The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-06-11
COST OF The
TONNAGE TAX
Will Not Profit Minnesota but
VIII XIII tho States Iron
Orc Industry.

Orc Industry.
Tho following article 10 . paid
Advertisement prepared ant lub'
lishsd by the Minnesota FAlr Tax
Association, an organization q Tho
people Of Minnesota whose ain .
q eAVt the state from the lvllp
which will follow the enactment
q q tonnage tax nnoA1ure.
What the people Of Northern Mn
nesots are Trying to do u to talk With
their nsishbors and fellow.eitissnS o.
Southern Minnssota-to talk to them
STRAIGHT. and without the uss Of
mediums that confuse and distort and
create mutual antipathiss and misun.
derstaudings.
The people Of Northern Minnesota
arc trying to talk straight TO the peo-
pie Of Southern Minnesota about the
tonnage tax on iron ore-tfying to
talk WITH Identifying to talk It al
over fairly and squarely.
In tho past q high wall Of misunder'
standing has been built up because
there was no effort to get tho people Of
tho two parts Of the state to talking
straight to each other.
SO It was that a lot Of people in
Northern Minnesota got to talking -
though the people in Southern Mime
sofa were q bunch Of highbinders and
highWaymen bent on running the peo-
pie Of the North.
SO it was that q lot Of people In
Southern Minnesota got to talking %
though the people In Northern Mime
sofa we're bunch Of corporation tools
who were trying to help the steel trust
dodge their taxes.
It isn't so. Neither end Of 1t Is 30.
North and South, they are just poo
ple-the same kind Of people. inter-
ested in the same sort Of Justice,
helped by the same things and hurt
by the same things. If tonnage tax Is
good, 1t will help Northern Minnesota
at the same time that it helps South
ern Minnesota. II tonnage tax Is bad,
It will hurt Southern Minnesota just
as surely as 1t hurts Northern Mime
sota-just as surely, II less vitality.
The Story Of Tonnage Tax.
This is the story of the tonnage tax
in Minnesota:
When the tonnage tax was first In
troduced in the 1907 legislature its
primary purpose was to compel the
manufacture of iron and steel In this
state, and its secondary purpose was
to compel the iron mining interests to
pay their fair share of the expenses Of
the state government.
The first tonnage tax bill was for q
tax Of rs cents ton. 20 cents to be
related on all iron smelted within the
state; this shows the primary purpose
Of this proposed legislation. This be-
ing obviously an attempt to tax ex-
ports from the state, which the Fed
eral Constitution forbids, this first
measure was dropped, and the straight
tonnage tax bill, followed later by
''supertax" bill, came in.
While the tonnage tax was pending
in the 1907 legislature efforts thereto
fore made by Duluth citizens to in
duce the United States Steel Corpora
ton to begin the manufacture Of steel
In this state were brought to head,
and when the bill was defeated, there
was promise from that company that
q steel plant, to cost $6,000,000 to
100000 would be built In Duluth.
Today there is in Duluth q great, up
to-date steel plant Of the United States
Steel corporation, costing &30,o0o,000
instead of the promised 100000 or
$1,000, 900, and plans are drawn ready
for immediate extensions costing &c.,
0o0,0oo more.
Though happily the tonnage tax has
failed. this aim of the original tonnage
takers has been met-to the great ben
eft Of all Minnesota.
How about the taxes7 In 1907 the
total assessed valuation Of all the iron
mines of Minnesota was $64.486.4 400. on
which the state in that year got total
Of 3179,272.
This year, 1920, tho assessed valua-
ton Of the iron mines of Minnesota IL
$28S,9S7, 230-more than four times that
Of 1S07-and the states direct TAI
from this wealth will be $2,340, 400
more than thirteen times that Of 1907.
So the secondary purpose Of the
original tonnage takers has also been
met
The tonnage tax agitation, therefore.
has given the state monster steel IN
dustry, and has compelled the iron IN
terest to pay taxes on a Just valuation
multiplying the states revenue from
this source by twenty-five.
It has served both tho purposes for
which it was started. Why should Il
DO continued, when the threat Of II
1eopardizes the creation Of q great IN
dustry that cannot fail to benefit every
part of the state?
Politics W. 1uslnoso.
Tho tonnaRe taY had aarvAh thu mn,