The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-02-01
Initial QUESTIONABLE Goes to
School Districts; Detectives
Listed by Schuster.

The first of what is expected to be
a long list of questionnaires seeking IN
formation on school and city expendi-
lures has been received here by Clerk
Henry Berg of Independent School Dis
trict No. II. The initial one is from
Senator Frederick j. Miller, Little Falls,
chairman of the tax investigation COM
mittee.
A meeting of auditors for iron range
school districts has been scheduled for
Friday at Hibbing to discuss details OF
the QUESTIONABLE Mr.. Berg will at
tend. Additional information is being
sought from Senator Miller because OF
the "vagueness" of some of the ques-
lions. the auditors decided, and it will
be presented at this time.
Reports coming from the office of
Fred Gina, Virginia, representing the
Range Municipalities and Range Civic
associations, are that Gina is also about
to send out call for data.
Meanwhile Carl H. Schuster, Biwabik
attorney and the ranges only repre-
sentative on the interim committee,
outlined in great detail the job facing
the group in an address to Virginia
service organization.
Under the heading Problems re-
lating to the taxation of the iron ore
industry and the levies and eXpendi-
lures of local subdivisions deriving the
principal part of their tax income from
mining property, to be investigated and
studied by an interim committee in ac-
file No. 1457," Mr.. SchuSter gave what
he called "non-controverSial, factuar'
presentation of what is agreed to be
the work facing the committee.
Grouping them into 10 divisions, they
range from ''the extent of the tax bur-
den upon the iron ore industry to
"the extent to which expenditures of
local subdivisions of the state are
caused by unemployment problems"
The QUESTIONABLE received by the
school districts of the iron ranges, seeks
information on expenditures during the
years 1923-39, inclusive. 1t also asks
for payroll figures for all persons en-
ployed by the district, the number of
buildings, and the area of the district.
1t seeks the number of pupils and
teachers for each school year from 1880
to 1885, This information apparently
is being sought to show that while en-
rollment dropped during this time,
teacher stats were not trimmed.
1t asks for enrolment in the Junior
Colleges, the number of students re-
siding within the district, the number
within a 25-nile radius of the district,
and those outside this radius. 1t also
seeks figures on night school enroll
mentS and teachers
The items that are termed as vague
by the auditors are due to poor editing
and not because of any maneuvering
on the part of the persons responsible
for the list.
In his talk Mr. SchuSter declared that
members of the committee "were fine
fellows, and nothing that anyone can
take exception to has been discussed at
this point" He felt that the Dietz
bill offered possibilities of more serious
impact than the Weber-Carley pro-
position, and that the overall lin1ita-
ton proposal was more drastic than
either
He pointed out that platforms of both
political parties at the last election and
utterances of both gubernatorial candi-
dates were opposed to the so-called
Dietz bill, but that there were no state
mentS concerning the Weber-Carley
measure because no such proposition
existed at that time
Chiefly the committee will obtain its
facts from the records of the tax COM
missioner's Office, the state and county
auditors offices, the county mine in