The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-12-12
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me FaTulGI-LdOOA SCA S1S~5s 1SSe-N~ SN~---~
to have overlooked one good bet. 1t mas
come forward with a modified Town
send plan for flat $50 per month
pension for every person IN the state,
REGARDLESS of need, who has reached
the age of IS, a program which Will cost
the state s9O,000,000 a year or some
what more than four times the total
approximated cost of the state govern
ment at present. Tut, tut! Why fuss
around with halfway measures? Why
haggle over a mere $50 per month? DR..
Townsend is no such piker. He SHOWS
the tinid Farmer-Labor strategy board
the way. Since embarrassment OF the
majority is the game, why not make II
real game and plump for the full
Townsend 5000 month? 1t VIII cost
only $780, 1000 year and We can
raise that Just as easily as We can the
$50 900 900. All that is necessary IS TO
boost the income tax of 80 per cent
which you boys proposed at the regular
session up to 100 per cent, or If that Is
not enough, make it 200 or 800 per cent.
Surely nothing would give you boys
-reater pleasure $50 a month? Oh,
uIffle! With such swell dish OF en-
barrassment to set before the majority?
Since when has the flaming radlcallsm
Of the North Dakota carpetbaggers
taken on such a sickly hue? Since
when has bold Farmer Labor policy
grown so timid, flabby and pusillanim-
Gus?
With a clear and compact majority
the ruling faction in the Legislature
should resist the Establishments OF those
who have axes. good, bad and lndlf-
fereut, to grind, lay hold on common
sense and with a flash Of genius put
I'D and paddock the bars against all
legislation except that for which the
session was called. The ban should bar
all tax proposals, for no new financing
for social security is needed for the
next twelve months. This would get
the bows out of the StatehouSe by
Christmas and would earn the everlast-
ing gratitude of the people Of Min
neSota.
The Minnesota Leader has been
sharply reproved by Secretary George
Lawson of the Minnesota Federation OF
Labor for the propaganda sheets gratu-
itous interference in the internal af-
fairs of the Federation. The Minnesota
Leader, Farmer-Labor organ. in its
INSCRIPTIONS zeal for its party, is con-
tinuaIly guilty of overstepping the
bounds of reason and decency in
politics Since the passing Of Creel and
the advent of Henry Teigan its pro-
paganda has been conducted with more
finesse but with no smallest recession
from its policy Of purposefm deceit.
In its issue of November 9Th the Leader
took the American Federation of Labor
to task for instituting its red purge"
in Minneapolis. gave aid and comfort
to the Communists expelled by the
Federation from union labor ranks and
roundly condemned the activity of the
American Federation Of Labor in setting
its house in order in Minnesota. In a
short and inciSive public statement
Secretary George Lawson CURLY in
formed the Leader that the Federation
is not a political organization, that it
has no intention of allowing its drive
on Communists within its ranks to be
used for political purposes, and that
the internal affairs of the Federation
Of Labor are none Of the Minnesota
Leaders business.
The policy of deliberate nlisrepre-
sentation, by means of half-truths and
the twisting of facts, characteristic of
practically every discussion of Mime
sofa affairs by the Minnesota Leader,
was strikingly Illustrated by a recent
Leader STORY" craftily designed to
muddy the waters of the Minnesota
public debt situation. Facts and figures
were juggled and distorted, perverted
and corrupted in this STORY" to mean
anything that the Leader wanted them
to mean.
In heavy first page headlines, ampli-
fed in the body Of the story the
Leader informed its readers that the
present state administration had served
tie people splendidly by reducing the
Minnesota public debt, yet the books
of the state auditor show the following
increases in the public debt; debt in
1880. $50 400 600; in 1881, 500. 065, 900;
in 1892, s1I2, 139 900; in 1888, SIZE, 409,-
600; in 1884. SII6640, 900. In addition
to these figures the state since 1880 has
accumulated a deficit now nearing
s15,0OO,OO0.
The Leader "stors" declares that the
largest item of the Minnesota public
debt. rural credit obligations to the
amount of some S64, 900 900, is not a
charge upon the taxpayers Of the state
and is not reflected in the state tax
rate. On the contrary, this debt IS a
direct liability of the state; four tax
Ievies have already been made, taking
from the state several million dollars, at
rates as follows: 1881, 18 mills, 1882,
1yO4 mills. 1888, lbs mills, 1884, l mill.
A levy should have been made for 1885
but the Rural Credit Bureau preferred,
instead. to borrow, thereby increasing
the tax which must eventually be levied.
The Rural Credit Bureau has never
made its expenses; the losses that the
taxpayers will eventually have TO pay
have been estimated from $4,000 1000
to s30OO0,O00
The Leader says that the rural credit
debt is the creation of a former re-
dictionary administration" and in the
same breath claims credit for the rural
credit undertaking as a Farmer-Labor
progressive proposal The legislative
session which enacted the rural credit
scheme was composed Of a majority