The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-07-03
THE DAILY GATE CITY

cation his personal attention. and Won
the case. His brief contended that al
contracts in restraint or trade were
prohibited, and that was the view Of
the Supreme court until within com
paratively short time. when the court
decided that only undue" restraint oil
trade violated the law,
When Harmon was first elected gov.
ernor of Ohio, his plurality was 49,.
! 900. for his second term he was cleo
ted by over 100000. His first fight
was to reform the tax system. Prior
to that time there were thirteen
| boards, each composed OF three state
officials. charged with the duty of fix.
ing the taxes of various public ser
1 vice corporations 1t was nobody's
particular business to investigate and
the corporations paid on very low tax
able valuations.
| The governor induced the democra-
tic legislature to pass a law creating
state tax commission to fix the tax
OF public service corporations. The
representatives Of these corporations
were given hearings and when the
hearings were over, things began to
happen. The taxable valuation OF the
PENNSYLVANIA railroad was raised from
sbS.71s.ooo to s1s4.34s.o0o, the New
York Central from $50. 900 to $117..
$4,000. the Baltimore and Ohio from
s1s,sSs,ooU to ssS,ss5. ooo-and so on
through long list The total taxable
valuation Of railroad property was
raised from s1s7, 0oo, 900 to $500, ooo..
600. the traction lines were given an
increase from $4,000. 900. to s54,oooo,,
600. The Buckeye pipe line. a stand.
ard OH concern, was lifted from 81.
$4,000 to SIS. $4,000. Express com.
panies were increased $4,000, tele-
graph companies, s2,537. 900. and tele-
phone companies $45.5O0,000 The
holders of mineral rights, mainly coal
and oil land leases, got raise from
5000. 600 to $4,000, 900.
The tax commission In its last an,
nual report set forth that in $3.50 tax.
ing districts in the state the tax rate
IN 3.ol4 was below one per cent. Pre-.
viously the tax rate had ranged from
i to s per cent
A law was passed limiting tax rates
IN tax districts to / per cent, with q
proyiso that citizens of a distric,
could, by a vote, increase the rate ia
one and one-half per cent.
Other progressive laws passed by
the legislature during the Harmon ad
ministration include the Oregon plau
Tor the election of United States sen.
ators, state depository law, corrupt
practices act, public utilities act. mi.
tiative and referendum for every
municipality in the state, non-partisau
judiciary law, act limiting the hours
OF labor. law establishing woman's re-
Iormatory, and the so-called "f]op
house law. requiring sworn report OF
voters in lodging houses in all cities
having registration, the Monday pre-
ceding The first registration day.
A democratic legislator asked
whether the governor, if a member q,
the general assembly. would vote FOL
a republican for United States senate,
II the latter carried the state primary
Harmon's answer was.
Most assuredly-that would he the
very essence of democracy"
Under the depository law, the state
In the first year, with $4,000, 900 less
OF state money, collected over $50 0of
more in interest than was collected If
a preceding republican administrator
of two years.
In his professional life, Governo,
Harmon has been a general practi
ticner. He has refused large retain
ers which would limit his legal ser
vices to one or two large corporations
He considered 1t to be His duty to
keep himself open for service to rich
and poor alike. Harmon always re
fused employment in cases against
the public interest The real victories
that gave him prominence as a law
yer were those In which he served
against corporations.
Governor Harmon served two year,
as Judge in the Superior court In Gin
cinnati. He resigned and was sue
ceeded by William Howard Taft, pres
emit president of the United States
After leaving the judicial bench, he
practiced law until he accepted an In
yitation to enter President Cleveland's
cabinet
Oscar w. Underwood.
The Mckinley of Democracy" the
easy boss" and the tariff terror
are pet terms addressed to Oscar w
Underwood by his friends, but his
prominence In this years political
struggle was his promise to become the
political eraser of Mason's and Dix.
on's line. Tariff has made Under
wood. He eats, gleeps and works with
the tariff constant companion. And