The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 7, 1920, Page 7

o - I'he People Versus the Steel Trust What the Fight of Nonpartisan League Farmers and Organized Labor - 'A ‘state fortunate in possessing great ‘natural resources? Pemmsylvania was - o rich in coal, iron and oil. Our laws =5 | allowed private persons to get posses- - 1| sion of this immense wealth for little : — ‘or nothing, And now the possessors of these: things combine with-all other special priv- . - ilege and vice:in Pennsylvania fo control the state: ; and thus keep their taxes low and their general operations untouched by the laws which .control Montana is ruled by the copper trust, Idaho by & waterpower trust, Arizona by its' copper, Col- orado and West Virginia by their coal, and Minne-- “sota, until the present, has been ruled by its iron: ‘ore. ‘Whether that rule, and with it the domina- "‘tion of all other corrupting influences in the state, is to end depends on whether the combined farm- ers and workers succeed in ousting 'steel trust N o ’_Iéitf:bing_& tn;hm: as & spendi;!hrifth village 'because vl e s s it foree ust property, within the city limits, to - : Thve §teel tm§t, ‘handling 51 per: cent pay for good }:)ads, .?;hools and othels" local im- _ of Minnesota iron ore, made a profit of ‘| = provements. Yet in 1918 the local tax rate at Hib. $51,000,000 in 1918. If other steel bing for all purposes was only 23 mills, while many QOll}ipahieS.’-ngll%% gbmlégz m"l?tifl : tgtéil fa_rfining communities in the state pay over 100 . profits were ;000,000. Total state MU, e b o : : - taxes paid by iron ore were $1,046,5625, .. In addition to all arguments’ for equal taxation - - or 1 per cent of profits. If farmers g‘lsr.fé l; plveirllty ;f reasozhfor tt}xti:g itron oretmlines : &5 ; SN : re. heavily ‘because these inferests are taking ?gg:tggfitgxgfigefilgfidgepgw&?:xg . from the state wealth which can not be replaced ™ _tion, but every farmer knows that he an;l méhe Facia af legs thfi”l 50dy ears, at the pres- pays muc_}{ more than 1 per cent—in a- gl;u;;d‘ -o mmmg,At e’ whole deposit wlllv be ex- ~ boor year it may‘be 100 per cent. The HOW MINNESOTA LOST - steel trust knows that equal taxation | ITS IRON ORE DEPOSITS - will come when a League governor and: A . ; : “‘a Lieague legislature are e]ec_ted in Min- ."The story of how Minneso.ta lost its'ore is of in- O e B i e 10 Mot e “henchmen from: public ‘ofice in the coming election. Sgglglal.lng }E; e I?iilstg% figrlg’sggg‘ Eon_ y ing laws of the United States. All her mineral In 1918 Minnesota supplied 44,068,419 tons of the AT ag D oD amm: . /lands ‘were thus left open to.purchase gr settle- 69,310,055 tons of ‘ore used ‘By’ the whole " nation, ‘paign in Minnesota. It would rather ~ment -under the homestead act.. Iron ore deposits ‘or over 63 per cent. It has been supplying over |- spend .$1,000,000 to fight the; League “ were discovered by the state geologist, N. H. Win- " half sincé 1904. The great profit-grabbing of the ~ | than spend $10,000,000 a year in taxes. United® States Steel corporation, generally known Siodny L N e as. the steel trust; is built onit. = 0 “In the Mesabe range Minnesota has the greatest: and cheapest iron ore deposit in the world. In 1918, aecording to its own report to stockholders, the trust made $2.353 a ton profit on mining this ore, which: sold .at lower lake ports for $5.272 a ton. , The ‘cost of the 21,447,741 tons of ore which the ' trust took from this‘range in 1918 was only $1.523 . chell, and he urged the state to get busy at once. <. in ‘withdrawing ore land from settlement. But . others wanted the Iands for the same reasons that Toslahotn bt anil s TR egtleds s * . Winchell thought the state ought to keep them; and " “The steel trust naturally spends money liberally they were not slow: in establishing close relations to “prove’ to the people that it is already paying with state officials charged with looking after them. - its fair share of taxes. But the trust makes more “The people of the state were first shocked: by the profit yearly than is made on all farms of Minne- theft of the Mountain Iron mine, the greatest single sota combined, and yet the farmers pay two and = jron ore deposit ever found and the most valuable ‘ ' n 191 one-half times as much taxes. If Minnesota farm in the world. This mine was on state land. State per ton at the mine, or §2.919 counting transporta- lands were assessed as mine property is, by amor- officials, after the:discovery, ‘turned the land back tion, and of this sum labor received only 46 cents. . tizing profits from production, their assessed value . to the federal government in lieu of other land of - The value of this ore field and the other, known = Would be less than that of the mines. . 5 no special value and the insiders filed on Mountain as the Vermillion field, is conservatively estimated . Because the minés ‘occupy little territory their Tron. land as homesteaders. They thus: secured Mow at more than $1,591,000,000 and yet all. the local taxation is’ low. The trust has' advertised' = what was estimated at that time (1884) as worth state has to show for this wealth which it once. = =~ = o 7 ¢ ESE T e G R 2 $20,000,000. Then in 1889 came the outrageous possessed- is $5,_514;982hi!l '»-fl‘g .Pem“'afiffhfig 5 s : — : ——— leasing bill whereby the state gave away the right fund and some ore supplies under meandered lakes ' | o~ g J 3y aric : to operate mines on its land for 50 years in return which the' politicians are now trying to give away. | C Qst and PIOfit on TOHOf Iron Ore ; for a royalty of 25 cents a fon on high grade ore All that the iron ore properties pay in the way.of - e e - . . when ‘the ore was mined.” The interest which se- taxes is the regular millage on an assessment of . - - - cured the ore did not have to begin operations until $291,817,150, ‘or less than one-fifth of ‘the real ' ° a railroad was built within one mile: of the mine, value of the ore.= =~ = = = e AR R SR . and still it had the mine secure against all comers = .- The organized farmers in Minnesota are fighting for: practically nothing: for 50 years. ' The royalty ’ the steel trust for two reasomsy = & . oo value ‘'was worth more at the'time and in a few ;1. They are now compelled to pay A o _. the tax which the trust fails to pay. = 2. They can not win against their direct enemies, the Minneapolis Cham-: blers:. in/general, without : winning: ‘against the ‘trust too.. Special priv- ilege is combined and knows stick together. «© "o il o {*° TAX ON NET PROFITS - ‘ IS LEAGUEPLAN . tion by leyying a tax on the net profit on_royalties paid to. ‘those who, have. 3 the deeds to the mine properties, for: i . & net profit on the total ore it mined in Minnesota in 1918 of $51,727,6560.20, handling only 51.6 per cent’ of the. . Minnesota ore. | A SN year of only 10 per cent it would have - - alone for state purposes,: an the: independents” profits were: at the. same rate: the total tax would have be | state purposes.. The steel trust'made received -$5,172,765 from - the. trust ber ‘of Commerce and market gam- how to ~They propose to end unfair taxa- ,; 3 ‘on; mined ore, and if possible a tax" fe " If the state had made a ‘lévy 'ifi'vt_fiatf S ave been approxi mately $10,000,000. ‘A 10 per cent tax on royalties; o . which are clear profit because mine operators pa g 'The- total 1918 taxes’ for . nesota were only $8,293,737. “Inste a fair share of taxation, however,the. : B ..all costs, would have yielded at least $1,000,000 more tate purposes in' ] “Instead of bearing ev Thls di;ér#;fl":,shdv&g in detail the division of the alue of 2 ton of iron ore from the Mesabe range, including transportation costs. ' The shaded portion but - the. trust ‘makes an additional profit from: “handling” the ore with -.itq‘ own sh\ips and railways. represents the profit made by the United States ; rporatio: cording to its: own statistics, prepared for its stockholders. The major portion of the profit comes from operation of the mines, years it had climbed frosm 50 ‘cents to $1 or more. . S : ~ - In his report to the 1897 state legis- lature’ State Auditor Dunn called at- tention to the Mountain Iron steal and ~advised that it might still be: recov- ‘ered. = Ignatius Donnelly’ and . other tion' in the house and won, but the 'senate, controlled by the ‘trust, altered o ‘the * bill, - turning - the investigation people of Minnesota had elected more: Populists in those days the “respecta- ble papers” might have poked a lot of .- fun at them but they would have got- - ten back the ‘Mountain Iron mine, “worth, $20,000,000, and many millions more which now add splendor to se- cago and New York instead of build- ing roads, paying for schools and re- ducing. taxes. for the farmers and ' .. working people of Minnesota. - Iron ‘mine grab to the. present the the trust has the senate. If the people win both ~ house and senate, as in 1919, the. governor turns .':the,;ftj;ack by 'his veto.. Because the .state senate, " which passed a.tonnage tax bill last year, holds oover and because the House is sure to be for such chine fto indorge an anti-tonnage tax man for gov- EION T e ST e A R A . »Will the people of only way. to get fair taxation for the steel trust is E Populists led a fight for full investiga- “over to friendly state officers. If the = . dect. society in the Twin Cities, Chi~ From the time of the Mountain !dron ore interests thave. mever let' the"sta%e government of Minnesota get away from them." If honest legislators have the lower house, | a bill, the steel trust has forced the Republican ma- ‘the state .'a‘.t, last s“egAtliat”thé' A ‘to break away entirely from the old political ‘ma-- ; . chines? All signs appear to indicate that they will,’ var