad. Mss.
Why the state auditor should do
this rather than the secretary of
State, in whose Office the records of
both domestic and foreign corpora
tions are on file, does not now clearly
appear. Possibly the attorney gem
eral, who has assumed political lead
ership at the State capitol, has reach
ed the conclusion that Mr.. Iverson is
more in need of the work of his pub
licity agents than julius Schmahl.
Mr.. Iverson has only recently definite
ly decided to be candidate to succeed
himself, and, his fences being some-
what out of repair, the attorney gen.
eral sees the propriety of lending q
hand in the good work of fixing them.
q
The discovery by your correspond
ent of the joker in the laws of 1907
which disqualifies John Lind from be-
coming candidate for governor be-
cause he is member of the board
of regents of the State university was
the occasion of a small-sized panic
among the faithful at the State capitol
this week. Those responsible for the
woodchuck had hoped that it would
go undiscovered; the Democrats in
the unmolested enjoyment of State
patronage were up in the air because
it deprived them of even forlorn
hope. Now they fall back on the fa-
miliar cry that the law is unconsti-
tutional. It's cold day in regard to
any Objectionable legislation when the
question of its constitutionality isn't
raised.
The point made by those who hope
to force Lind into the game is that it |
is not in the power of the legislature
to place other restrictions on elective
offices than those contained in the con-
stitution. The only restrictions there
in contained, it is claimed, are that
candidates for judges must be learned
in the law, and that members of the
legislature cannot be candidates for
offices which they have created or
whose salaries they have increased
until year after the term for which
they have been elected has expired.
Mr.. Lind's case, coming within neither