Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1922-11-03

state and 1t is silly to say that we
have not.
For the purpose Of showing that the
local units of government, the town
boards and school boards and
councils are making the taxes
high, and not the state officials,
he pointed out that $92 of every $100
collected in taxes goes to the county
and that out of this the school dis
tricts lead with $34, the munici palities
are second with 1924, the townships
third with $2l and the county fourth
with sS. If the taxes are to be re-
duced it should be done through the
school districts, be maintained. He
pointed out that besides taking care Of
all state institutions the state revenue
was sufficient to return to counties fit.
ty per cent more than the amount paid
in for road purposes. Besides this half
million dollars was spent for relief Of
fire sufferers in the Moose Lake re-
gion; all old soldiers were given re-
lief; large sum was paid out for the
soldier bonus, etc.
Governor Preus talked on what had
been done to further cooperative mar
keting during his administration and
on the taxation question, he also say
ing that the cut in taxes must come
from the local units. In connection
with his talk on the cooperative mar
keting plan he first compared this plan
to the one adopted in North Dakota,
where the proposition is to make the
state the middle man. He pointed to
the state owned flour mill at Grand
Forks, which has just been completed,
and through which, he said, the far
mers Of North Dakota hope to get a
better price for their wheat and pay
less for their -four. Mr.. Preus said
that this plan is not practical as the
state cannot compete with private
concerns and we are not going to see
this mill succeed. He contended that
the only way to give the farmer bet
ter price for his product is to make
the farmer the middleman, through CO.
operative marketing, which plan he
proposed two years ago. At that time,
he said, he promised to get through
the legislature an amendment which
would permit cooperative enterprises
to enter the brokerage business and
do their marketing. That amendment
was passed at his recommendation, he
said, and the cooperative creameries
and the cooperative livestock organi-
cations have taken advantage of it.
In this first year one-half of the butter
produced in this state was marketed
through the cooperative association
and go to 70 per cent Of the livestock
shipped out of the state goes through
the cooperative livestock association.
Two years ago, according to Mr.. Preus,
Minnesota was leading in cooperative
marketing and today this state has
outdistanced all in this enterprise. -
Anent the high taxes the governor
said that if the taxes are heavy the
people must wait with building and
improvements until the prices come
down. The farmers find it hard to
pay their taxes because their purchas'
ing power has been cut. In 1916 the
farmer could pay a tax Of $10O with
So bushels of wheat. Last year he had
to haul 80 bushels of wheat to pay
$100 in taxes. Where 81 bushels OF
| corn paid $10O in taxes in 1916, it took
PIG bushels last year; 185 bushels OF
oats in 1916 were equal to 360 bushels
last year, and so on. Thus the farmer
has been brought to the breaking
point. eff you cannot afford to pay
higher taxes you must ride in the mud
for while longer" the governor SAID
in commenting on the demand for gooc
roads,. He then went on to say that
the largest item Of all in the taxes j.
for operation Of the schools and that
the main item in the cost Of schoo
operation is salaries for the teachers
but he deemed it unwise to cut the
teachers salaries as education is Of
too great Importance to be neglected
by employing poor teachers. Loca
Improvements have been overdone
however, he maintained, and the peo
4 pie must conserve and cut down OF
! these things. This statement was fol
lowed up with the remark that ther,
is no state tax for revenue this yea
but that he contemplated q smal
1direct state tax next veal, He con