Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, February 21, 1922, Page 17

TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1922 BABCOCK MAKES PROPOSALS FOR . NEWHOTORTAX Emphasizes Necessity Now for Providing Highway Funds to Keep Up Work PROPOSES TO RAISE PART BY TAX ON GAS Says That' Remedy Now Lies in Revision of Tax Law in State Legislature St. Paul, Feb. 18.—A proposal for! state motor vehicle tax schedules was made today by Charles M. Babcock, - state highway commissioner, follow- ing his declaration for revision of present rates. The commissioner com- ments on gasoline and other tax sug- gestions and emphasizes the necessi- ty for providing reasonable trunk highway funds if Minnesota is to live up to its rapidly spreading fame as a good roads state. Public dissatis- faction with changes which would curtail highway work will be even greater than that against unfair tax- ation, he asserts, now that possible car savings and advantages from good roads are being demonstrated. The most-equitable and popular plan, in Mr. Babcock’s opinion, is that for a tax based on the actual market value, weight and power rating of the motor vehicle and payable in ad- vance, and an additional amount to be based on gasoline consumption and rated at 1 or 2 cents a gallon. Market values can be determined by an established sales reporting service now accepted by the automotive trade, he said, and the gasoline con- sumption portion of the tax could be collected on gross shipments of oil into the state. Such an arrangement recognizes the ad valorem tax feature and the principal that wheels should pay to- ward improvement and upkeep ex- pense_in proportion to their use of the highways—combine both proper- ty and privilege tax considerations. Making plain the relation of the highway and_automobile tax laws and commenting on, various phases of the tax problem, Commissioner Babcock’s statement continues: “A plan designed to pull ‘Minne- sota out of the mud' and into the ranks of good roads states was adopt- ed in 1920 by a vote of 526,936 to 199,603 an put into operation last year. At the same time was effected a new method of ‘taxing motor ve- hicles. “‘Regardless of first-year results under the new highway program, the motor vehicle tax is provoking wide- spread and vigorous protest. Car and truck owners again are paying state taxes which in many instances are un. fair. A recent court ruling on the tax law was followed by numerous misleading reports. There is a maze of conflict, confusion anda criticism. Auto tax revisions, gasoline taxes and many other proposals of changes are offered. A: statement of actual facts and conditions now may help to clear the situation. “Minnesota’s motor vehicle tax law and the state highway development scheme—sometimes called the Bab- cock Good Roads Plan—are entirely separate and distinct, except that the trunk highway fund revenues are partly governed by the yield of the automobile tax. The relatinoship be- ‘ tween them is comparable to that of a big development company to a bank which aids in financing it but is un- der different management and super- vision. “The highway development plan is now part of the state constitution. One of its provisions authorizes a more onerous tax on motor vehicles than on other classes of property. Excreising this authority, the legis- lature of 1921 framed and enacted a law fixing tax schedules according to factory list prices, the possibility of falling prices failing to present itself. factors of weight and power were recommended for con- sideration : by the highway depart- ment but .were not included in the tax basis as adopted. Mainly because motor vehicle prices have dropped and the owner of a used car is obliged to pay a greater tax on it than is collected on new models of higher value, the tax plan is rightly bring- ing a storm of protest. Yet there is no blame to be placed for careful, serious study was given the subject in advanc of its adoption. “The remedy lies in revision of the motor vehicle tax law in.the state legislature which meets mext Jan- uary. Free discussion in the mean- time will tend to bring generally sat- isfactory results but the cold facts should. be kept in mind. “The state has_assumed the con- struction and maintenance, forever, of 7,000 miles of main highways which carry . probably four-fifths of vehicle traffic. It provided $21,000,- 395 BEMIDIJI, SO SRR FORDSON Our Slogan A FORDSON ON EVERY FARM C. W. Jewett Co. Inc T '395 F.0.8, DETROIT MINNESOTA T = L T Gl oo g l 14 I i THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER 000 last year for the remaining roads —light traffic thoroughfares that can be more cheaply built and maintain- ed. That the state trunk plan was based upon a minimum fund of $10,- 000,000 a year—less than half the amount available for secondary roads —also should be borne in mind. “Motor vehicle tax revenue in 1921 was $5,610,000, federal aid added 32,840,000 and counties sold reim- bursement bonds for projects which materially swelled the list of accom- plishments. This year the federal aid cent; there is slight prospect of in- apportionment is reduced 25 per crease in automobile tax revenue; less reimbursement bond money will be available, and interest charges on trunk fund obligations now outstand- ing must be provided for the first time. . “Therefore, if justice is to be ac- corded the highway development scheme future motor vehicle taxes should be made to yield an annual minimum of $7,600,000. This figure should be the basis for computing proper tax rates. “Gasoline, consumption in_ Minne- sota last year was 117,000,000 gal- lons, according to the state oil in- spector. Consequently, a tax of 5§ cents a gallon would have been nec- essary to produce the sum received from the motor vehicle tax, had gas- oline consumption been the tax measure. A gasoline-measured tax will force owners of heavy and big- mileage cars to pay proportionately more to the trunk fund, but also will work to the undue advantage of the owner of an expensive car run a com- pamtively small distance each year. Thig is one of many phases deserving attention. “Kvidence that Minnesota people are protesting aganist tax diserimin- ation alone, and continue generally staunch friends of the good roads plan are most gratifying. They are a big incentive to use best efforts agein this season to obtain results showing benefits to be derived on the trunk hifhway system. The depart- ment will be successful, I belive, in demonstarating that money can be moro wisely and advantageously used for roads than spent for tires, gas- oline and car expense. Fair taxation apparently will remove the last ob- stacle to Minnesota’s move into the ranks of progressive states with ade- quate public highways.” " WE ALL GIVE ADVICE~ ‘We all give advice to the man who is down And sing about sunshiny days: ‘We tell him a laugh will get rid of the frown And beckon sunbeams through the haze. But sometimes the blue one's a person called “‘me,” And the rough way seems dismal and long, g Then we straightway forget our advice about glee And the tune to our sunshiny song. For it's easier far ‘to tell others to emile, And to point to sunbeams coming through When our own world is bright and we're glad all the while, But it's harder to smile when you're Dlue. ‘We can see how another is foolish to pine When we know our own troubles are few, But, oh, it is hard to see the sunshine FACTS TO PONDER OVER. Motor vehicles in the United States have increased from the four cars of 25 years ago to more_than 10,000,000 now in use, There is one automobile for overy ten persons. Thirty-thres thousand dealers :nd 35,000 garages render serv. ce. Parts and accessory business Two-thirds of the 18,000 doc- tors now own automobil 000,000 motor vehicles. Minnesota has 111,245 farm motor cars or 62 machines for every 7.26 persons in this state. Fifty-five per cent of motor now number more than' 10,000. Be- sides special service for school children there are 650 regular- ly organized motor bus line: FAD TRACED TO DUTCHMAN Diplomat of Holland Said to Have First Worn Monocle at the Con- gress of Vienna. Several explanations have been glven as to why the monocle was. Str Horace Rumbold wrote that the fashion of wearing it was introduced at the congress of Vienna—a congress in the last century. He told that it was a Duteh “exquisite”—which 13 the diplomatic language for “dude’— one Joukheer Breele, who was the first man to wear a monocle, and he showed this brand new fad to the diplomats and thelr followers nssem- bled at Vienna. After that introduc- Europe, but took its strongest grip on England. Toward the end of the first quarter of the Nineteenth century the fad of ‘wearing a monocle had become 8o pop- ular that a writer of a book on the care of the eves and the preservation of the vision inveighed agalnst it. The name of the writer was Dr. Kitchiner, and in 1823 he published this book. the title of which was “Economy of the Eyes.” Referring to monocle he wrote: “A single glass, set in a smart ring, is often used by trinket fanciers for fashion's sake. These folks have not the least defect in their sight and are not aware of the mischievous con- sequences of such irritation.” MINERALS FORM HUMAN FOOD Fact Which in All Probability Will Give Some Surprise to the Ordinary Individual. You might be surprised for a mo- ment if you were told that mankingd lives emtirely upon stones, metals and other minerals. But it is true. Our food is of two kinds—animal And to smile when everything's blue. —Robin A. Walier In Kansas City Star, Caif With Two Heads Lives. The most astonishing animal freak that has ever been at Burton-on-Trent, Eng., was u two-headed calf, It had two mouths and could eat and drink with both at the same time. The and vegetable, and the first is really the essence, 5o to speak, of the second, for all our food nnimals make their flesh by eating grass and other plants. Plants, then, form the food supply of all other living things. But how do plants get thelr food? They live entirely ou minerals ob- freak at three months old, according to the opinion of a veterinary surgeon, was liitely to have quite a normal ex- istence, as it had only one brain. ‘Modern Servants Every Twentieth Century machine has its part in serving man in a better way than he was served before. But if you had to do without all but one of the modern inventions, which one would you keep? To realize the value of the telephone to all of us in our every day business and’social life, we have only to glance back a comparatively few years and recall what we did when there were no telephones. Of all modern conveniences, the telephone is per- i haps without an equal in the service provided, which i is many times greater than the price charged. NORTHWESTERN B tained from the soil, and on chemicals distilled from the air. Our bodies need these chemicals and minerals, but we cannot use them directly; the only two that we can use in their crude form are water and salt. All the others must be worked up into different forms, and this is done by plants. Their roots bore down into the soll, breaking up small stones and extract- ing from them the minerals that are needed for their—and our—existence. These they transform into substances that animals can eat. Old Oil Well 8tiil Producing. The oldest oll well that is still pro- ducing was drilled recently from ‘the ' second to the third sand and shot with * 40 quarts of nitroglycerin. It is re-| sponding nicely, its dafly prnducfiuu" being ten barrels. The well was drilled fn 1860 at Mc- Clintockville, two miles from 0Oil City, and its production was supplied to Henry H. Rogers, one of the fouuders of the 8tandard Oll company, when he and Charles P. Ellis erected a one- still refinery at McClintockvlille. Joseph . Robison, of Oll Citr, fs present owner of the well and the 350-acre farm on which it is situated, Prize Bird Bagged by Hunter, What ig reported to be the biggest wild duck ever shot by a Calgary, Alta., sportsman fell to the gun of Capt. Alex Martin. several times a r Great Britain. He got it near Morrin, Alta., and it measured 21% inches| from the tip of the bill to the tip of | the webbed feet and 41 inches from wing tip to wing tip. 8 Inches around the head and 17 inches across the chest. Captain Martin is having it mounted. | —_— Altogether, # Cortlandt Bleecker said at a Paim| Beach dance: “These girls are very pretty. Tea he sure, their dresses are a little ton transparent: they are cut a little too| low; they—but what's the difference? 8. Farmers own more than 3,- | which remade the map of Europe back | tion the fad spread to all parts of — RING IN CIGARETTE HOLDER " i Idea of Chicago Man at Least Has the | Merit of Extreme Simplicity and ' Lightness. David Palwer of Chicago Is the in-| ventor of 2 new kind of cigarette hold- | er which has the advantages of light- | ness and stmplicity. Also it cannot get stopped up. It is made of a single wire beut in such fashion as to| clasp the cigarette, while the end of it forms a ring to be held between the fingers. The part of the wire that| 23rms a loop for the cigarette is made | uat and lighter than the rest of it in The Holder “in Action.” order that it may embrace the paper firmly without injuring its integrity. After this is accomplished one “leg” of the wire (which somewhat resem- bles a hairpin in form) is bent 50 as to clasp the other leg—the Iatter ter- minating in the ring above mentioned. ‘Thus is formed a little wire rod with a ring at the end and a loop at the other. It Is so light that it may be left on the finger while the hands of the smoker are busy with other things without its weight being notice- able—Pittshurgh Dispatch. IGNORANCE HARD TO CREDIT Superstitious Belief Almost Cost Woman in German Village Her 4 Life, It Is Reported. To cast the devil out of a woman living fn a village of the Lauenburger | district of Pomerania, Germauy, three hags tortured her. She appears to have been of a sour and somewhat hysterical disposition and three of the village gossips came to the conclusion that her feelings were due to din- bolical possession and resolved to ef- fect a cure by means of ancient en- chantments known by them, it is re- ported. They. first of all gathered the herbs needed for the purpose in the forests at the proper conjunction of | the stars. Then a tripod was formed | of three chairs and to these the pa- tient was bound. Beneath her was placed a pall of redhot conl on which the lerbs were scattered. As the fumes of the burning weeds velled the victim the three hags croned the prescribed enchantment. The louder the woman shrieked the louder they sang, and after the process had been con- tinued long enough to prove efective they ran away, believing the devil would run out of the woman after them. She, however, continued to shriek. Her cries were heard hy a man who came to the rescue and un- bouud her. Exchange Professors. Spain is considering a proposal from the Belglan government for the ex- change of professors and students be- tween Spain and Belglum. According to the suggested arrangement the Spanish and Belglan professors will continue to draw their saluries from thelr home governments and fInstitu- tlons, and will recelve In addition a honus from the governments to which they are sent. Arrangements are under consideration also for a harmontzation of the scholastic requirements of the Belgian and Spanish universities, in order that students may recetve credit in their own institutions for courses taken abroad. CONBIDERATE GIRL. “Dld you scream when he tried to kiss you?” “No, there's a poor mazn im the next flat who s very sick.” Nowadays dress, like photography—" And Mr. Bleecker chuckled, like photography,” he re. s altogether a matter of ‘ Calf Peculiarly Formed. A calf was born on a Manitoba farm some ;weeks ago, with both hind feet encased in one and the same skin. The antmal was killed. [ —4a < — £210,015. —=5--—-POSTPONED! —~The time when the battery “Just wearsout."” AOOOD battery, no matter what its make; diesanaturaldeath when it “just wearsout.” It may never have a buckled plate or wom out separators or cracked jars. Yet the time comes when it no loager luces power. It has “just worn out.” ‘That happens when a certain quantity of power- producing active material bas dropped positive plates. IN the Philadelphia Diamond Grid Battery this is prevented by the Philco Slotted Retainer. off the ‘The battery is guaranteed for two years. There is no other guarantec in the battery field that compares with this for length and liberality., MILLER'S BATTERY SHOP 514 Beltrami Ave. Bemidji = Minn. DO IT NOW. He was going to be all that a mortal should be—Tomorrow. No ono should be Kinder or braver than he-~Tomorrow. A friend who was troubled and weary he knew, Who'd be glad of a lift and who needed it. too; On him he called to see what he could do—Tomorrow, Each morning he atacked up the letters he'd write-~Tomorrow, And thought of the folke he would fill with delight—Tomorrofl. It was too bad, indeed, he was buey to- ay, And he hadn't a minute to stop on hia way; ; More timo he would have to give others, he'd suy—Tomorrow. The greatest of workers this man would have been--Tomorrow. The world would have known him, had he ever seen—Tomorrow. But (he fact i3 he died and he faded from view, And all he left when living was through ‘Was a mountaln of things he intended to do~Tomorrow. ~Qrit. MAN'S DUTY TO HOME TOWN Civic Obligations Are Not Always as Thoroughly Recognized as They Ought to Be. "T'here is no country in the werld jn which wealth so gencrally recognizes ite obligations to the public as in America. Vast sums have been devot- «d to public use, to the great benefit of the public. But municipalities have not figured largely as beneficiaries, though they have to some extent. In- dianapolis has by no means heen for- gotten. And It surely ought to be a pleasure for any person with the right feellng toward the city or town in which he has lived to do something with his money to make life in it happler and pleasanter. The obliga- tion of a man to his town Is llke that which he owes to his church or hix university, and it should be ar gladly performed. This feellng 18 becoming more widely prevalent In Indianapolis, aml it will bring results in which all will rejoice. Clvie life can be made bettar, and a proper civic pride devael- oped i this way that will be worth much.~—Indianapolis New Pointer for Parents, Mre, Flatbush—IHow did you come to decide on n name for the baby? Mrs, Bensonhurst—Well, we began at A, and thought of all the names beginning with that letter; then we took B, and Fo went through the whole alphabet. “But the child’s name fs Alice, X thought.” “So it i&. When we got as far ax Z we went back and began all ever again at A" Britain's Motor Care, "The pumber of motor vehicles of all kinds registered in Great Britain from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 1921, was 870,7%, and the gross amount of taxes collect- ed wns £9,876,105, which is distrib- uted as follows: ¥ingland and Wales, £R.777,863; Scotland £888,227; Ireiand, | Pithy Paragraphs. There are xome who ray that ideals are but clusive phuntoms—mere will- -the-wisps of famcy. They scoff ut them, but thelr scoffing Is only a wask. —Crawford C. McCullough. Diplomats cannot make international peace. All they can do is to embody in definite form such spirit of peace as already exists or can be created in thelr sevewdl cowmunities—Lymau Abbott, The struggle for business succeas has often been so wurelenting that men have forgotten the dream chil dren of thelr hoyhood days, have dis- sipated a priceless legacy, l last, “having ‘arrived at. the material success, find themselves per niless In all that matters—penailess in companionship, friendship and love. ~—Crawford . McCullough. ‘The cherry tree story finds no place in .standard blographles, while had Washington never told a lie the Brit- Ish would have got, him, early in (he war.—James H. Colliny. =S TN S LIS e e zas: \\“1‘5