The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1932-04-01
fContinued from Front Page)

county. less moneys and credits,
is s5,169, 7S9, 900. Thus the per-
centage of Indebtedness to assess
ed valuation IL 5715%.
When the debts Of the county
are over half the value Of its pro-
perty, and the. farmers no longer
able to pay their taxes with which
these debts are expected to be met,
and the interest charges on these
debts eating up annually $148,-
63O.4O Of what taxes do come in,
you can safely call such county
bankrupt.
Such was the situation when in
the spring Of 1880 away to the
south and west Of the county seat
a little cloud of dust could be seen
along the horizon but rapidly ap-
preaching, and Immediately, in
March. THE TAXPAYERS LEA
CUE OF KOOCHICHING COUN-
lTY Inc. appeared in the offing.
AS the little band drew nearer, o!
what a pitifully weak, unarmed,
helpless little band it appeared to
be, seven or eight in number,
poor, exploited, cheaply clad, with
the marks of honest, unrequitted
toll on hand and feature but WIZ
look of intelligent resolve on ev-
cry face.
They come to beard the Lion in
his den, the mighty commercial
chieftain, intrenched behind the
state government through the in
fluence of his battalion of willing
Iieutenants, county boards, county
attorneys, county auditors, asses
sors, State Tax Commission anC
hundreds of other lesser lights
employees, beneficiaries and favo.
seekers.
Immediately on the approach o
this little band, the Kiwanian
sounded the reveille and the call
"to arms! This call was sent on
through the company's own mouth
|, pieces, the county press. The
said: "This new organization call
ing itself The Taxpayers League
is just bunch of sore-headed POI
iticians seeking county jobs. TIL
e membership is hand-picked an
] made up principally of undesil
ables and failures in life. The
claim to be interested in remed!
: ing the tax situation but their oil
e ject is to raise hell generally; an
e their organizations function is
d grease the slzids over which i
II members hope to slide into office
All this, however, did not see
n to phase the League. The LeagI
was organized in March, 1880,
half dozen or more men. Nee
ings were held throughout t
county. The membership beg;
to grow until 1t ran into the hu
dreds. A board of directors CO
sisting of fifteen men was eleC
ed together with its officers al
an attorney. All served witho
= compensation. Regular month
Fl meetings of the board were he
n. and the study of tax problems
ne gan.
IN These hard-headed, practiC
y men were not seeking in their
st vestigation new ways of raisi
re more money. It was not me-
1t taxes they wanted, but less. Tn
We were looking for ways to cut do
ID. the cost of county govenmt
ne and to learn, if possible, why /.
ng enteen mills for the revenue flu
on when five mills is the legal lii
sh allowed by state law, is still .
n insufficient to pay ordinary n
ne ming expenses of the county.
nd After considerable investigat
On the majority of the board '
ia convinced that a large part of
Ell. property of the Minnesota &
ed tario Power Co. within the coul
Dr. has for years been undervalued
nd compared with other like prope
- In the county or has escaped ia
nc ton entirely.
ut. Then the machinery of the
the League was brought into act
ok. Resolution after resolution
be- passed asking that certain PROF
at ties that had never been placed
ger the tax rolls, be placed tn
These were served On the cou
ga board, the auditor and the cou
ave attorney. These resolutions
to activities were published in
lie Leagues publication, the ca
a League Bulletin"
md Month after month during
La and 1881 this work went on W
llle out results. Additional resolut
gnt of a similar nature calling at
the ton to properties undervalued
De wholly omitted from the tax ]
rch were submitted to these
OF boards and officers with no
suits, no response.
.ulo Finally mandamus was
ner against the auditor to compel
entrance of these properties
nry' the tax lists. 1t was at the
:. quest of the auditor that this
Y. done. Since the auditor is
lie official and as such sh
,@p have the public's interest at h,
w it was expected he would welC
this opportunity to add 10 the
lists any property that m