Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-24
Iowa
OF TAXES SCORED
Supreme Court of Iowa C~ensures Man
Who Got Land Free.
SHOULD BE GLAD TO PAY THEM
whisky BuIs Declared Not Collect
able i'm state Of Iown-MiIk
Rate Allowed by express
Company.
SHOULD BE GLAD TO PAY THEM

From a staff Correspondent
DEs MONIES, Nov. 23.-CSpecial)-An
echo Of the old railroad land litigation in
northwestern Iowa came to light in the
supreme court in a decision which scored
a land buyer in O'Brien county for refus-
ing to pay taxes on land he got practically
free. The land owner. J. w. Bishop,
bought the land in 1852 from the Sioux
City Railway company. A long litigation
followed because of overlapping railroad
claims, and finally the land went back to
the government. Later, Bishop bought the
land, but refused to pay taxes for the
years when the title was nomlnalIy in the
government. The court practically decides
that during all this time the government
merely held the land in trust for the pur-
chaser and anyway, having obtained his
land not by his own right, but by grace
Of the government, such a recipient ought
to be willing to repay grace for grace and
to bear cheerfully his proportionate share
Of the burdens OF a gracious government. q"
whisky Bills Not C~OIIectabIe.
The Iowa supreme court is very strict in
UNFOLDING the Iowa law which makes II
impossible to collect debts due for liquor
sales. In a case from Boone county, de-
cided today, wherein b. Arie sought to
foreclose a mortgage, it was held the evil
dence clearly showed some connection be
tween the debt and a certain large bill
for whisky sold to the firm of Mann &
Co., and that because of this fact the debt
is null and void in Iowa. There was no
question but hat the whisky was sold in
violation of the law.
Supreme Court Decisions.
The following supreme court decisions
have been rendered:
b. Arie, appellant, against Anna S.
Dixon, Boone county. Affirmed.
Il. Nj. Fort against Iowa Leg on of Honor,
appellant Clinton county. Affirmed.
Calvin Clark against Johnson county
county. Affirmed.
J; w. Bishop; appellant, against County
OF OBrien, O'Brien county. Affirmed.
J. W. Nudge, appellant, against c. b.
Llvermore, Polk county. Reversed.
Isle Burnham against Fort Dodge
CGnUGery eompany' appellant Webster
Gets His Rate on MIX.
Some time ago the railroad commission
received complaint from j. c. Guthrie of
Shenandoah on the milk rate by express
from Shenandoah to Council Bluffs. He
said the Pacific Express company had
fixed the rate on the basis Of the whisky
rate and that this was so high as to be
prohibltive. The commission entered into
communication with the company with the
result that an adjustment has been had
and the complaint was Withdrawn.
Heavy November snow.
Reports from all over Iowa indicate hal
the snowstorm was general in the state
and that it was an unusually heavy fall
Of snow for the first one Of the season.
About two inches of snow fell here, but
more fell in northern Iowa and there was
some trouble for the interurbans. No de.
lay in trains was occasioned here.
hma for Justice.
News comes from st. Louis that Presl-
dent Taft has had a quiet investigation
made of the qualifications Of Fred W. Leh-
mann for the vacant place on the United
States supreme bench. Lehman was easily
a leader of the bar during the time he
practiced in Des Moines and he has gained
much in standing and repute in St. Louis.
1t is not thought possible, however, that
another justice Of the supreme bench will
be picked from this district.