The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 18, 1916, Page 5

I é R - - Here is Jorgenson’s Latest Twenty-Five Thousand Copies of a Political . Argument Issued at Expense of the Taxpayers THE gfing has ju'stv puiled off an- other good one at Bismarck. * It has, at public expense, with the _taxpayers money, issued 25,000 copies of ‘a purported public report that in reality is. a more or less ingenious political document, principally less in- genious. It is gotten out for circula- tion among the voters through the county auditors in an attempt to save “ the political -necks of certain state office holders. The new 95-item personal property schedule, designed to wring the last cent of taxation out of farmers, has been a most damaging thing for the state hoard of equalization, There has been a_-state-wide protest agginst this' schedule, which for the first time makes it possible for assessors to tax dogs, fences,. poultry and other items of personal property, hitherto un- -taxed. - 3 ! S So it was looking pretty bad for the members of the board of equalization, who devised and approved of this new taxing plan.. It wasn’t making them any votes and it was losing them thousands. To offset the public clamor over the schedule State ‘Auditor Carl O. Jorg- enson, - candidate for reelection and member of the board, on behalf of himself' and fellow. members of the . board, has issued, out of the taxpay- ers’ nmoney, 25,000 copies of a 24-page pamphlet, defending’ the new schedule. . Copies of ‘this- defense of the state officers are being circulated through- . * out - the. state, chiefly through the com:g auditors, who have each re- ceived a plenteous supply for distribu- - tion among the voters. . /CAMPAIGN DOCUMENT DISGUISED AS OFFICIAL REPORT The pamphlet is thinly disguised as - a legitimate public document. It had- to be disguised, even if only thinly, in order that the public treasury. could .pay for it. Also so it would look official. - The pamphlet purports to be a “Report of the Special Meeting of the State Board of Equalization, Held Jointly With the ' County Auditors, County Commissioners and City As- sessors at Bismarck, January 26 and 27.”” It says on its cover that it is a “full, accurate and interesting dis- cussion pertaining to tax matters in - North Dakota, which should be care- fully studied by every taxpayer.” Let’s see what it is really. Let’s carefully study it, as advised. . In the first place it pretends. to be a report of the nineteenth and twen- tieth days sessions of the state board of - equalization. - Where is the report of the first 18 days of the board’s sessions? * It isn’t in this pamphlet. Tt isn't printed yet, although-it should have been out months ago. The board has not published a word.: of its pro- ceedings = wherein' it equalized last year’s assessment and - assessed rail- roads. The board met away last fall. It gets out no published report at all of all those proceedings. It gets out ‘a report of the “nineteenth -and twentieth” days of its deliberations,. held just recently. Why the last two days first instead of the first 18 days first? Because a state-wide primary takes place next month and ‘because the entire report --is not a good campaign document. The entiré report would show that big increase in the proportional as- sessment of farm lands, while other ‘property was let.off easy. It would show the friendly assessment of the: railroads, despite expert opinion that the railroads were under-assessed. STORY OF EIGHTEEN DAYS - 'REMAIN TO BE TOLD " But the report of the “nineteenth ‘and - twentieth” days of the board’s -work, written in a certain way, will i: make a good campaign showing (the - - :})eople paying the cost: of printing). t can be gotten out before the prim- " aries. . S0:26,000 copies of the “nine- - ' teenth and twentieth’ ” days are print- .'ed;’. The ‘story. of the first"18 days, et dating back to last fal!;v_,relpmn‘s. : un];_’;mted.' f “Tet’s see how. accirate the report © of the “nineteenth and twentieth” daysiis.. .. . every ' -Jnember of which is a candidate for - - . some political office this year. -starts off by és,ying “gll'ptogeity; 7 was assessable under the old schedule How true is that? - The old schedule of 28 items to be assessed did not in- clude dogs, poultry, live stock under _oné year or fences. Nobody ever paid vote in this section. 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000¢0 AANDAHL IN RACE TO STAY i : Ei'erybody around this p-art of the country is enthusias- tic for the League and we can count on a practically unanimous I will stick as a candidate until the last vote is counted.—S. J. AANDAHL. commissioner indorsed by the League.) - _taxes for those things under the old —no more is assessable under this.” . schedule. The new 95-item schedule includes dogs, poultry, live stock un- der one year and fences. Farmers will pay taxes for these things under the” new schedule. How’s that for (Candidate for railroad They Rap Record Farmers of Schafer and Vicinity Condemn Stand of Unfriendly Weekly Newspaper in Resolutions The Schafer -Record is a -weekly publication which,” though supported by the farmers, has been engaged in attacks upon their organization,” the Nonpartisan - League. At a recent - meeting of farmers of the vicinity resolutions condemning the course of the Record was passed.- The resolu- tions are as follows: ; 2058 “Whereas, in any commonwealth’ it is - desirable <that all elements of a - population be in a prosperous condi- tion, and that none suffer because of the greed or unfairness of any other element of that population, and “Whereas, the farmers recognize that they constitute the very founda- tion upon which all prosperity of all - other-classes in this state must rest, an “Whereas, -the farmers of the state ~of North Dakota have at all times in the past supported every movement that had for its purpose the better- ~ment of the people of the state, and ““Whereas, the farmers recoghize “that one' of the insftitutions highly essential to a 'pr‘o%rressive state is a . . free and untramme 7 ed press, and . “Whereas, . it is equally recognized that an unfair and biased press is one .. of the. most pernicious agencies of ““corporate controly and - <. & . “Whereas, in our community, ,the" Schafer Record, a publication drawing a newspaper to belittle and injure the farmers! organization an’W}:, as the Nonpartisan League, libeling. the . founders * of ' the' organization ‘and: assailing its purposes and plans, be it therefore - “Resolved, that we, the farmers residing in the vicinity of Schafer, do unalterably condemn these acts of the Schafer Record as a betrayal of the interests of this community, and be it further Zona ! “Resolved, that the farmers of this community, in matters of this kind, shall in future remember their friends and - shall bé not unmindful of those who betray their interests.” Signed by Hjalmer Nelson, G. W. McClure, E. E. Kurtz, Stani Jenkstin, J. Larson, Jno. Lilleslit, M. Simmons, J.. C. Shelley, E. T. Shelley, W.B. 0’Grady, Ole K. Holm, O, A. Stenberg, H. W. London, Joe Lawler, Jno. Law -ler, T, G. Buchanan, Geo. O. Thomas, T. G. Courser, Wm. Weisel, J. J. Glasscock, - E. P. Campbell, H. L. Shelley, N. Glasscock, M. Bergh, Joseph Story, M. C. Frazee, Geo. Molitor, Jacob Heine, Geo. R. Schen- “del, C.' E. Hovrud. : .LEAGUE MAKES FRIENDS John Fletcher, a representative of the Nonpartisan League, addressed a and in spite of the fact that the weather was bad and the roads worse, the hall would not have held a great : meny. moré people. ‘He made many .its xevenue from the farmers. of this = + community, is using its influence as friends for the League here, and be- sides " enrolling several mnew farmer members, he also secured a large num- ber of auxiliary memberships from ‘business men—FORDVILLE CHRONICLE. 7 . : meeting-at the opera house April 5 “accuracy” on the part of the state boatd of equalization? On page 8 of this remarkable po- litical document (paid for by the tax- payers and gotten out to benefit public office holders who want to be reelect- ed) begins a statement four pages long, purporting to be part of the pro- ceedings of the convention of county auditors. It is really a personal statement of the board of equaliza- tion, defending its handiwork, the new personal property schedule. This per- sonal defense of the board refers to “some criticism that has been made”; it refers to “idle criticisms made against the schedule for political pur- poses”; it refers to “statements that have appeared in several newspapers.” Then it proceeds to answer these “criticisms and statements” about the schedule. If any evidence were needed. to establish the fact that this pamphlet is a political document, wouldn’t that be enough? - Are legitimate public documents gotten out for the purpaese of answering newspapers and ecriti- cisms of acts? - TAKES A FEW RAPS AT TAX COMMISSION But there is more evidence of the purpose of this pamphlet. tax commission has been one of the chief opponents of the state board’s new property schedule. So the report goes out of its way in several instan- ces to knock the tax commission. The pamphlet says: “In articles published by .the tax commission it was claimed that the commission discovered millions of dollars worth of property escaping taxation.” : Then in another place it says: , “The tax commission has so far failed to secure the assessment of any appreciable amount of escaped property.” That seems to be giving the tax com- mission the lie, all right. -The state board of equalization taking a little shot at- the tax commission, which opposes the new schedule, and taking that shot at the taxpayers’ expense! Would a legitimate public document go out of its way to make a statement of that kind? But the end is not yet. At the con- -vention of the auditors County Com- missioner Josund of Wells county made the argument that the new schedule hit the farmers unjustly and let off other. property holders. He made a frank and fair criticism of the schedule. And here is how this re- port of the board of equalization (paid for by the taxpayers) sandbags Mr. Josund: “County Commissioner Josund, of Wells county, protested that the new schedules worked a hardship on the farmer. He seemed to have in mind that the state board of equalization had the authority to exempt from tax- ation other property than that named in the law specifying exemptions, al- though the law calls for the assess- ment and taxation of all property. The sgeaker evidently did not feel himself over-taxed for he -carefully evaded - answering several questions as to the amount of tax he paid an- nually on his‘farm property.” That’s the way this pamphlet, sup- posed to be an accurate report of public proceedings, puts the kibosh on somebody who' tried to defend the rights 'of the farmers. Not a word as to what Mr. Josund actually said. Not the slightest attempt to give his side of the argument. He is squelch- ed in an insulting para%raph. . The purported public document ends up by quoting three outside per- sons in favor-of the schedule. What these people said was no-part of the proceedings the “pamphlet purports to cover. These outside statements are dragged in by the neck to bolster up the state board of equalization’s posi- stion (the people paying the cost of printing). = - The state board of equalization con- sists of Mr. Jorgenson, Attorney Gen- eral Linde, State Treasurer Steen, ‘Commissioner of Agriculture Flint and Governor Hanna. Each is a can- didate for office this fall. Will this alleged public document, gotten out in defense of the personal property schedule, aid their candidacies? - Will they get away with it? . public officers and their The state ° . - PAGE FIVE. o e, / /