Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-02-26

the tonnage tax bill this year by q
vote Of 81 to SIS was in all probable
ity due to the doubts which the ar
guments Of its opponents raised as
to its constitutionality. The consti-
tuition provides that taxes shall be
uniform upon the same class Of SUBJ
jects. Mr.. Spooner, who presented
the constitutional argument with
great force, contended that land
containing iron ore constituted q
class within the meaning Of the con-
stitution and that whatever method
Of taxation is applied to one tract Of
iron land must necessarily apply to
all other tracts. The Bjorge bill
sought to distinguish between such
tracts, and to apply one plan of tax
alton to one tract and another plan
to another. One, the bill would tax
by the tonnage tax>method and the
other by the advalorem method. In
Mr.. Spooner's opinion the constitu-
ton forbade that such distinction
should be made.
MR.. BJORGE'S CONTENTION.
Mr.. Bjorge does not admit the
soundness of Mr.. Spooner's conclus-
ion. He contends that iron lands
that are lying fallow may properly
be distinguished for purposes Of tax
alton from iron lands that are being
mined. The class to which he would
apply tonnage tax are the produce
ing mines. The tax to which he would
apply the ad .valorem method are the
non-producing mines. The distinc-
ton between them he thinks is suff1-
Gent to warrant their being regard
ed as belonging to different class.
Whether the house agreed with Mr..
Bjorge or whether it agreed with Mr..
Spooner; there seems to be little
doubt that it considered the objec-
ton raised would be made use of by
the owners Of property subject to a
tonnage tax to take the matter into
court with the result that for a time
no tax at all would be collected. It
can be readily seen that this would
entail great hardship on the COM
munities affected and to some of
them might spell disaster. The house
evidently thought it better not to
pass the bill at all than to take this
chance.
REINFORCEMENT WINS IN
THE HOUSE.
The first engagement in the battle
for reapportionment has been fought
and won. The vote in it's favor was
81 to 80 against. The victory fol-
lowed an acrimonious debate in
which an unsuccessful attempt was
made to array the cities against the
country. The first objections to the
bill were predicated upon an appar-
ent injustice done to some of the
larger counties Of southern Mime
sofa. Although taking that section
Of the state as a whole it is quite as
well represented under the bill as any
other section and is given a larger
representation based on population
than the cities of St. Paul, Minneap-
oils and Duluth, when legislative dis
tricts are taken separately some of
them do not get the representation
their population entities them to.
Where county lines are made the
boundaries Of districts this is indeed
unavoidable. Thus, while the unit of
senatorial representation is one SEN
ator to each 81, 198 Of the popula-
ton, the third district under the bill
which is represented by one senator
and two representatives, and which
comprises the counties Of Wabasha
and Olmstead, has population Of
41,051. It was Kerry Conley, re.
preventative from that district, wh<
raised the first objection to the re.
apportionment proposed and opened
a debate memorable for the bitter
ness displayed.
| CITY AGAINST COUNTRY.
Mr.. Conley proposed to amend tn
bill by making Wabasha and Ohm
stead counties two legislative dis
tricts and giving a senator as wei
. as representative to each. Tn
trouble about accepting the amend
ment was that it would be Impossible
to do so without either adding to tn
number Of senator's or taking on
from some other section that woul
be unwilling to spare it. To give tn
first district another senator woul
besides result in giving it larger re
presentation in the upper house tina
any other section of. the state Q
equal population. Mr.. Warner point
ed this out and the fight was on. Th
lines of contention were more clearl
drawn when this amendment wa
later withdrawn, and there was sui
stituted for it an amendmnt offere
by Ex-Speaker Dunn, in which it wa
proposed to leave the representatio
Of Southern Minnesota practical
as it is at present, to limit the Twi
Cities to their present representatio
proposed in the Warner bill.