Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, October 28, 1912, Page 1

e 3 Historial Soclety T W& ~ THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEE VOLUME 10. NUMBER 156. . RAILROAD TAXES SAID TO BE LOW Reports of State Commission Say They Are Not Paying as High As Other Property. ROBINSON SUBMITS FIGURES Shows Rates on Gross Earnings Shoud Be Raised From Four to 5.46 Per Cent. VOTE ON PROPOSED INCREASE Constitutional Amendment will Make Levy Five Per Cent If Passed November 5. In each of the two biennial reports which have been issued by the state tax commission attention is called to the fact that railroad property in this state is not taxed as high as other property. The railroads at the present time, in lieu of all other taxes, pay into the state treasury annually four per cent of their gross earnings in this state. Under a wise provision of our constitution this tax cannot be di- minished or increased without the approval of the voters of the state. Having become convinced that the tax was too low the legislature at its last session passed an act sub- mitting the question of increasing the tax from four per cent to five per cent to the voters of the state to be voted upon at the election next Tuesday. The tax commission believes that; the railroads, like all other taxpay- ers, are entitled to fair treatment— no more and ng less, and that these taxes should not be increased unless the facts fully warrant it. In order therefore to make assurance doubly sure the commission, with the able assistance of Prof. E. V. Robinson of the department of economics of ! the te University of Minnesota, has just completed another investi- gation of the whole matter and find result that the proposed in- as a crease is more than justified by the | facts. Four per cent of the gross earn- in of railroads in Minnesota in 1911 (the last year for which com- pete reports are at hand) amounted 1o $3.670,760.25. The investigation by if all roads were assessed and taxed the same as other property they would be required to pay 267.12: or $1.340,506.87 more than for per cent of their gross earn- in In order to obtain this amount on the gross earnings basis it would be necessary to raise the rate from four 1o 5.46 per cent. The foregoing figures are based upon the state’s valuation of the railroad property with additions to s date. 1f the valuation allowed by the court in the rate cases, which was co rect, the tax assessed against the roads. on the same basis as other property would be $5,430,964.18; and the rate of gross earnings tax necessary to bring that amount into the state treasury would be 5.92 per: cent. 1f the valuation which fthe com- panies have themselves placed upon their property, which is still higher, should be taken as the basis of tax- ation, the rate on gross earnings would greatly exceed any of the above figures. It is clearly evident from these figures that the proposed increase from four per cent to five per cent is fully justified. Under our constitution a failure to vote on the proposition is the same as a vote against it. Moon Breaks An Arm. A. J. Moon, of Blackduck, broke his arm Saturday by being thrown from a load of hay when the bind- ing pole broke. Mr. Moon is a brother of C. 0. Moon, deputy county & auditor. the tax commission shows that! $5,011,- | derably higher than the state’s{\'Oters will go to the polls and cast appraisal, should be accepted as cor- jtheir ballots for or against the ac- €For every surplus there is a human want. fThe business of the want ad is to bring vuyer and seller together quickly. < Put the next “I wish” mind intoa practical step | ioward obtaining your desires, by investing in| a want ad. ' R — SATURDAY FOOTBALL Minnesota 56;.Iowa 7. Chicago 7; Purdue 0. Nebraska 41; Adrian, Michigan, 0. Northwestern 20; Indiana 7. Ohio State 45; Cincinnati 7. Ames 31; Grinnell 7. Drake 28; Simpson 0. Macalester 19; North Dakota 0. Carlton 17; Shattuck 7. Fargo Aggies 7; St. Cloud Nor- mal 0. Duluth Grand Forks 0. Princeton 22; Dartmouth 7. Yale 13; Wash. and Jeff. 3. Harvard 30; Brown 10. Syracuse 18; Michigan 7. Kansas 19; Aggies 6. I SURPRISE MYRON PLUMMER. Several boys and girls pleasantly surprised Myron Plummer at his home on Irvine avenue Friday night. Games were played the first part of the evening and a lunch was served {by the guests at eleven o'clock. Lucile Bailey and Mrs. J. Miller as- {sisted with the lunch. Those pres- ient were, Myrtle Hayner, Mable Flesher, Louise McCready, Sadie Kahala, Jeanette Stechman, Lucile {Moritz. Lucile Bailey, Dolly Koors, {Bdna Anderson, Willie Ward, Cris. Neuman. Fred Graham, Geo. Graham Fred Cutter, David Helmer, Buster Hyatt, Herbert Warfield, Elbridge {Lord, Earle Lord and Myron Plum- { mer. i MEN ARE SCARCE. Owing to the large crop of pota- .toes and the fact that the employ- .ment agencies in the larger cities 'are sending large shipments of men west the Jumber companies in this vicinity are unable to engage enough men to run their camps properly. Wages are exceedingly high this fall and the demand for men is steadily increasing. Several em- ployment men meet every train to iengage the men before some out of town agent hires them for the west. i { VOTE ON CARNEGIE GIFT. Tampa, Fla., Oct. 28. — Probably the first election of its kind ever held in the United States will take place in Tampa tomorrow, when the iceptance of an offer from Andrew Carnegie to give the city $50,000 | for the erection of a library build- ing. COURT TO DECIDE OLD CASE. The Hague, Oct., 28.—The Hague international court of arbitration to- day took up for comsideration and settlement a dispute between Rus- sia and Turkey of more than thirty years’ standing. The point at issue concerns the payment of interest on the indemnity due to Russia by Tur- key as a result of the war of 1877- 78. Bull Moose Coming K. K. Roe has received a letter from Progressive headquarters that Frank M. Nye, congressman from the Fifth Minnesota district, will come to Bemidji Friday night. November 1 for an address. Mr. Nye is not a candidate for re-election but is spending his time campaigning for the new party and is at present in the east. | that slips through yourl ~~ My quuméss ) CANT PASS ANY THING LIKE (Copyright.) 'A’\" SRimBlE S BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA, MONDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 28, 1912. SAY . CONDULTOR.: COME BACK NERE To YOUR CAR.IM HALF-A-DAY LATE “MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT ” Famous Dickens’ Story to be Repro- duced in Pictures Monday and Tuesday Nights. TEACHERS TO BE GUESTS “Martin Chuzzlewit,” one of the most famous of Dickens’ works, will be shown in picture form at the Ma- jestic theatre Monday and Tuesday nights this week. The film was pre- pared for the recent Dickens’ cen- tenary in England and when exhibit- ed there drew praise from the British press and won the support of the Dickens’ Fellowship. are familiar with Dickens’ will remember how the un- derstanding of people is carried out in the portrayal of the characters in this drama. Martin Chuzzlewit is a wealthy old man, suspicious of young Martin and Mary Graham are faithful to each other through all the trials and trib- ulations to which they are subjected by the warring factions; Pecksniff is the hypocritical, wiley, yet loving father of the model daughters; and Jonas Chuzzlewit is a villanous pat- ricide set on the film with the others. C. J. Woodmansee, manager of the Majestic, has invited the teachers of the Bemidji schools to be his guests for this film as he believes it has a distinct educational value. “OLD ELI” CAST SELECTED The cast for the high school play “For Old Eli,” has been selected and rehearsals will start this evening. The play will be given in the city hall Friday evening, November 22. Teh scenes laid at Yale University preceding and during the annual track meet with Harvard and the plot gives liberal opportunity for the introduction of college cheers and songs. There will be three acts. Following is the cast: Captain Walker .. .A. E. Nelson Dick Carson .. ..Al Neuman Jack Ludlow. ...Earl Carson Bill Bailey ... .Mayne Stanton Bob Campbell......W. Z. Robinson Professor Allbright Those who his nearest kin; Given Hardy..... Helen Beckwith .Vera Backus Mrs. Fairfield .... . .Flora Todd College boys and girls, ete. ‘The play is being put on by high school students, faculty and alumni who are trying to lift the debt in- curred by the publishing of the “Chippewa’” last year. Mrs. A. E. Nelson Hiram Simons, Jr.| WHo IS WHO Being a series of brief biographies of candidates for state and county offices at the general election, Nov- ember 5. <«JUDGE IRA B. MILLS Judge ¥ra B. Mills is the Republi- can nominee for state railroad and warehouse commissioner for the four year term. The term was formerly four years for all members but has recently been changed to six years so that one commissioner will be elected every two years. Judge Mills has been nominated for the short term in order to have the ro- tation properly started. JUDGE IRA B. MILLS Te has been a member of the com- mission since 1893 when he was ap- pointed to the board by Knute Nel- son who was then governor. He brought to the commission a wide legal knowledge as he had been a district judge in this state for many vears. He has studied practical rail- roading as well as learning the legal sides of the questions before the commission. Judge Mills has drawn several im- portant railroad measures which have been passed by the legislature since he has been a member of the commission. One of the most im- portant was the law, which was fathered by Mr. Jacobson, allowing condemnation of elevator .sites on railroad rights of way. This law al- lows an individual to condemn rail- road property for the purpose of erecting an elevator and has been upheld by the state supreme court. Judge Mills also drew the law compelling railroads to build side tracks to mills and elevators situat- ed on land adjacent to the right of way, and the law requiring the con- sent of the commission before rail- roads can raise the rates on any commodity. He has been consulted on all railroad legislation since 1893 (Continued on Page 4) DEDICATE SAUM SCHOOL Schulz, Stewart, Dyer and Nelson Attended Exercises and Speak Highly of the Plant. ATTENDANCE MAY REACH 100 C. G. Schulz, state superintendent lof schools., together with Professors Stewart, Dyer and Nelson, of Be- midji, returned to this city from Saum Saturday morning enthusiastic over the prospects of the new consol- idated school which was dedicated on Friday. Mr. Schulz said that although there were about sixty consolidated schools in the state organized since the passage of the Holmberg act in 1911, the school at Saum was the first to be dedicated. With the or- ganization of a consolidated district Koochiching counties lead the state with five conslidated districts each. T. S. Thompson, principal of the school, was chairman of the meeting. The building was presented by C. J. Carlson, chairman of the school board. and was accepted by Peter Krogseng on behalf of the people. The visitors each made addresses and the ceremonies were completed by Mrs. Thompson. “They have a plant there worth about $10,000,” said Prof. W. B. Stewart this morning, “and the peo- ple are proud of it. At present the school has an attendance of eighty but I believe that they will have 100 enrolled before the first of December. The people are also proud of the ed consolidated school in the state.” In his address. Mr. Schulz said that good schools always brought in settlers as people will go where their children will have opportunities for good educations. The school at Saum teaches all of the grades and the first two years in the high school. Both Professor Dyer and Mr. Nel- son were enthusiastic over the Saum country and Mr. Nelson pronounced the soil as the best he had yet seen in the county. NORRIE TO GO ABROAD. A. L. Norris left Saturday for Princeton, Ill., where he will join his wife. After a few days visit with friends in Princeton, Mr. and Mrs. Norris will leave for New York City where they will take a steamer for London. Tey will travel through all the principal countries of Europe and all the countries bordering on the Meditteranean Sea. In the spring they will return ta their home in Princeton and Mr. Norris will return to Bemidji. Mr. Norris is a cousin of A. A, Warfield of this city and spends his summers at his summer "home down the Mississippi river. TEN CENTS PER WEEK, DEMOCRATS HOLD FORTH TONIGHT Entire State Ticket to Appear In the- Armory This Evening for Grand Party Rally. ‘ sl T SPEAKING STARTS AT 8:00 P. M, ~ Lawler, Buell, Ringdal, Powers, Grimmer, Wessel, Donohue, Gay- ner and Reiter Here. AT CASS LAKE THIS AFTERNOQR Were Met and Accompanied to Bee midji by L. A. Pendergast and A. P. Ritchie. Bemidji is host this evening tgo a. majority of the state candidates om the Democratic ticket. Coming here after a trip through the northeaste. ern part of the state, they expeet to fire fresh shots in the political battle of this year and incidentally; win some north country votes. They spoke in Cass Lake this afternoom. P. J. RUSSELL Master of Ceremonies. The party consists of: Dan W, Lawler. candidate for senator, from Minnesota. Carl J. Buell, candidate for conm= gressman-at-large. P. M. Ringdal. candidate for gov- ernor. Winn Powers, candidate for lieu- tenant governor. Harvey W. Grimmer, candidate for secretary of state. Henry F. Wessell. candidate for state treasurer. William F. Donohue, candidate for attorney general. Julius J. Reiter, candidate for four year railroad and warehouse commissioner. John N. Gayner, candidate for six year railroad and warehouse com= missioner. A. P. Ritchie. candidate for the state legislature from this distriet, and L. G. Pendergast went to Cass Lake this noon to meet the party. It was decided to bring them to Be= midji in autos if the conditions were right. If the auto trip is aban~ doned, the party will arrive over the Great Northern at 7:40 this even= ing. Henry F. Wessel, the candidate for state treasurer, is a brother of Joe Wessel who is in partnership with him and who makes Bemidji regular- ly. Mr. Ringdal is a Crookston man and has many acquaintances in this part of the state. Dan W. Lawler is a former mayor of St. Paul. Har- vey Grimmer is a St. Cloud man who has been Frank Day’s right hand man for years. P. J. Russell has had charge of the arrangements in Bemidji and says that the meeting will begin prompt- 1y at 8 o’clock as there are so many speakers.