The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-09-14
ION THIS OCCASION
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and ordinances being added every
year. 1t has been figured that any
ordinarily good Ely citizen can break
twenty laws on his way to work every
morning and that there are some 3d.
600 others that he can violate without
necessarily becoming bad citizen if
he is not constantly equipped with a
library OF law books and accompanied
by a legal advisor, says William S.
Dutton, noted writer.
Besides all these already mentioned,
We have forty-eight legislatures, 10000
incorporated cities, towns and vii
lagos and about 5000 counties who are
In the lawmaking business. 10000
lawmakers duly elected are necessarily
busy making new laws says Rufe
Hitchcock of the Hibbing Tribune
himself laWmaker of the Minnesota
legislature. Mr.. Strawn says that all
OF these do not apply to the individual
but a conservative estimate is that
there are 10000 laws 10000 of which
are federal, which affect any one cit
izen. The Bible covered the whole
field in ten laws. The Golden Rule.
duly adhered to, would be about Jaws
enough for the ordinary citizen with
a few therefores and whereases thrown
in to give the attorneys something to
do.
Were all the laws on the books en-
forced, there would be no necessity for
doing anything else. We would all
be in Jail including law makers and
police departments. sheriffs, lawyers
and vox populi. Wouldn't it be fine
thing if all the laws were scrapped and
just enough new ones made to con-
form with the Ten Commandments
and the Golden Rule? According to
the figures it would be some SCRAP
heap. Good laws, bad laws and freak
laws, to the amount of ten million
have cost the public from $1OO to $60(
each.
Should the gas tax amendment
carry, the first move on the part o.
the big cities would be demand fol
their share of the tax This would pt
no more than fair. Just now tht
cities are content to give away theil
gas and car tax for the upbuildine
of the trunk lines. Then again, a.
trunk roads in each county saves ths
taxpayer the amount required for it:
improvement and upkeep, there
should be just that much more money
for the secondary roads. 1t would bt
enlightening to know just how muci
| the Town of Morse or the Town Of
Fall Lake or the Town of Breitune
would receive if they got back ont
third of the gas tax on all gas sold il
their towns. We are only mention.
ing these because they are close
There are probably several hundred
towns in the state similarly situated
Minneapolis, st. Paul and Duluth, or
such division, would get about al
the gas tax one-third. Ely and sew.
eral hundred other cities in the state
| would get the rest. If the rural popu-
lation know when they are getting
something for nothing, they will vote
No on the gas tax amendment. Look
it over.
Why start an argument between the
city and the country? Good trunk
lines help the country as well as the
city. In order to get to market the
farmer uses the trunk lines over which
to truck his produce. At one time
| we can remember, most of the far
mers on short branches of roads hao
| fair highways while the main roads
were not so good owing to their
length. Since the state has taken over
the main roads they are in good shape
and will be better if Babcock is allow
ed to work out his system by which
he gets the money from the car own
ers and not from the taxpayer. The
beauty of this system is that the big
cities and towns pay the tax while
they get no direct returns.
The state gets more roads built for
each dollar invested than does the
county or township. There are not SO
many political debts to pay by giving
men employment on roads where they
while away time between trips to and
from their homes. Contracts with a
bond attachment does not allow this
and Babcock works on the contract
basis. For real display of inactivity
did you ever see man working out
the old-fashioned poll tax years ago
or, did you ever see the real display
of activity of the ordinary road crew
when the first, and perhaps only, rain
drop starts them for home?
The proposed gas tax amendment
sounds good to many who have not
| looked into the matter Babcock needs
all the tax money and more to place
trunk lines in good condition. We
would suggest that the tax, if the
amendment carries, be apportioned to
each community and subdivision &C
cording to the amount paid by it. This
would show just the amount each was
entitled to and open the eyes of the
rural population to what the cities
are doing for them in gas and car
tax amounts, not one cent of which is
spent in the cities.
Heretofore there has been consider
able of hulabaloo over the fact that
there were always lawyers and poll
ticians placed in nomination for presi-
dent and no business man had ever
iaa.. l.a..0..od NTH c11nl, nomination