Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1911-03-23

them almost like children, and then
when they have reached the fryer
! stage to see them disappear one by
one, fills the soul with rage. If these
Il chicken raisers were in the legisla-
| ture they would have made chicken
stealing a capital offense.
The Tonnage Tax
The Tonnage-tax bill introduced by
II Representative Frankson of Fillmore
county came up as a special order
last Thursday and the entire after
noon was spent in discussion and vote
upon the same 1t never had a ghost
Of show of passage but even those
who were opposed to it did not love
to see it defeated by so Overwhelming
a majority.
While the bill was well handled by
Representatives Frankson and j. N
Johnson it fell below Representative
Bjorges mastery management of the
same measure two years ago.
The curious feature of this vote
was the number of members that
voted and spoke for the measure two
years ago that voted and spoke
against it this year. If the men who
voted for it then had voted the same
this year, together with the new
members that favored it, it would
have carried it by good majority.
The attitude of these members re-
minds one Of the famous remark of
John Allen, made in Congress some
years ago when he said: whenever
legislation comes up involving great
financial interests, some members
change their minds for good and s,f-
ficient reasons and some change
their minds"
Those favoring the measure made
weak presenta ton of their case and
those opposed made still weaker
one.
/ The Democratic members trotted
out Governor Johnson's veto message
and while they spoke it seemed the
House was holding eulogies over the
late Governor rather than debating a
great taxation measure
Governor Johnson was a great Gov
Eernor, he wrote a strong message on
the subject of tonnage tax upon
which he had strong views.
He had equally strong views Oh
other subjects which he expressed
with equal clearness and vigorosity.
i notably on Reapportionment and Wo-
man Suffrage. Yet most of the mem
bers Of the Democratic faith who
eulogize. his views on the tonnage tax
will desert his standard when it.
comes to these other matters. They
only hold Ghost dances to the tune
they are fddling.
! The real, vital, fundamental objec-.
ton to a tonnage tax was never men
toned by the opponents of the measure
and that is: it is directly contrary to
thetrue theory of taxation, that every
dollars worth of property should pay
an equal amount of state taxation and
be assessed, collected and distsribut-
ed in an absolutely uniform manner
| Special taxation is the most vicious
form of taxation and should never be
resorted to except in cases of great
emergency as in time of war. There
is little question in the minds of the
we'll posted that Iron mines are es-
}caping a considerable portion of their
just taxation, but surely our high
priced Tax Commission ought to be
able to devise method of compelling
them to meet their just taxation obli-
cations without violating the elemen-
tary principle Of taxation.
Reapportionment
The vote on reappOrtionment in the
State Senate on Thursday last devel-
oped an astonishing and deplorable
condition Of affairs. It showed that
While there were Eberhart Senators,
Gordon Senators, Northern Minnesota
Senators, Southern Minnesota Senat-
ors and Senator Weiss, there were no
Republican Senators, Democratic Sen
ators or State Senators. The State
Constitution was treated with con-
tempt, party pledges absolutely dis
regarded and the States interests as
a whole, were thrown to the winds.
| No one would have imagined listen
ing to the debate on the subject that
those debating were state officials dis
cussing state question that affected
the rights and privileges of every citi-
zen of the state, but on the other
hand he must inevitably have come to
the conclusion that they were a body
| of local representatives holding a.