The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1931-03-12
Interesting Legislative Letter
Written By r. w. Hitchcock

by 10 w. hltcncOck, HuDIlSner
of the Hibbing Daily Tribune and
a member of the Legislature.
From all parts of the state, we
are now and then told, wells up a
Macedonian cry, Come over into
our country and help u.s." Save us
from taxes or we perish is the plea
of the people. Northern Minneso-
ia counties show tax delinquency
increasing so rapidly, and already
advanced to such a point, that To-
cal government cannot be main
tanned much longer unless the state
steps in and finances it. Southern
Minnesota staggecs Gnde~ he tax
burden. It's farms are asss'"d all
too near to the market value Rent
ed farms do not return enough to
pay the taxes.
Tax spenders are in the saddle
and are riding the taxpayer hard.
The voice of the taxpayer is not
much heard here at the capitol. If
here and there a lone taxpayer
pipes feeble protest, it is drowned
in the insistent demand to spend
That Macedonian cry reaches US
but feebly, for the voice of the tax
spender is too loud in our ears.
The Tax Spenders are Coming
When the legislature meets, there
it is that the tax spenders foregath-
er. From Wright and Wilkin, from
village and city, and uttermost
parts of the state, they descend up
on us and plead with us to pile on
the taxes. Even the farmer de-
serts his plow and talks fas- to us.
If he could raise a crop like the
vocabulary he shows us, what
bumper that would be. He can. he
fervently assures us, if we will vote
some thousands for research in rus
abages and other thousands for
finding out new varieties of fruits
and still more thousands for de-
veloping rust resistant oats or
something. The epidemic of ere
search" here in st. Paul is most
alarming, and the mortality in the
states revenue fund threatens to
become frightful. The university
started it with a stunning demand
of $250,00O for research projects
whose identity is not disclosed.
They are of "the utmost import
ance," however, we are told. Now
everybody's doing it.
Every mail is choked with urgent
appeals for money from the state.
Today's mail brings batch of let
tiers from Cannon Falls appealing
for a mall to a monument, and
Mountain Iron writes in for $1,000
for celebration of the discovery
If iron ore. Business men beseige
us with letters demanding several
hundred thousand for a business
administration building at the uni
versity. ITS an absolute neces-
sity," they say. The phychopathers
want S350,000 for a hospital. The
soil surveyors spent $4,000 in one
county last biennium, but other
counties will come higher and they
want $4,000 for the next biennium.
To hint that the rising tide of taxes
makes finding 81 100000 state cash
for Spanish American veterans bon
us is to be accused to being I'M
sympathetic and unpatriotic. We
did not suppose there were so
many generating units" in the
world as the number they want
this year for the various state in
situations. The state office build
ing commission rejoiced our heart
with the declaration that they
could heat and light the new state
office building with the present
h,,f thew
want a generator too. The univer-
sity hopes to get along if we pro-
vide 100000 more than it ever
had before. Fruit and vegetable
growers have got sticks stuck in
every one of their no experimental
acres and they must have 80 acres
more at $4,000. Oh yes, and shack
of building, also, at $13,500. The
state fair picks out this year of
doldrums to launch a ten year
building program for which it
pleasantly asks the taxpayer to find
$2,50O,000. The school ma'ams are
sending us billet doux. 1t keeps
that army of janitors you've heard
about busy carting them in. They're
the Gimme Girls all right, these
school n-a'ams. They want new
retirement fund law even If it
does cost two or three or four
hundred thousand. The blind, TOO
or more of them, want a pension,
too. Seems sort of sensible. They
can't see, oh the pity of it, but they
sure can talk. We are not sure,
but perhaps $4,000 will do it. Ad-
jutant General Walsh had us down
to lunch the other day. We are a
light eater at lunch, and we don't
think it cost the General more than
40 cents, but we fear that lunch is
going to cost the state $500 900. A
lot of the legislature went up to
Little Falls and saw the new state
militia camp, and we were pretty
well persuaded that the camp must
have that 1900 acres of land before
the General bought the lunch. Be
cause the assessed valuation of
needy school districts has been fall
ling of, it will require 100000 more
state aid for them. Commissioner
Mcconnell said he hated to tell us,
but he's an exception. Not many
of them hate to tell us; most of
them smack their lips over it. Be
sides it didn't make it any easier
when father used to take us out in
the woodshed for him to tell us
on the way how he hated to do it.
The rural credit board has fore
closed some of the inflated loans 1t
made and taken pretty much all
the taxable lands in some school
districts off the tax rolls. We
thought two years ago we would be
smart and make the rural credit
board pay for running those
schools, but the supreme court