The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 24, 1919, Page 9

at Helena by Chancellor Elliott to pre- - dering a decision himself as to whether - /not publish it. .~ Doctor -Levine’s statenient of what Copper Trust Expels College Teacher Doctor Louis Levine Removed From Position in Montana University for Book Which Exposed Unequal Taxation of Mines and Farm Property HE need for freedom . of consciénce drove the Pilgrims to America. Later, when the Consti- tution of the United States was adopted, ’ £ free expression of thought was . guaranteed in the bill of rights. But despite the efforts of the Pilgrim fathers and. the draft- ers of the Constltutlon, free- dom of expression does not extend to university professors in Montana. By order of Chancellor El- liott, backed by Governor Stew- art, Doctor Louis Levine, one of the most brilliant and prom- ising of the younger educators of the West, has -been sus- pended from his position as professor of economics of the University of Montana ‘because he published a book entitled “The Taxation of Mines in Montana.” The Nonpartisan Leader has taken some pains to investi- gate the Levine case. The facts are these: Doctor Levine was engaged by the"university in the fall of 1916 Almost imme- entitled - diately Chancellor Elliott, in charge of all educa- tional institutions,in the state, called upon Doctor Levine to prepare data to support a mlllage tax bill, by which educational institutions were to be financed. During the ses- sion of the 1917 legislature Doctor Levine was called to the state capitol pare an ‘income tax bill, which was introduced by the Republicans in the legislature. Later, at Chancellor El- liott’s ' request, Doctor Levine on a number of occasions assisted the state* tax commission. U\'IVERSITY APPROVED PREPARATION OF BOOK During all of thls time Doctor Levine was accumulating facts about- the general taxation—system of Mon- tana. In April, 1918, Doctor Levine. submitted a plan for a series of six monographs - or books on Montana taxation, to be prepared by him and published’ by the university, of which the-first was to be on “The Taxation of Mines in Montana.” This plan was approved by the university author- ities. “ In -December, 1918, Doctor Levine submitted the manuscript of his book to President Sisson of the university, who in turn handed it to Chancellor Elliott. ‘It was agreed at this. time, according to Doctor Levine, the state- ment not being disputed by Chancel- lor Elliott, that in case the university authorities decided not to publish the . book, Doctor Levine should have the right to publish it himself. Chancellor Elliott, instead of ren- the book should be published, handed the manuscript on to Governor Stew- art. On January 28, 1919, Chancellor El- liott informed Doctor Levine that Gov- ernor Stewart did not approve of his book and. that the university would The reason for this was, according to Chancellor Elhott, that the umverslty ‘should “avoid ae- tive participation in questions which. sharply divide the people, mcludmg questions of taxation.” “other thmgs Chancellor Elliott ' said Doctor Louis Levine, who was sus- pended from his position as professor of economics at the University of Montana, for publishing a book' - “The Taxation of ° Mines in Montana.” at this meetmg is of inter- est here. “However, Chancellor Elliott did not claim that this new policy (avoiding public questions) gave him the right to forbid «me to publish my monograph pri- “ vately. He argued wity me that it would be bet for me not to publish it. He told me that ‘the inter- ests’ were determined to crush out all liberal thought; that if I publish- ed the monograph an at- tack would be made-upon . me generally; that the newspapers of the state would not give me a fair hearing and would becloud the issue in every way pos- sible; that I would be brought up for -trial on charges of socialism, bol- shevism, etc.; that the very fact of my being brought up for trial would ruin my_ professional reputation and make it impossible for me to get another pesition anywhere in the country.” These threats of persecution did not frighten Doctor Levine. The ethics of scientific men de- mand that facts, once ascertained, belong not to the investigator, but to the public at large. Doctor Levine, under professional ethics, had no more right to conceal the knowledge that he had gained. | . ASIT IS AND AS IT WILL BE | 'Prmlege finds the control of politics very profitable. One of the most lmpor- tant ways in which he finds it profitable is that it enables him to push tax burdens over on the common people and legitimate industry. The great spec- ulators in'idle land and other natural resources push the bucket over on the other end of the pole. The story on this page tells how a university proféssor er.- in Montana was fired by the copper interests for revealing the facts about the low assessment of mmmg property as compared with farm property. The farmers arc organizing to end the hold of pnv,llege on the taxing power. : ; PAGE NINE about taxation in Montana than a physicion would have to conceal a remedy that he had discovered that might save the lives of thousands. Doctor Levine, Yike an honest and ethical scien- tific man, had his book published privately. He was immediately ordered suspended by Chancel- lor Elliott. Mr. Elliott charged Doctgr Levine with “insub- ordination,” evidently on the ground that Doctor Levine had his book published privately after the _ university had refused to publish it. CHANCELLOR ELLIOTT CHANGES HIS CHARGE Ev1dently realizing that the “msubordmatlon charge would not stick since he had never forbidden Doctor Levine to have it published privately, but had only warned him of the persecution that' he would suffer if he dared to take this step, Chancel- lor Elliott later amended his charges. The new charges against Doctor Levine, and the charges that are now standing against hlm, unless Chan<" cellor Elliott change§ them again before this edi- tion of the Leader is printed, are that Doctor Levine violated a rule of the university against “mixing in political legislative controversies.” In view of the fact that by Chancellor Elliott’s request Doctor Levine had prepared proposed leg- /islation for a minority of the legxslature of 1917, this charge does not put the chancellor in any better light than his first charge. But the point is that Doctor Levine is “out.” Governor Stewart and Chancellor Elliott, who ob- jected to Doctor Levine’s book, are “in.” Governor Stewart and Chancellor Elliott, so far as the Leader is informed, have never stated spe- clfically just”what they objected to in Doctor Le- vine’s book. The Leader has secured a copy of the Yook and has made a careful study of it. Doctor Levine’s book is by no means a radical one. He makes few definite recommendations and sets out few conclusions of his own. - The book is simply a careful study : of all the facts relating to the tax- ation of Montana mines. Doctor Le- vine deals with the present laws of taxation. He does not give his the- - ories in regard to them, but quotes the laws direct. SOME OF THE FACTS DOCTOR LEVINE CITED He discusses the different methods by which mines and - other property - are taxed in Montana, He gives the mine owners’ own claim that they are being taxed more ‘heavily than other property. Then he cites exactly what these taxes are, in-a long series of tables. The data secured ‘by Doctor Levine is too voluminous to be quoted in any detail. It is sufficient to*say that the statistics gathered by Doctor Levine disclose these facts: On the basis of actual value, mine property in Montana is as- sessed at approximately 25 per cent of its real value, agricultural land is assessed at 35 per cent, livestock at 45 per cent,” bank stock at 60 per cent.s The Anaconda Copper Mining company pays about 8 mills- on every dollar of its property; other property owners pay on the aver- age from 12 to 14 mills on each dollar. On the basis of income the Anaconda Copper Mining com- pany pays about 6 per cent of its income, other' property pays an average of 10 to 12 per cent of its income. “In the case of farm- ing property, especially that own- ed by the farmer -of average means,” adds Doctor Levine, “the proportio'n of income paid in taxes is undoubtedly much high- Ly . * Other claims of the mine owners that they are entitled. to lower tax-: ation _on the ground that mines are