The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-03-31
TAXES WAS TOPIC
CHASE ASSPEAkER
MULTIPLICITY OF FIGURES
HANDLED BY AUDITOR

Must Pay For Them; Com
monwealth Rate Low; Where
Money Comes From and Goes ;
Local Situation Touched On
Slightly.
For all the good things, material
improvements that people now en-
joy, the public must pay in cold
cash, was the gist of the remarks Of
State Auditor r. P. Chase in his
address to q membership meeting
Of the Mankato Civic and Com
merce association at the city hall
last night. Auditor Chase spoke on
the general subject OF Taxation"
but necessarily with the data in his
possession his talk was confined
largely TO the tax business Of the
state rather than with the problems
of the individual counties and mu-
inequalities although he gave num-
erous examples and cited many in
dividual cases as examples proving
his contentious.
The state auditor held his aud
fence through a long list Of facts
and figures with which he was sur
prisingly familiar and his manner
Of dealing with figures was as
founding. He remembered long
lists of tax figures, moneys loaned
by the state, state revenue and had
then all at the tip Of his tongue and
presented them all in an interest
ing and rapid fire manner.
Mr.. Chase made q case for the
state Of Minnesota when he showed
that in spite of rising taxes the
tax rate since 1919 when the high
est rate in ten years was levied to
pay the state bonus to soldiers.
Praises Local Officers
The speaker prefaced his re-
marks with a tribute to Mankato
men who are taking an active part
in the government Of the state. He
named Ivan Bowen of this city, a
member OF the railway and ware
house commission, John Gerlich,
state representative and General
Gustaf Widell, state senator.
Immediately following his intro
recital of the material advantages
of the great state of Minnesota. He
said that there is now an assessed
valuation of two billion and twenty
six million dollars in this state Of
which ninety millions is to be found
in Blue Earth county. There are 62S
millions of dollars In bank deposits
of which Blue Earth county has IL
IL millions. He spoke glowingly OF
the transportation facilities, the
manufactures and the business es-
| adjustments in this state and as q
part of his railroad remarks said
that one fourth Of the United
States rail mileage enters the city
year the South St. Paul markets
paid out 1877 millions Of dollars for
beef to farmers and stock raisers of
the northwest. In Blue Earth
county there are seventeen cream
cries from which were paid / 1-3
millions of dollars for dairy prod
ucts during the year 1921.
He said emphatically that Mime
sofa has the material wealth and
prosperity and there is no need for
the slightest apology for the state
along these lines.
What Pioneers Sought
The speakers outlined three Gact-
ors that Minnesota pioneers, in
common with their fellows in other
states sought. First, material pros
perity which has already been out
| lined as such a successful result Of
| the early day planning, second, re-
| ligious tolerance which is an estab-
lished fact and needs no further
| argument; third, free education
which Is another established fact.
He stated that there are now 130
schools in Blue Earth county, 259
teachers for these schools and an
enrolment of pupils in the neigh
borhood Of $500. $500.
There are yet many problems
partially solved that are facing the
people of Minnesota, he said. There
is the road problem with a program
calling for the Improvement OF 1000
miles of road which is to be COM
pleted, the system of the state
parks is receiving attention, the
paving problems Of the cities and
the cities and the sewer problems
of each municipality. The state of
Minnesota owns thirty two armor-
les and hundreds of other fine pub
lie buildings. He now came to the
point of all this set Of facts when
he stated that for all these fine i'm :
provements there is but one thing
that must pay Tor the building.
equipment and repair of all these
lines 'of endeavor, the material
wealth of the state 1t always re-
turns to the wealth of the state be-
fore any money can be spent. He
stated that in the city of Minnea-
polls there are 166 2-3 miles of paw
ed streets, in st. Paul los miles and
in Mankato about eight miles.
Gets Many Inquiries
| Auditor Chase told of a number
of instances where he received let
tiers from taxpayers in which they
heartily expressed their disapproval
of the tax rate they now pay and
also outlined several cases where
the grievance was not founded in
fact He told Of receiving one
letter where the taxpayer invited
the auditor to buy his real estate
/ from at the assessed valuation. In
vestigation disclosed that the dis
| gruntled taxpayer had paid the
state exactly twenty-five cents in
taxes on his piece of property but
had the misfortune to live in To-
cality where his local taxes were
high. He Immediately gave vent to
his displeasure through the state
office.
A set of comprehensive charts on
| taxation in this state has been pre-
pared by Mr.. Chase. The first deals
with the average distribution of
taxes in every county of the state.
The figures apply to no particular
county but are the mean percent
ages for the composite group. The
distribution taken on the basis of
one dollar are as follows: school
district, 34.09 cents, city and village,
1888 cents county, 21.35 cents,
| ohin OF rants afafae 70