The Washington times., 1912-01-01

Wisconsin ccnciusively show that in
stead OF being. retarded by progressive
financially. and commercially more rap
Since we reorganixed our State banking
luspection and supervision In 1904, there
among s not The es s state banks h that sane com
monwealth. with $22 000, 900 of capital and
surplus. The only failures have been
that Of three national banks, through
em5ez,le%ent en- ,e,a sSs ,i During the years 1893
state and national banks In wisconsin
increased 81 per cent, whereas for the
United States they Increased 466 per
cent.
Increase in cleariugs.
The clearing house exchanges for Mil
waukee increased HIS per cent from
1900 to 1910, while for the United States
the increase was about 100 per cent
Milwaukee's Increase was II per cent
greater than that of Chicago.
Judged by commercial failures, Wis
consin has prospered better than the en-
tire country. The total liabilities in
commercial failures for the entire
United States In the four years 1906 to
1909. increased 80 per cent over the total
amount for the preceding four years.
1902 and 1905. But the liabilities In Wis
consin for the same period fell off or
decreased 1913 per cent. Tn other words,
comparing the four years that followed
the complete progressive victory of 1905
with the four years that preceded 1t,
the business failures In Wisconsin de-
creased one-tenth. but for the whole
United states, they increased one-third.
During these ten years of progressive
1npfala ttnn the nYnanaaa nf thu 2tata
have increased, but the burden Of taxes
upon the people has decreased. In the
year 1901, the first year for which the
property was eaualised at its true value.
thousand dollars worth OF property was
$14.17; the highest amount since that
time was S1l.51 In 1908: the amount for
1910 was only M.ls. In other words.
State paid q per cent less taxes in 1910
than It did in 1901. That Is, taxes have
Increased less than the increase In the
value OF property. In the years 1901 to
ifrom $50, $50 s31 to $30.667. SOD.
But the real and personal property in
creased 81 per cent (from 81, ,436, 600 to
81. 743. 1S0.4 40D. The total payments made
poses Increased from $5,O4s.565 in 1908 to
slo, lsS, ,os2 n I lSs; an increase OF a little
less than 100000 a year. But the rail-
roads and other corporations paid taxes
to the state OF se,o50,13s In 1900 and
a, 22l,5 In 1910, an increase Of nearly
y, 200 900 year. That rs, the Increased
taxation Of corporations which for the
most part had not been paying their
full share of taxes, took care Of more
than one-half Of all the increase in ex-
penses Of the State for all purposes.
State Debt Limited
But the increased payments are not all
Of them due to running expenses of the
State. The State debt is limited by the
constitution to 100000 and the people
Of the state have recently been paying
from about 100000 to 100000 a year
for a State capitol to cost 5000, 600
when finished. Instead Of paying for
its capitol by the issue of bonds, the
State is paying for 1t out of Its surplus
revenues and taxes.
The same Is true of other expenses
which might properly be met by issuing
bonds. In fact, the state spends over
9 q 10000 sSt year for buildings and per-
them out of current taxes as 1t goes
along instead of charging 1t up to Cu-
ture taxpayers.
But the great increase in state ex:
penses has been for education and
charity In 1900 the State was paying
about S55O.O00 for the State University.
In 1910 IL paid over N,700,OO0, large
part of which was for buildings. The
appropriations for normal schools and
graded schols have also been enormous
ly increased. In 1900 the State govern
ment paid 10000 for charities, reforma-
tories, and prisons. In 1910 this had in
creased to $l,125,OOO.
Had it not been for the increased ex-
penses for the State capitol. for educa-
tion and charity, the increased expenses
of the State government would have
been more than covered by the in
creased taxes Of corporations alone.
which had not been paying their just
proportion of the taxes. AS 1t is, the
property of the State Is paying q per
rent less taxes I'm PROPORTION to its value
than 1t did ten years ago.
These are few OF the conclusive
profits that progressive legislation in
Wisconsin has not been destructive, as
its enemies predicted. Instead of driv-
ing capital out of the State II has at
tracted capital more than other. States.
1t has made investments safe, for all,
instead of speculative for a few. 1t has
been conservative and constructive as
well as progressive. Not one of the
laws has been overturned by
the Supreme Court Of the State. and
rot one has been carried into the Fed