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The. Commoner.
SEPTEMBER 10, 1909
3
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Governor Johnson and the Tonnage Tax
Duluth, Minn., July 26. Editor of Tho Com
moner: In response to your invitation to Min
nesota democrats to discuss Governor Johnson
and his veto of the tonnage- tax, I desire to
say a few words. I see The Commoner of July
16 contains a communication from Judge Alfred
Jaques of this city defending the governor in
his veto of the tonnage tax. The judge says ho
considers the governor's act in vetoing' this bill
a patriotic, clear-headed and statesmanlike act.
He also says that all tho democrats of Duluth
Btand by tho governor on this veto as one man.
Tho judge says, and it is repeated in the Duluth
Evening Herald of July 19, that the tonnage tax
plank was "sneaked" into the democratic state
platform and that few of the delegates knew of
such a plank and that none of the St. Louis
county delegates knew of it. The judge is a
good fellow and a good democrat, but he has
another guess coming if he thinks that Duluth
democrats are going to swallow that cold stor
age "dope" from the governor's kitchen cabinet.
As I understand the question, The Commoner
wants to know how far a candidate can go in
repudiating the platform of his party after ho
has been elected on it; or whether the candi
date after election can decide for himself what
part of the platform he will accept and what
part he may reject; or in other words, if the
platform is not binding on a candidate, why
should the party have a platform? That is to
say, is it right for a candidate to stand on a'
platform, with his hands behind him, and his
fingers crossed?
Now let us see if this plank was "sneaked"
into the platform. The facts do not quite bear
out the judge's contention on this point. Tho
Evening Herald also seems to be willing to be
misinformed, although it had a' representative
at that convention. The convention was held at
Minneapolis on August 17, 1908. After tho
convention was organized and the various com
mittees appointed, the committee on platform
was in conference for more than an hour, al
though the governor's kitchen cabinet had
thoughtfully provided the committee with a
ready-made draft of the platform. Among the
members of the committee which reported the
platform were such good democratic democrats
ar. Judge H, L. Buck of Winona', who was chair
man of the democratic state central committed
from 1902 to 1904 and chairman of the Minne
Bota delegation to the St. Louis national con
vention of 1904. Another was Hon. T. J.Knox
of Jackson, who was a member of the railroad
and warehouse commission of Minnesota by ap
pointment of Governor John Lind and was after
wards appointed by the supreme court of Minne
sota to revise the statutes of the state. An
other was Hon. T. J. Meighen of Preston, who
was a candidate for lieutenant governor on the
ticket with John Lind in 1900 and was the
Minnesota member of the populist national com-
mittee for many years. You couldn't "sneak
In" a whole lot on such fellows. If any one
believes that Judge Jaques knows what he was
talking about when he said the tonnage tax plank
was "sneaked" into the democratic state plat
form last year, he could probably have his mind
relieved of .any such notion by writing any of
the gentlemen named above. And curiously
enough, there were some members of the dele
gation from this county to that convention who
heard the tonnage tax plank read by the Hon.
T. D. O'Brien, chairman of the committee on
resolutions, and they made no objection to It
at the time. Some of them probably thought
it was right, and others" on the delegation were
possibly more interested in holding the jobs
to which the governor had appointed them, and
made no objection to the plank because they
"thought it would make the governor thousand
of votes In southern and western Minnesota.
The -judge rather disqualifies hl-iself as a wit
ness by admitting that he wasn't in the con
vention, which some of the boys here think is
about the same as saying that the judge admits
he doesn't know what he was talking about.
I think we will have to disqualify the judge
on the ground that his testimony is hardly good
enough to be called even "hearsay."
Of course, there may have been some dele
gates from this county who could not under
stand the platform when it was read, like some
of the republican FInlanders that were sent
down from Floodwood with the help of one of
the governor's appointees and the republican
politicians of that town. Maybo the judge has
gotten those follows mixed up with that tonnage
tax plank on tho "sneak in" proposition.
Every democrat at the convention who could
understand the English language either hoard
Tom O'Brien read tho tonnage tax plank boforo
tho platform was adopted, or had an opportunity
to read It in a newspaper before tho governor
accepted his nomination. And more than that,
practically every newspaper in tho state, outsido
of tho Iron district, claimed that tho governor
favored tho tonnage tax and tho governor ad
vocated it publicly in his campaign of the Btato.
If Judge Jaques can get any satisfaction out
of tho fact that the govornor carried this county
by the biggest majority that any democrat over
got in tho county in which tho steel trust has
more men employed than In all tho other coun
ties of tho state put together, it is up to him
and tho democrats of tho southern part of the
state to get together on who was handed tho
gold brick.
Now let us see how the thing worked out
down In southern Minnesota In tho farming dls-
trlcts. The impression had gotten abroad down
there that tho governor had beon a little too
friendly to the great steel trust. A year or two
previous, it was reported, tho governor had gone
before the state board of equalization and pro
tested against a raise of the valuation of the
steel trust holdings from' sixty millions of dol
lars that was placed on It by the board of
equalization of St. Louis county to seventy mil
lions that was put on by the state board of
equalization. In other words tho state board
increased the valuation ten millions of dollars,
making it a total of seventy millions, and to
this increase the governor strenuously objected
in executive session. As an evidence that the
seventy millions was not an exorbitant valua
tion, I will just submit what transpired a short
time afterwards. At the next session of the
legislature after this controversy about valua
tions, a law was passed creating what is known
as a tax commission, composed of three mem
bers. This commission, in revising the valua
tions of property throughout the state, put a
valuation of one hundred and ninety-two mil
lions on the same property that the governor
thought was valued too high when it was put
at seventy millions. This commission held sev
eral sessions. The attorneys for the steel trust,
tho local officers of tho steel corporation, and
the county auditor of St. Louis county appeared
before this commission, and most of these offi
cials stated that one hundred and twenty-five
or. fifty millions would bo a proper and just
valuation to place upon the steel corporation
holdings. But the tax commission's figures
stuck, and tho steel trust never cared to put
the governor in a hole by giving the courts a
chance to hold that tho governor got off about
a hundred and thirty millions in his figures, and
got off on the other side from where weeoramon
people were standing around.
So something had to be done among the
farmers in southern Minnesota to offset this
record. So tho governor's friends on the stump
during the campaign and such papers as were
supporting him in southern Minnesota, all point
ed with pride to that plank in tho platform fa
voring a tonnage tax. And by reason of tho
publicity that was given this particular plank,
John A. Johnson received thousands of votes,
and in all probability that plank more than any
other ono thing enabled him to got votes enough
to succeed himself as governor of Minnesota,
lr. Johnson and. his frlonds went about the
Bouthern part of the state and assured the
voters that such a plank was proper, just and
right. The governor and his friends could not
help but know that he was getting a tremen
dous support, regardless of party, just on ac
count of this plank that was not "sneaked in."
Let us suppose a case. Suppose the governor
during the campaign in his speeches throughout
the state had taken up the platform and dis
cussed it plank after plank, and had taken the
voters into his confidence, and told them that
he would not be bound by the platform, or at
least that part of it containing the tonnage tax
plank; but what's the use of supposing? The
governor did nothing of the kind. On the con
trary, like our distinguished president, he al
lowed the voters to believe that he was run
ning on the platform of his party as they under
stood it.
If Mr. Johnson had stated that ho would veto
the tonnage tax bill, and if Ur. Taft had told
the pcoplo that ho favored a tariff that wont up
Instead of a tariff that wont down, I venttiro
to say that at this time both Mr. Johnson and
Mr. Taft would bo entirely free from great offi
cial cares. And after all If a cnndldate Is not
bound by a platform after election, as well as
boforo election, again I repeat, why should wo
have platforms? Will tho Judge, or Evening
Herald, or somebody please answer? Tho gov
ornor and thoao who try to vindicate him speak
of tho tonnage tax as an unjust tax. Tho gov
ernor in lils voto says it Is not tho propor way
to lovy a tax, but tho majority of both houses
of tho legislature thought otherwise, so after
all, tho justice of It deems to bo a matter of
oylnlon. The governor gives as another reason
for his voto that Biich a tax would bo uncon
stitutional. Tho governor is not a lawyer, and .
his experience In dochllng constitutional ques
tions has been rather limited, although he did
turn down John Lind on such a question when ,
Lind was governor. Thoso aro matters that aro
usually loft to the supremo court of tho Btato
but It sooms In this particular case that tho
governor beat tho supremo court to It. If John?
son Intended to repudiate tho tonnage tax plank
of his platform, ho ought to havo run on a tele
gram like Pnrkor did.
Now I do not caro to discuss whethdr or not
the tonnage tax Is a propor and lawful tax, but
it Is very important that each individual and
each corporation should bear Its Just propor
tion of tho burden of taxation. It matters littlo
as to how such a tax is levied. I venturo to say
that there Is not five per cent of tho pcoplo In
St. Louis county nnd Duluth that would know
from their taxes whether wo had a tonnago tax
or not. Tho tonnago tax would not affect tho
avorago citizen one way or tho other, but It
would make a tremendous difference to tho
steel trust and other large holders of Iron ore
lands. The steel trust like all other largo cor
porations have stimulated and helped to de
velop this part of tho state, but their efforts
have been entirely in the interests of tho steel
trust. Any incidental benefits that others may
havo recoived from it aro merely crumbs that
have fallen from the table.
In the early days of the steel trust It was
known as the Minnesota Iron company. At
that time they operated on tho Vermillion range
only. Tho great Mlssabe range was discovered
a few years latdr. Tho steel trust has imported
into this country a very undesirable class ol
citizens, mostly Montenegrins and people fronr
the Balkan states and southern Europe. Those
people, as a rule, do not speak our language, and
they do not want to. More than half of them
are not citizens and do not desire to become
citizens. They have nothing in common with
us. They aro only waiting tho time when they
can accumulate enough money to go back to
tho country whence they came. A largo per
centage of thoso who havo become citizens feel
their citizenship is a farce. They havo not been
allowed to exercise It free and untrammelled ai
is the Intent of our law, but thoy havo been
voted like cattle. Up until quite recently on
election day thoso miners were provided with
a little red ticket with the following printed on
it: "I am unable to read, write, or talk the
English language. I want to voto tho straight
republican ticket." The littlo red ticket was
given, by tho elector to one of the Judges of
election and the judges of election were mostly
mining captains and clerks from the local min
ing offices. It was not always a fact that a man
holding one of those famous red tickets could
not speak English, nor was it always a fact
that he wanted to voto the straight republican
ticket, but the little red ticket sort of system
atizes things, afid It enabled the officials of the
steel trust who aro acting as judges of elections
to make such an election almost unanimous. It
also enables them to show a -very high average
for the g. o. p. In this part of- the state. How
ever, the Iron companies have not always been
strictly orthodox in their politics. Sometimes
they deviate from the rule and make exceptions.
A few years ago R. S. Munger of this city had
aspirations for the state senate. Mr. Munger
was at that time a very staunch republican. A
man of splendid attainments, and In every way
etted to fill tho position to which ho aspired,
ut he was not satisfactory to the powers that
be, and in his stead they elected a dem
ocrat, ono Alonzo J. Whitman, who Is
at this timo serving a long term In the pen
itentiary in the state of New York. So you gee
m nMftmninijfriMfl! itMi,.,.