Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1913-05-08
MINE TAXING
AND PENAL LAW
Two Very Important Leg
islative Matters Are Now
Blocked Because Of Ger
tain Amendments Made
in Bills

The penal code house bill J. the bill
that incurred the veto of the governor
following the former session, and
which was passed by the house in
exactly the same form in which it
came from the veto. came out OF the
style, revision and compilation com
mitee Of the senate yesterday and pre-
cipitated a fight on the floor of the
senate because of the changes that
had been made in the bill in that com
mittee During the discussions in the
seate last week when the bill was
before the committee of the whole. the
only radical change from the form in
which the senate received the bill
that was made, was inserting a pro-
vision for the establishment of a state
board of pardons, and the creation of
q state board of commissioners of
paroled prisoners In this a number
of the men who were in favor of re-
stricting the power of the governor in
such matters were of the opinion that
still greater restriction had been
made.
All these ideas however went glm-
mering when the bill came out of the
committee yesterday, because the style.
revision. and compilation committee
had struck out the KeltOn amendment.
the very amendment which called
down the veto. Immediately a fight
was precipitated on the floor of the
senate. but the friends of the governor
had the matter better organized than
was thought and the action Of the
committee was sustained by vote of
ten to eight The house members
were feeling very badly about the mat
ter yesterday and it is now reasonab-
~ certain that further complications
Will ensue The bin passed second
reading with the amendments propos-
ed by the committee and was ordered
prepared for third reading.
Mine Taxation
The mine tax matter is stiIl hanging
fire awaiting the result of the confer
ence of the house ana senate commit
tees which viii be held this morning,
if the present arrangements are car
| ried out. The senate committee APP
| pointed yesterday is composed of Senr-
ators Breen, Roberts and c. b Wood.
! OF these three men only Senator
| Breen stands for the Graham amend
| ment to Senate Bill ,, providing for
| the taxation OF mines upon a valua-
tion reached by taking four times the
net plus twelve and on-haIf per cent
| of the gross. The other two senators
! are committed against the policy as
| outlined in the Graham bill
! This bill was originally passed in the
| senate under the manner and form of
granting specific powers TO the state
| tax commission in effect giving that
| body sole jurisdiction over all asses
| of tat nd "a / i'm 9
| il as the majority membership of the
state board of equalization, the re
viewers of its own actions. This was
| objected to by some but the general
| belief was that as d central taxing au-
! thority was needed and that it was
still largely a matter of experiment it
| had better be passed 50 as to put into
| effect the amendment to the constitu-
! ton passed by a vote of the people at
| the last election
| Then the matter of the taxation of
| mines came up, and after the Graham
| bill, officially known house bill q,
| had been approved in the house com
| mittee of the whole. after something of
| a hard fight it was tackled on to the
| senate bill in the form of an amend
ment This portion of the bill is also
admitted as being largely experiment
| tai in form. but the necessity of ar
! irving at some firm basis of value for
! the mines, one that could reasonably
| be expected to meet the approval of
| the mine owners we'll forcing
the mines to pay a larger degree to
! the support of the government than
| had previously been done, served to
/ draw approval for the combination.
The reception of the question in the
| senate however was not rosy, as by q
| vote of ten to nine that body refused
! to concur in the amendment to the
/ bill. The senate conference committee
was then appointed The house mem
bers of the committee are Brooks of
| ella, avowedly in favor of the bill.
Jones of Maricopa who voted for the
| bill because he thinks it is the best
that can be ATTAINED at this time, and
| Maddox of Coconino. who is against
| the measure. Last night the house
managers thought that the senate
could be brought to accept the amend
| ments. With one member voting
against the concurrence agreeing to
change his vote the bill might prevail.
There was some excitement about this
yesterday as well as about the penal
! code The majority of the heavily
| paying mines are not willing to leave
! the matter entirely up to the tax COM
! mission for settlement even though
/ the constitutional amendment has
! practically given them full power.
| They would prefer an arbitrary sys
| tenn for a while at least The majority
| of the members of the house feel the
| same way, and some of them have
gone so far as to state that unless the
| mine tax amendment to S B. is
| agreed to- the bill itself will have to
| die.
In furtherance of the plan of some OF
| the senators to ridicule the measure,
| Wood of Yavapai yesterday introduce
ed the second of his special taxing
| bills providing for taxing all CLASSES