The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1912-01-19

ROTSE. Jan. 19.-There are many
features Of the Hawley-Martin- Mac
Lane bill that are Objectionable to cit
izens Of Latah county. 1t is quite ap-
parent that the Latah delegation is
making fight to eliminate those fea-
tures that are Objectionable to their
53,onstituents, and will not be satisfied
with bill that includes them.
ROISE. Jan. 19.-The busiest man
in the legislature is VIM. M. Morgan
of Latah county with his SO amend
ments.
Right at the beginning the house
committee charged into the feature OF
the revenue measure which IS apt 10
prove one of the hardest problems in
the consideration of it, the creation OF
a tax commission Immediately on the
reading of the section, Mr.. Morgan
started in with his amendments.
Cuts State Into Three Parts.
The bill provides for three tax COM
missioners, and Mr.. Morgan's hrst
amendment divides the state into
three tax commissioner districts, the
northern part of the state forming
one, the southern part two.
To the paragraph that creates the
commission, Mr. Morgan proposed two
other amendments that compel the
commissioners to be bona-fide resi-
dents of their respective districts.
He submitted another under which
the commissioners may be removed by
proceedings in the district court Tor
cause, instead of the tedious process OF
Impeachment.
Would Raise Salaries.
The bill fixes the salaries OF the
tax commissioners at $4,000 per year.
Mr.. Morgan submitted an amendment
to that clause raising the salary TO
$4,000 a. wear. Mr.. Dunning of OWy-
hee county, voiced an objection to
saying he believed good men could be
secured for $4,000. He added that ne
thought the commissioners should be
elected instead of appointed. MT
Morgan reminded him that under the
constitution of the state as 1t now
stands that is impossible. Mr.. Dun
ming retorted that under the constl-
tuition of the United States the whole
tax commission is impossible as it con-
fers judiciary powers on executive Of
ficers.
One clause provides that the COM
mission or one member of the commits
sion may sit at a hearing on tax ad-
iustments. Mr.. Morgan proposes TO
amend this section so that each COM
missioner may sit at such hearings
only on matters pertaining to his par
ticular district
Amount of Clerical Help.
There was considerable debate
about the amount of clerical help the
~ Se~SSN'
In the original bill the commission is
limited to a chief clerk at salary OF
not more than $500 year and two
stenographers whose salaries shall
NOT aggregate more than $500 a year.
Mr.. Morgan proposed to raise the sal
ary of the chief clerk to $1,000 and
to take off the limit On the clerical
force. Mr. Davis expressed a strong
objection to any blanket clause that
would allow the tax commission TO
employ all the help it might see ut.
Regarding the travelling expenses OF
the commissioners, Mr.. Morgan wishes
to amend the section of the bill which
allows the commissioners their travel
ing expenses within the state from the
north to the south by rail, nessarlly
crossing the state line twice, and be
within their expense allowance. Mr..
Davis Dointed out that if this was done
if would be necessary to put some kind
of check on the commissioners so that
they could not conclude that trip to
New York or somewhere else was ne
cessary and charge it up to the state
Calling of Witnesses.
One Of the most extensive discus