The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 24, 1916, Page 17

3 i v e Hettinger, has been involved in the last ‘few weeks in & ‘newspaper controversy over taxes with some farmer members of the Nonpartisan League, with the & result that Severson to date seems to ~ ~have _ somewhat the worst of the argument. i. The affair started with a speech made by. Ray McKaig of Fort Rice at the annual meeting of the Hettinger Equity Exchange on' Saturday, July 8. Mr. McKaig cited instances tending to show that the banks did not bear proportion- at;el} as heavy, a share of the taxes of the state as the farmers. ' Severson took him to task in a long letter published - B ! in the Adams County Record, of which > the following is an.extract: . “The Hettinger State bank has a paid in capital of $25,000 and a surplus of $2,500. On'this they: paid:$400.55 taxes last year.” Let’ us compare “this bank with the “combined farms of Peter R. Olson and O. C. Bergland.’ Those farms £ combined consist of 760 ‘acres of land in . a high state of cultivation, well improved and well stocked. ~ It is safe to say that those men would not trade' their farms for the bank mentioned: ' -Mr. Bergland- ‘pays $90.23 in taxes'last year and Olson $73.31, or a total of $163.54 for the two’ while the bank paid $400.55, or more = than 2 to 1. 'The Adams County State bank has $10,000 capital and $12,000 sur- plus or $22,000 in all. On this they pay $341.07 in_taXes. - These amounts do not include " the special . government tax. ~ Now Mr. McKaig, is it‘not clear to you 2 - that the banks are paying $2 taxes where the farmers are paying only-$17 All ' Hettinger business men: are paying as much in proportion as:the banks.” This statement looked impressive; but it wouldn’t bear analysis. In comparing taxes, just as in comparing other expenses, it is necessary to consider what the mopey is paid for. People who live in towns pay" a large portion of their taxes for -local town expenses. This money goes for local town improvements and expenses, such as lighting, the care of - streets, police and fire protection. The farmer 'doesn’t get the benefit of - these things. "If he wants similar advan-_ B tages on his farm he has to pay for them ) ; out ~of his own -pocket. The banker might just as well add to his taxes for purposes of comparison. what he pays out for heating and lighting his building as to include town or village taxes. BOUQUETS FOR EQUITY" ARE A LITTLE LATE Mr. Severson was promptly “called” on his tax comparison in the following letter from O. C. Bergland, one of the men whose prgp'erty Severson picked out: in making his statement about taxes: “Why didn’t you, Mr: Severson, and the rest of you business men of Hettinger throw those pretty bouquets at the Equi- * ty union two years ago when we needed a boost? We are ‘walking on our own feet now, and we don’t need such lovely s boquets. I well remember when you told i me that you never saw a bunch of g farmers that wouldn’t sell themselves for one cent a bushel, and didn’t the directf (The Great Conspiracy of the House of Morgan Exposed v and a practical plan to prevent its consummation, is & new book just. off | the press by H. L. Loucks of Water- town, South Dakota. .0 . In view of the® recent legislation, | ‘changing our financial system from government money to that of national small .group- of men the special priv- ilege of a monopoly, for private profit, of ‘the constitutional power to issue ‘and control the money of the nation, and to charge such rates of interest| for'the use of money or credit, as will' satisfy. the demands_of private mon- opoly; ' the study is a timely one. The author handles the subject in a ‘which he bases his charge. = :§ The price in. cloth cover will be. $1.00, and in paper cover 60 cents. the United States. Liberal -com- sion. Write for terms. . =’ L: Loucks, Watertown, S. ¥ - ‘bank | credits; the conferring on aj Agents wanted in every community | the Banker ors of the Equity invite you and the rest of the banks at Hettinger to come to their meeting and help them finance the . thing. Z “But you, Mr. Severson, only laughed at the invitation. There was no excuse for you business men. You could have gone over to Mott and found out what the farmers were doing there, but no, you baiikers were wise. You knew if the farmers were successful in running an elevator we would be apt to start banks, which we are sure to do if rural credit banks don’t go through. . All that is eating you bankers now about the Non- partisan League is rural credits and cheap money. “You say it makes no differenc® who is elected governor we will have to pay taxes_ just the same. Now you know and I know and everybody else knows to ~ have a man like L. B. Hanna for gov- ernor—who: has an equity in 36 banks in the state—that it makes a big difference. SOME HIGH FINANCE IN REAL LOCAL AFFAIRS “You say lét us do a little investigat- ing here at home. All right, you are one of the early settlers and were. more or less associated with our county affairs. Now I have it from pretty good author- ities that the court house cost in the :neighborhood of $14,000. Now any man with horse sense knows the whole thing could have been built for $4000. But give the old gang the long end of it and say $8000. Where did the other $6000 go to? ? “This is the way things have been run by those well-educated gentlemen who will command. the respect of the people, as yoii"'business ‘men are always telling us. : . _ “What legislation have those gentle- men given us ever since the state ‘was organized. .About the only law that was a benefit to us was the “snuse” law and they wouldn’t have given us that if it hadn’t been they were afraid it was injuring our health so we couldn’t work so hard. - GETTING DOWN TO FAETS - IN COMPARING TAXES +“You sfay compare the Héttifiger Staté bank taxes with the combined farms of Peter R. Olson and O. C. Bergland. All right, compare them and be fair. Let any one look on the back of their 1916 tax receipt and -you will find the village of Hettinger has a tax levy of 25.7 mills ~-or over two and one-half per cent. This, if you please, will make $175 or about that; leaving their tax -$225. “At the time my assessment was made, I would have been glad to have taken $6000 if the purchaser would have paid what was against it. Yes, and I would have thrown in my best suit of clothes which I bought four years ago for the: sum of $14 and my-wife says she would have thrown in her best hat. that cost 69 cents at Sears & Roebuck’s. i '“My tax was $90.23 on $6000 and the *. Hettinger State bank $225 on $27,500. “Now then if the Hettinger State bank pays just as much taxes as.the farmers they should have paid $587 in place of’ the $400.55. You didn’t think that the fools of farmers that paid to join the ' Nonpartisan League knew enough to look up things did you? “You say the county records shows the state has loaned the farmers in the county $112,000. I am certain that one- fourth of this amount is 18fned out to people . in_ villages like Hettinger —to farmers ‘that .farm- the farmers and wouldn’t-go out on a farm and work from: ‘4 a..m. to 10 p.’m. without even getting +time to go to.church on Sunday. 1 “What do Professor ‘Worst and -Pro- -* fegsor Ladd say about the' conditions of the farmers of North Dakota? Mr. ‘Worst said when he talked at the mass ~ ‘meeting convention' held at Fargo last tspring- that ‘he was sorry. that things existed . in the state which made it ~ mecessary for the -farmers to get together at a mass meeting in order to > get what' rightfully Delongs to them. - He also said it was the only way for the farmers to. do. Mr, Ladd:says the farmers are losing $65,000,000 a year on their by-products alone. 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