The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-12-01
New Requirements CAN for
Rulings at State House.
Important Documents Held Up
Pending Settlement.
COSTS THOUSANDS 4 MONTH
Tax Costly to State of Kansas
for the ~DecOratives."
Attorney General Dawson APP
pealed To for Rulings.

War tax requirements brought new
troubles to state house officials today
and may mean the holding up OF
many important state documents un-
til complications concerning the use
Of war stamps are finally adjusted.
Copies of not less than 20 various
certifications in the office Of Charles
Sessions, secretary of state, have
been sent to the treasury department
for rulings and there Is much doubt
as to the extent which the federal
law will compel the use of revenue
stamps. Added to it all il the fact
that war stamps are not available In
Topeka.
The new war tax law affects .
number of the offices in the state
! house and when the stamp require
ment became effective this morning.
there was a hasty appeal to John 8.
Dawson, attorney general. for a rul-
ing concerning the scope of the new
federal law. Under the attorney gem
erals ruling, war revenue stamps
must be affixed to all certifications,
not only from the various state of
fices, but on all certificates filed with
state departments. The revenue re-
uuired for these various documents
ranges from ten to fifty cents for each
copy and the revenue will total sew
| eral thousand dollars each month, it
Must Be Decorated.
Stamps must be provided and af-
fixed by individuals and not by the
state, under the new law. For this
reason, no charter applications or
certificates Of any nature will be ac-
cepted by the secretary of state or
head Of a state department until that
document is properly decorated with
war stamps.
| Where certified copies Of pubic
documents are desired by individuals
or corporations, stamps for use on
these documents must be provided by
the applicant, according to the war
tax law. But with no war stamps
available IN Topeka, no documents
are being recorded at the state house
today.
| One Lone Package.
| The first war stamps to make their
appearance were brought to the state
house by an express messenger, who
delivered a package at the ONCE Of
w. E. Davis state auditor. under pro-
visions Of the law. But the stamps
used by the express company were re-
ceived direct from the internal reve-
nue. department.
treasurer, there Is doubt as to the e0-
tent to which the war tax will affect
documents in that Office. 1t is pos
sible that under the law, war stamps
must be affixed to all municipal and
: district bonds. In such event. new
trouble is in store not alone for Treas
urer Akers and his employees, but for
the school districts and municipalities
which record bonds with the state or
offer them for sale to the state school
fund commission.
That every intent Of the law might
| be observed, Charles Sessions, secre-
tary of state. today sent 25 copies Of
various certifcations required in his
Office to the treasury department In
Washington. A ruling on each Of
these certificates will be asked. In
| the meantime, however, the secretary
of state will insist that war tax stamps
be attached to every certificate offered
for filing and that stamps be provided
by the applicant for every certified
copy OF a record on file in the ONCE