The Montana nonpartisan. [volume], September 06, 1919, Page 4, Image 4

About The Montana nonpartisan. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1918-192?

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EDITORIAL PAGE OF THE MONTANA NONPARTISAN SEPT. 6, 1919
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Montana Nonpartisan
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF NONPARTISAN LEAGUE IN MONTANA
Pablished Weekly at Great Falls, Montana, by the Montana Nonpartisan.
Entered as second class matter, November 80, 1918, at Great Falls, Mon
tans, under the act of March 8, 1879.
Place of Publication, Great Falls, Montana, November 80, 1918. b
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
All communcations should be addressed to the Montana Nonpartisan, Box
165, Great Falls, Montana. The Montana Nonpartisan will accept advertise
menats.of reliable firms desiring to do busines with the people of Montana.
Advertising rates will be furnished on application.
MONTANA'S TAX OUTRAGE
Following close on the heels of the special session of the Montana
legislature which robbed the people of the open primary in bold
defiance of the will of the people as expressed in the referendum
petitions, and refusing state aid to drought-stricken farmers, the State
Board. of Equalization perpetrates another outrage in permitting
seven big corporations of the state to escapt taxation on $105,000,000
worth of property!
This action was taken in bold defiance of the law which plainly
states that all property shall be assessed at its true and full value.
Attorney General Ford, himself a member of the board, advised •
them that they were wrong, and pointed out that cognizance should a
be taken of the SWORN STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF PRO
PERTY FILED WITH THE UTILITIES COMMISSION BY THESE
CORPORATIONS, UPON WHICH THE RATES ARE BASED UN- r
DER WHICH THEY LEVY TOLL FROM THE PUBLIC.
But no! This august body of men elected to serve the people,
flauntingly decree that corporations can make rates which will pro
duce a fat income on a high valuation, and be assessed on a valuation
$105,000,000 less !
Farmers, small business men and laborers shall be assessed on a
full and true valuation, while the fat boys can get away on about one
third of their real valuation.
So be it. If the Gangsters of Montana want to go before the
people on such a record the Nonpartisan League and Organized Labor
willingly accepts the challenge.
We urge every resident of Montana to read the story of this
outrage by the State Board of Equalization.......Read it carefully and
then read it again.
When you pay your taxes on your little home, on your mortgaged
farm and your livestock all assessed at 100 per cent of its value, just
remember the seven big corporations that have escaped without pay
ing ONE CENT ON $105,000,000 THAT WE KNOW OF, and the
good Lord only knows how much that we KNOW NOTHING OF.
We invite the Loyalty League of Montana, which is fond of com
paring Nonpartisan League stricken North Dakota conditions with
Gang ridden Montana, to make a few comments on this proposition
AND PLACARD BANKS AND ELEVATORS.
Men and women of Montana, is it not high time to start a thor
ough housecleaning in this state and get men in the state-house and
legislative halls who will at least make an honest attempt to serve
the people of the whole state and not the privileged few!
"Gov. Sam V. Stewart's car and one driven by Miss Virginia Dutton
collided in Helena near the Capitol. The Dutton machine was wrecked
but no one was hurt" reads a news item from Helena. Gov. Sam's political
car is also due for a collision soon, head on, and the League-Labor Chauf
feurs in the other political car will have the throttle opened wide. In this
instance some one WILL be hurt. Both Gov. Sam and his car will be
completely wrecked. Even the copper trimmings will be nothing but
scrap after the jolt.
THE REMEDY
It is at times interesting, at times amusing and at times distress
ing to note what is said and written abouit the High Cost of living and
its cure. It.is absolutely ludicrous at other times to note what is
actually being DONE.
In Montana the "investigations" will start, so the commission
announces, about Oct. 1.
Of course the law passed by the special session of the legislature
provides that what is discovered by the investigation must remain
a profound secret in the breasts of the investigators--it is a serious
crime under the law proposed, to divulge any of the information to
the people.
The people must be content to kno~w that an investigation is going
to be started-sometime-to attempt to locate the profiteers and
hoarders.
If some farmer is found with two fat pigs he is apt to be arrested
as both a profiteer and a hoarder-spe ally f he belongs to the Non
partisan League. We haven't Ipoked up the law to discover whether
t is a crime for a laboring man to possess both working clothes and a
Sunday-go-to-meeting outfit.
However we will venture the assertion that the concern that per
mits a carload of melons or potatoes to rot or freese while holding
them off the market to keep the price up, is-in no danger of arrest or
undesirable publicity from official sources.
The remedy suggested by President Budden of the Cascade
Trades, and Labor Assembly, namely that all producers be given a
slightly greater share of what he produces, and the portion of the
- profiteer shaveda littlre-it, mighth-rmiantm - r-c ie littl
greater degree of attention with profitable results. And this holds
true whether he produces wheat, beef, coal, beans or any other com.
modity for the preservation or comfort of human beings.
"The railroads are having such a tough time of it we will just make
them a present of two thirds of the taxes they should pay" said the ma
jority of the State Board of Equalisation. What a tenerous bunch! Just
as like as net some low-brewed Nonpartisan Leaguer or one of Towney's
joy-killHg papers will bob up with the gentle sugesti.a that it beinl
up against tough times provides an excuse for viola the oath of office
and eneouraging tandodins, there are quite a bunch of dried-out farmers
in the state who would have a reasonable claim for some consideration.
We hope no ene makes any such tofeel suggestio.
AN EDITORIAL JUST FOR LEAGUE MEMBERS
We want to take ydu out behind the cow-shed and have just two
minutes private conversation with you about a little business matter.
We want to ask you if you realise that your paper, the Montana Non
prtisan, has the largest ciroulation, over 25,000, of any paper in
Rontan? That means that it is read by 125,000 people every week.
That means it is the best advertising medium in the state. You
also notice that all the papers fighting the League carry more adver
tising, than we do. '
Now you can help change things. First if you have anything to
sell, advertise it in the Montana Nonpartisan; second, if you want to
'buy anything advertise for it in this paper, or buy it of some one who
is advrtisng in this paper the thing you want. Advertise your
breeding stock, your seed, hay, or anything you have for sale in the
Montana Nonpartisan.
Finally read the advertisements in the Montana Nonpartisan
very week and make it a point to patronize the advertisers in your
own papr f you want anything in that line, and write or tell them
you read the advertisement in this paper.
Of course this paper was no started as an advertising medium,
but whatever is received from advertising means just that mnoh more
money to be used in fighting YOUR battles, and the battle is going
to be a big one because In eu. you are going "over the top" in Mon.
tas.
If the 25,000 subscribers will just bear this little talk in mind,
advertisers will wake up to the fact that they cannot afford to ignore
the farmers paper. No other paper can give the service that yoear
i can, and while advertising is not the mission of the Montana
iit should recive the recognition that its 25,000 farmer
Big Business won't give us any advertising, and we don't want I
any business from profiteers. We do want legitimate business and
you can give us a lot and induce others to give us a lot more if you
just think of it.
Let's conduct just a little advertising campaigning all by our
selves. Make it a point to see if what you need is advertised in the
Montana Nonpartisan before you make .your purchase, and if you
have anything to sell send the advertisement to us.
You know that any project backed by 25,000 live subscribers is
bound to be a success.
That's all. Now we can finish slopping the hogs and then eat a"
little snack. k
Now watch carefully for the Kept Press to report or comment on ii
the solution for the H. C. of L. problem offered by President Budden of
the Cascade Trades and Labor Assembly in his Labor Day address at n
Great Falls. It was very simple, and he spoke very plainly. "Labor must
receive a greater share of what it produces, whether the product is over
alls, coal or beans." No siree! the Kept Press will neither quote nor corn
ment on any such seditious utterances. It would be malfeasance to its a
masters. ..
Montana Power Co. Is Chief b
Beneficiary In Dodging Taxes
(Continued from Page 1) e
PERCENT as compared with increases of from 5 to 33 1-3 per cent n
on farms and real estate and 5 to 100 per cent on livestock.
Compare the gentle kid-glove treatment accorded the poor cor
porations to the ruthless raise given the property owned by th8 farm
rs and laboring people!
THE WORST YET TO COME
The manner in which the Montana Power Co. and its subsidiary
companies, the Great Falls Power Co. and the. Thompson Falls t
Power Co., were allowed to escape taxation, is, however the worst
crime perpetrated by the State Outrage board.
THE POWER TRUST JOKE
Total assessments by countieh :
Montana Power Co......................................$14,567,585 t
Great FallsPower Co.............................. 7,436,540
Thompson Falls Power Co....................... 2,706,187
Montana Res. & Irrig. Co........................ 1,026,385
Total ........... ........................ ............ $25,736,697
Assessment made by State Board....... 4,905,950
THEIR OWN FIGURES
Cost of Plant June 30, 1918, according to sworn
Reports filed with Public Utilities Com. at Helena
Mont. Power Co ....................................50,609,473.11
Great Falls Power Co ........................ 21,218,069.12
Thompson Falls Power Co................. 8,422,583.88
Total Value.......................$80,250,126.11
County Assessment, ..................$25,736.697 30 percent on local plants
County Assessment .................... 4,905,950 40 percent on Power and
Transmission
Total assessment of all property $30,642,647
In other words, the State Board of Equalization boldly and de
fiantly permitted $50,000,000 worth of property which is paying its i
wealthy stockholders fat dividends- taken from its patrons TO ES
CAPE TAXATION ENTIRELY, thus adding to the tax burdens
which others must pay.
LESS THAN LAST YEAR
Last year the Montana Power Company and its subsidiary
concerns paid taxes on a valuation of $10,846,000, while this
year paying for taxation purposes on a basis of 30 per cent on
5 what it is assessed by the counties, and 40 per cent on power and
transmission assessed by the state it will pay taxes on a total
n valuation of but $9,783,789, OR ON OVER $1,000,000 LESS THAN
LAST YEAR.
e Everyone else sees their taxes boosted, but the Montana
a Power Co., poor thing, GETS A DECREASE.
o BELL TELEPHONE CO. HIT
Just one corporation, The Mountain States Telephone and Tele
g graph Co. was given a substantial increase of 35 per cent over last
d year. This company (a part of the Bell System) filed a statement
of the value of its property with the Utilities Commission, placing
d it at $7,643,584 in Dec. 1917, and it is worth more now. It was
L. assessed by the state board at $5,550,000.. This is $2,000,000 less than
a it should be, but nearer correct than the other corporation property.
a It was discriminated against probably because it is an outside corpora
tion, or maintains a smaller slush fund.
MEANS A TREMENDOUS LOSS
The action of the State Board in permitting the railroads
Power companies and other corporations to escape taxation of a
Le total of $105,000,000, and probably considerably more than that,
a means that the various counties and the State of Montans will
lose in taxes collected anywhere from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 ig
a -taes-lr aullrxd- ear. ANIDWHATEVzE, I UM THBIN
i RIOH CORPORATIONS ESCAPE BY TAX DODGING MUST
. BE ADDED TO THE TAXES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN
HONESTLY ASSESSED AS THE NEW LAW PROVIDED.
The Montana Nonpartisan will later have more to say regarding
the Tax Outrage and the men who perpetrated it, and why they gave
ear to the corporation attorneys and utterly ignored the advice of the
attorney general of the state who is paid by the people to give them
legal advice.
Who are the state officials composing the State Board of Eqpal
ization serving, the people or the corporations
STILL AT IT
AND ITS ALL
S vo~UIVFOR
Smooth tongued promoters are at work in Montana attempting to persuade the farmer to exchange
his Liberty bond for worthless stock in various ventures.. DON'T LET THEM DO IT.
EDITOR RHODES TELLS STORY OF
INTERVIEW WITH TRAVELING MAN
In the last issue of the Valley County News, Editor Rhodes has
the following story relative to a certain type of commercial traveling
men who, following instructions, insist upon talking things they don't
know anything about or, knowing better, repeat, parrot-like, any
story they are instructed to tell. .Ilere is the way Editor Rhodes puts
it:
"Some people wonder why so many commercial travelers or sales
men spend more time talking politics, or against the Nonpartisan
League, than they do selling goods to their customers. The answer
is easy, and the cause just as easily explained. Traveling salesmen
are representatives of that phase of commercial life known to be this
side of the producer and manufacturer and above or between the lat
ter and the retailer who sells direct[
4.. . 41 .. . , , , I ,w,., , .. I
ter and the retailer who sells direct
to the consumer. These "go between"
business manipulators, who are de
scribed by Major Leo S. Horst as "the
man on the bridge" who produces
nothing and who irsists on toll for
a service that is superfluous, repre
sent to a large extent the "big inter
ests' of the country, and they must
necessarily depend on the perpetua
tion of present business methods for
their commercial existence.
Just Following Instructions t
Therefore, when you hear a travel- t
ing salesman harping on the old ob- c
solete campaign argument of protec
tion for American industries, when c
America is the greatest nation, com
mercially, in the world, or you hear
them delivering a tirade against the
party in power or the Nonpartisan
League, you can rest assured they are
merely following the instructions of
"the house." The writer encountered i
one of these individuals at a railroad
station some weeks ago, just after I
the Townley trial (?) at Jackson,
Minn. The traveling salesman was
an elderly man, and was really old I
enough to know better. Our conver
sation soon drifted to politics, and he
commenced to tell us some of the
ridiculous things the League stands
for.
Story Well Learned.
"We let him unwind until we found
him nearing the close of his well
learned anti-League story, and then
we commenced to ask him a few
questions. He endeavored to defend
his story, and finally admitted that
the League would put an end to the
business methods that gave him his
job. He tried also to prove that he
was telling the truth about the
League because he could read such
reports almost every day in the St.
Paul Dispatch, the Grand Forks Her
ald and the Helena and Butte papers.
We then commenced to tell him about
the nine planks that make up the sum
total of what the League stands for
in the Montana program, and he
swelled up and exploded: "So you are
one of those Townley bolsheviks, are
you?"
Not A League Member
We immediately corrected him and
informed him that the writer was not;
nor are we a member of the Nonpar
tisan League but we have studied
the League and all that it stands for,
during the past two-years, and have
worked with some of the League's
leaders and most enthusiastic mem
bers.
"During that time we have found
that its organization work is more
representative of its membership than
we ever found the Republican party
to be, and that if Townley was the
originator of the campaign plan used
so successfully by the League, he
should be commended as a great poli
tical leader rather than attacked and
persecuted as a despotic crook.
Marvels At Small Fees.
"After , going through one
campaign in co-operation with
the League, and seeing the per
sonal sacrifices of some of the
leaders and campaign speakers
and organizers, we found out
why it is that the League can
carry on so great and successful
a work on the suall membership
of $8.00 per year-ess than any
other organization, whether PO
litical, fraternal or religious is
doing. If Townley is getting rich
out of the $16.00 membershp fees
.-.-l.r~ ef~iifaje~wichi-- 1.
never received in actual cash by
the League beeause financial con
ditions many times make it im
possible for the farmers to pay
t when due-then he must get it
after it has puused thronuh the
hands of Tin Li. Fcrd, heo
telkeepers, railroad companies
or auto garage men, because we
know from experience that if the
League workers from Townley
down to the humblest organizer,
were not a sincere, self-sacrific
ing bunch, Imbued with a desire
to help improve the lot of the av
erage American cildzen, $50.00
a member would not accomplish
what is being done by the Non.
partisan League."
To Be Found Everywhere.
We will admit that you can find
some individuals, in the League who
are not a credit to the organization,
but this fault cannot be held against
the League, until you get rid of all
the same kind of discrediting indivi
duals in the churches, lodges, batri
otic organizations and the Republi
can and Democratic parties.
A Parting Suggestion.
"We would suggest that the Am
erican Protective Tariff League, with
headquarters at 339 Broadway, New
York, make an effort to use their
"commercial travelers" department
I for the dissemination of anti-profit
Seering doctrine instead of "protee
tion" for the fellows who are respon
sible for the present economic condi
tions in this country, and they will be
I promoting a vital, up-to-date bene
ficial program for the protection of
American's welfare, instead of wast
ing their time on an absolute doctrine
that has been a "protection' to prof
Iteers only, whom we do not hesitate
to call traitors to American .welfare
in every sense of the word."
W[LL, WHAT IS
YOUR QUESTION?
If You Have A Question or Want
Any Subject Discussed, Just
Write Box 1625.
Beginning with the next issue a
space will be set aside each week
for an article dealing with the
most important features of the
Nonpartisan League. It will be the
purpose of these articles to make
clear to each member JUST
WHAT IS NECESSARY TO BE
DONE, to fulfill his duties, not
i only to this Organization but to
his family and to the State of
e which he is a citizen.
We want these articles to be
considered AS A PERSONAL
e LETTER to each member, and we
will make it our duty to answer
y all questions concerning the Non
e partisan movement which is not
e entirely clear to the membership.
i- The articles themselves will be
da concise review of the entire
movement and an exposition of
those fundamental facts which
should be in ready possession of
every good Leaguer.
So, if there is any question you
want answered, LET US HAVE
IT, whether it touches on the prin.
ciples of the League or member.
ship in it. We are also prepared to
answer, free of charge, all legal
questions concerning citizenship,
and matters pertaining to the eleo
tion laws o this state. ..
Let's wfpe away the cobwebs
and VOTE AS ONE IMAN IN 1090
Send in YOUR question.
You bet "WE'LL VOTE!
The Secretary,
Box 186.
The Duy Lander's Selieq.y
You called for our help and we heeded,ed
We answered the call ef the land,
- Till the last grain of wheat had been
seeded,
Altho all our debits must stand.
We gave to you freely and gladly,
And answered your every call.
And now you desert us so badly
And push us right up to the wall
Your patriotism was splendid,
You helped with your copper and coal,
What mattered a billion expended
Long as old Uncle sam paid the toll?
We gave of our feodstuffs and money,
We gave you our labor and sons
And the outlook was then far from
sunny,
While they were out e harglng the
Huns.
But now when we need assistance
You hand us two Judges or so
You care not what looms in the dis
tance,
Or whether we like it or no.
But Hlist to the tale that I'm telling,
You'll all come to grief and regret
For the sentiments even now swelling,
That will cause you to worry and fret.
Well take over the state from your
clutches
And judges will give you galore
Youll be nicely supplied with crutches
And escorted out of the door.
C. L. McCracken,
Sunburst, Mont.