The chronicle=news., 1915-01-19
To
ABOLISH STATE
TAX BOARD

Denver. Jan. f9.-The abolition ol
the stat" tax commission and the
performance OF its duties by the state
board of equalization as constituted
by - law adopted at the last cleo
tiOn particularly was dcciucd ipon at
"A caucus of Republican members OF
the legislature today.
The opinion was expressed that
this would simplify the state ma
chinery of taxation.
The repeal of til" direct primary
law also was discussed without a de-
cision. Supporters of the plan de
ciarcd that under the primary law
che cities and thickly populated dis
tricta OF the state naturally secure
Il larger representation on the state
tickets. They pointed to til" fact
that in the last state primary seven
of the nine candidates nominated on
the state Democratic ticket were
from Denver.
Although there had been some de.
lay in printing il was expected that
the short appropriation motion would
be ready for presentation to the sen
ate today. Among the bills intro
duced today was on" by Senator Car
yer, asking an appropriation oi
$3l5 900 for maintenance and i'm
provemCnt Of the stat" home for
mental defects in Jefferson County.
In the honse bill was introduced
hv Representative Andrew of Pucb-
10 providing a maximum number ni
freight and passenger cars TO be used
in the operation Of railroad trains in
Colorado.
The short appropriation bill, pro-
viding s397. .S5G.i0 to pay the run
ming expenses of tn" state executive,
lcgislaiiv" and judicial departments
for December, 19li, and January,
February and March, 1915. was in
trOduced in the senate by senator j.
:. Hasty. chairman of til" finance
committee. yesterday. The usual
course has been to start the bill in
the house, but the senate. since the
agreement between Republicans and
conservative Democrats, has taken
the position that it must decide the
legislation this season and might as
well start things off right
The short appropriation bill Is
passed TO enable state departments to
operate until all appropriation bills
have been passed and tn" long ap-
propriation bill is drawn up. The
short appropriation bill, therefore,
i,s,l pf ,lla hi,nniDl
rod. the long appropriation :"
months
According to figures given ont b'
the treasurer's office yesterday, the
short appropriation bill in 1871
amounted to s5I9.OG2 .65. This would
mean that the bill this session is
S121.2OG.l5 less. although members
of the finance committee of the house
we're quoting the reduction yesterday
at anywhere from $l5o.O0o to 5000
0U1
The decrease. however. means
little. as the long appropriation bill
will tell the tale as to whether the
new administration has accomplished
its object OF economy. The start
yesterday was mainly matter of III"
arithmotical division of the total ap-
propriations in 1913 by six.
One decrease. due to the people as
a whole. was shown in the appropria-
tion for the publication of constitu-
tional amendments. In 1913. accord
ing to the session laws of that date,
sll5,%55.Si was paid for printing
the ~ initiated and referred meas
ures instituted by the people. This
year the cost for 16 bills initiated
before tho general election was Sl',-
1880. a saving of more than SG5,-
900. which is an actual saving.
The appropriation Of $4,000 for
water defense. included in the 1911 ,
short appropriation bill. was not in
GUIDED in the present short appropri-
alton bill because an emergency does
not exist for the immediate use of