The Ely miner., 1936-01-16
Minnesota NeWs and
Comment
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BY r. w. HITCHCOCK

ultimate consumer is the poor man.
Taxes are paid in the sweat OF every
man who labors,' said Franklin d.
Roosevelt when he was candidate for
the high Office he now holds, and
neither time, tide nor the politics OF
men can change the immutable truth
of that statement.
There is one remorSelesSly certain re-
suit of attempting to soak the rich" by
piling taxes upon industry, and We do
not have to go outside OF Minnesota, or
beyond the confines of the twin cities
to see it, and that is the throwing of
men out of work, increasing unemploy-
ment and all the distress and misery
which flows from it.
Before the holiday recess of the
special session, the House agreed to a
free-for-all debate or hearing on two
bills introduced by the minority-one
proposing additional taxes on the iron
mining industry cf the state and the
other providing for revision of the
corporate excess tax to assess heavy
rate GO Mills. The proponents took
the floor for the first hearing of more
than two hours. George F. Gage, men,
ber of the state tax commission, and
formc" Mayer anderson of Minneapolis,
crusading tax investigator for the tax
commission, were the principal speakers,
holding forth without interruption as
agreed and an3wening questions at the
conclusion cf their talks. The second
hearing, held at a later day, was de-
voted to the opponents, but M. Gage
and Mr.. Andersen could not take the
criticism leveled at them, and insisted
on interrupting with renewed speeches
i of their own. Gage was particularly
! determined to interrupt and to talk on
the time of his opponents. This unruly
disposition has been characteristic par
ticularly where liberals" not members
of the legislature, have been given the
opportunity to present their views in
recent years.
Highly informative talks were given
by beth proponents and opponents of
the proposed tax bills, but the exhaus-
tive and exact brief, reinforced by an
impressive list of authorities, presented
by Ray Quinliven, former member Of
the House, in opposition to the cor
porate excess tax, was the high light of
! the hearings. Anderson and Quinliven
were far apart in their views. Anderson
said every state has corporate excess
tax; Quinliven declared it exists prac-
tically in only two states. Anderson
claimed the bill will produce 20 million
dollars in Minnesota; Quinliven showed
!, that in Illinois, with 312 times the
population and several times the wealth
of Minnesota, the most actively en-
forced corporate excess tax in the
8, United States has been made to Weld
no more than $2,400,000 per year.
Side lights on the Senate debate on
S. F. 143, the old age pension bill
. Senator RuotSinoja of Meeker was the
! hero" of the unhorsing of the majority
! on the amendement to eliminate Sec
ton 9 which set up lien on the pen
sioner'S estate for the amount of HI;
pension. This blonde farmer from
Meeker county is no mean antagonist
, He is a practical idealist, full of SYM
pathy and understanding, sincere anC
direct. If the people of Meeker county
-, have no good sense to keep on sending
him back, Senator RuotSinoja will be
in fair way to become that rara avis
: real statesman.
+ The majority was upset by 80 tx
f 80 vote on this amendment and by
Lieutenant Governor Peterson who wa.
pretty quick on the trigger with hi!
decision although probably we'll within
his rights. Whereupon the majority
forced recess for lunch, during which
:, time it got its second wind. and saveC
= :. its face With an amendment that wa
- fairly satisfactory all around. Senato
= Rockne took advantage of the flare-Il
to remind his colleagues that at thu
y ). very hour when they were refusing t,
= put safeguards in the bill the stat,
= treasury was $l9,000,OO0 in the red
= Senator Stiering of Clay County
q chairman of the Public Welfare com
mittee which had charge of the bill
although new" senator in 1895
. showed goood grasp of the subject an,
y ably handled the bill on the floor O
e the senate, but was chided by the min
:. ority for too freely suspecting wood
- chucks" in the amendments which the
- popped at him. Majority senate,
stressed the necessity of going slowl
:. and surely to begin with; minority sen
= ators wept on the necks of the ags
= and the needy at every opportunis,
!. Support by the minority of amendmenr
= to center all control of old age pension
~ in the state found them in the EN-
:, barrassing position of denying one {
~ ~ the fundamental principles of the
- political philosophy rule.
y However, the minority did not sho
81 much strength for this apostasy. beir7
e. defeated in these attempts by votes
M Is to 45, 16 to 46 and IL to 40. Itase
Nv and st. Louis counties have suffere
of IN recent years from a rush of goc
va folks anxious to get on the payrol
90 OF the mining municipalities, Senar,
Mcleod of Itasca proposed an ament
ment to head off pensioners from otn
counties and felt pretty good when |
got it written into the bill without
negative vote Throughout the thirt,
one amendments offered to the old a,
pension bill during the three-d,
struggle in the senate one consta
issue obtruded itself. On the one hal
was the effort to provide an adequa
pension for all deserving old peor
with safeguards to prevent the Law
;. abuse and hold the expense to the ia
- payer to the minimum; on the 9th
was the persistent effort to extend I
,ut ra,,,o,,o ~ .oeaaa,..,. 0.nioS' iliiilC'