Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-01-21

field work of the Tax Commission
should be cut down as much as pos
sIble, especially where it can be GOV.
cred by the Investigations of the Rail
road Commission.
1 recommend as a further economy
that the services of income assessors
be dispened with and that their duties
be transferred to the local assessors
and tax-collectors. If local assessors
can be trusted with the assessment
Of real estate and all other taxable
property, l fail to see any good reason
why they should not be trusted with
the assessment Of incomes. The mat
ter Of securing full returns Of taxable
incomes is achieved by the penalties
provided by law more than by any
activity upon the part of the income
assessor. This rule would also hold
true in the assessor ent of personal prop
eTty for which the income tax is a sub
stftute. Inasmuch as 80 per cent of
the income tax goes back to the coun-
ties and municipalities in which it is
collected, it is safe to assume that the
local assessors will not lack in energy
to get a full return. The Tax Com
mission reports the cost of collecting
income tax for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1914, as $99, 207.59. This
amount can be largely saved to the
state by the change In system which
l have suggested.
It Is the business Of this administra-
ton to abolish all that are useless and
to greatly reduce the number of those
institutions, and so far as it is prac-
teal to bring the government back to
the constitutional officers of the state.
/, therefore, recommend that you make
a thorough investigation of the entire
subject with a view to meeting the
public demand.
Workmen's Compensation.
The Workmen's Compensation Act
Is correct in principle and should re-
ceive the attention of the legislature
with a view to further perfecting it.
Nevertheless, the cost of conducting
the affairs of the Industrial Commits
sion has grown to a large sum. For
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1914,
the cost Of the commission was $104,-
$1,000. 1t seems that a large item of
this cost is due to the expense of send
ing out inspectors on individual cases,
and the ultimate perfecting of the law
viii result in materially reducing this
part of the cost of administration.
The law now provides that all ap-
peals from orders of the commission
shall be taken to the circuit court of
Dane county. This provision makes
litigation under the act unnecessarily
expensive and is inconsistent with the
spirit of the law l would suggest
that the law be changed so that cases
appealed to the circuit court may be
tried In the circuit where the claim
originated.
Legislative Reference Bureau.
The legislature of 1903 created a
legislative reference library. It's pur-
pose was to furnish information to
members of the legislature upon such
subjects as related to legislation. It
has since been converted into a bill
drafting institution where proposed
laws are furnished upon application
without any further effort upon the
part of the legislator This system
has had the effect of greatly increas-
ing the number of bills introduced and
has resulted in the passage of a great
many useless laws. The legislature of
1913 passed IT'S bills.
The purpose of the original act
creating the library was good. How
ever, we must now Judge its value by
the record it has made, which I be-
Iieve to justify the statement that It
has exercised an undue influence upon
legislation. 1t has resulted in outside
preparation of bills for legislative &C
ton. superceding individual legislative
study, and greatly impairing legisla-
tive efficiency, to act as the result of
that individual judgment which mem
bers of such a body should devote to
the work they were elected to perform.
Originally projected as a library, it
has in every sense become a bureau. I
therefore recommend that the law
creating the bureau, as it is now
known, be repealed. This will have
the effect Of. saving about $21, 900 per
year.
State Forestry.
In 1903 the legislature created the
of forestry, and began the
project of reforesting cutover timber
lands in the northern part of the state.
There is annually appropriated $685.
600 to pay the salaries and carry out
the provisions of the act. The legisIa-
ture of 1911 made an appropriation of
S350,000, distributed over a period of
five years, for the purchase of addi-
tional lands, and the law further pro-
vides for an annual appropriation of
$4,000 which can be expended by the
state land commissioners for the pur-
chase of lands that have reverted to
counties for taxes and for other lands.
This appropriation has been used each
year since it was authorized. The
total appropriation available to the
forestry department is $4,000 per an
nun.
The state set aside all swamp lands
that were left north of town 33 and the
has the use of the income
from these lands derived from the sale
of dead and down timber, from tres
pass and from sales OF scattering and
agricultural lands that are not suit
able for forest reserve. The state for
ester reports that the income from this
latter source has been large, the total
being S435,476.13. OF this amount
1881, 706.SS has been expended or re-