Askov American., 1943-07-01
Monopoly Shouts
Wolf

The Minneapolis Tribune continues
ITS effort to attempt to answer an
argument without giving the argu-
Inent
In his column last Sunday, Chas.
B. Cheney says, "Hjalmar Petersen
has been leading the pack baying at
Justice Hilton's heels" But the
Cowles daily newspapers in Mime
apolis have not yet published the
article of May 27, or excerpts of it
as released through the Associated
Press and published in dailies of St.
Paul, Duluth and out over the state.
It was Senator J. V. Weber of
Slayton, one of the old guarders,
unable to render service expected
of him because of i'll health. Yet,
motivated by pure selfishness, he has
consistently refused to resign, pre-
ferring the emolumentS of the office,
a little matter of $500 year."
Senator Weber also stated that
"Mr. Hilton should be quite
ashamed of himself" and "the
glory that has been his fades
sumpletely in the selfish grab he
rssw accepts"
Maybe that was written for local
consumption. Certainly the Mime
apolis papers have treated it as such.
The writer admonished the senator
to have turned some of his guns
against his colleagues who voted
for the bill and the governor who
signed it-that governor who in the
words of the senator belongs to the
ages"
1t matters not who was the
beneficiary of the special act
whether his name was Clifford
L. Hilton, John Doe, or Peter
Carlson. There is a principle at
stake. We are not attacking the
individual.
The Tribune article says that "Mr.
Hilton, who has rendered an out
standing service to his state, is singled
out now for abuse" Also that it is
hounding" and petty persecution" )"
Mr.. Hilton was singled out, to be
sure, and that was for a special law
IN 1943. Let the Tribune tell the
whole story-but that they have con-
sisfently refused to do-as to how
well the justice has been treated by
the taxpayers, $4,000 in Is years,
not to mention emoluments for nine
years as assistant and deputy attor-
ney general and prior to that county
attorney of Ottertail county.
Let the Tribune tell Us how
much work the justice did on the
supreme court the past half dozen
years, how many decisions he
wrote, and why he did not retire
in 1910, when incapacitatedi in
stead of running for reelection.
Mr. Cheney gives credit to Mr..
Hilton for writing the occupational
tax law of 1921. Excise and privilege
taxes existed long before there was
iron mining in Minnesota, and as
before stated, it would be expected
of an attorney general that he be
familiar enough with the constitution
to be able to write a privilege or
Occupational tax law that would stand
mp in the courts.
Being newcomers in Minnesota,
the Cowles might not be expected to
know, but Mr.. Cheney should know
that the real work of writing the
1921 Occupational tax law was done
by the assistant attorney general,
Egbert S. Oakley of Minneapolis, and
Atty. Patrick J. Ryan of St. Paul,
the latter being engaged and paid
Is special assistant for that par
rlcnlar task. Oakley and Ryan re-
vamped the bill and made changes
here and there, and it was Ryan who
evolved the name "occupational"
rather than tonnage" for the new
tax law.
After passage by the legisla-
ture and approval by the COVER
nor the law-which form of tax
alton had been delayed too long
was attacked in court, going
from district direct to the U. S..
Supreme Court. Pat Ryan bore
the brunt of the burden. He and
MIR. Oakley successfully argued
the case before both courts.
Readers of the May 9th article
know that arguments were made,
mot against fair pensions, but against
too much for some and not enough
for others, as for example, between
a man well paid by the state for "a
years and now to receive retire
ment pension of So, 500 annually, and