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Life today is not a fun-way street.
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Forgive and forget, and you'll never regret.
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This is the time of year when Farm Bureau goes to work on resolutions for the coming annual meetings. The other evening the resolutions committee composed of Eric Ausen, John Nordby, Mrs. Lawrence Gustafson, Doug Vandgrift and myself, met at the Bureau office and with Doug as chairman we went into the study of resolutions and problems to be studied at the various units in the next few months.
Senator Rudolph Hanson was our guest and gave us a number of ideas and suggestions we might present to the farmers of Freeborn County. One of the problems we went into was the discrimination of taxation between residential and farm property. From a summer report of the Minnesota Department of Taxation the following facts were revealed:
Farm property is assessed an average of 43 per cent higher than is residential property.
The law states that all property shall be assessed at its real and true value. Generally this has not been done for various reasons and instead a percentage of the real and true value is used.
There are seven types of property. The state average ratio of assessment is as follows:
TYPES RATIO
Residential 30.44 per cent
Multiple dwelling 37.82 per cent
Commercial 38.79 per cent
Industrial 35.06 per cent
Public Utility 45.88 per cent
Lake Shore 16.20 per cent
Farm 43.68 per cent
Total Acreage 35.99 per cent
With farmers in a cost squeeze now, and taxes making up a large percentage of their expenses, it is important that each citizen bear a fair and proportionate share of the tax dollar. In Freeborn County the difference is about 35 per cent. In other words the farmer is paying over $3 to the rest of the tax payers – $2 as far as real estate is concerned.
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Another problem taken up at the meeting was the moving of sealed corn and grain. In Freeborn County the A. S. C. Committee has been rather slow in getting the stored corn moved out of the Government bins so that the farmers can get their bins ready for the new crop. With the drought we are having here it is more important than ever that the stored corn be moved early. Last year the Freeborn County Farm Bureau passed a resolution asking the county A. S. C. Committee to put forth greater effort in getting the bins cleared for further storage.
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A person learns a lot by traveling. Other people do things differently and we get new and helpful ideas that we can put to use.
One idea that South Dakota is using that I think is good, is using different colors on the road markers. For instance highway 16 is green, 14 is orange etc. Another idea I like is the using of the "Yield" variety of signs; where instead of having to come to a dead stop you must yield right of way to the other car.
The quality of our highways is gradually catching up to our high powered cars. It have been a slow job but many of these new roads are really nice. Here is a tip for anyone taking a trip toward the Pacific Northwest. Taking highway 12 from Wilmar or there about is a fast route. If you wish more scenery No. 16 is very good also but a bit slower and farther.
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There is a lot of stir and talk around the state regarding the revisiting of the constitution of the state. Many ideas and proposals are advanced as to why this should be done. Most of the arguments for carrying out this program sounds quite logical. However, some of the main reasons for advocating a revision are not aired to any great extent.
The big question at issue is the reapportionment of legislative districts. This particular problem has come up in many states of recent years. In most cases a reapportionment under the old process would mean giving control of both houses of the legislator to the urban areas of the state. Reapportionment in Minnesota under the old process would do that very thing.
Michigan recently reached a fair basis of reapportionment by deciding to put the House membership on a population basis and the Senate membership more nearly on an area basis. Farm Bureau sponsored and worked for the proposal that was finally adopted in that state.
Minnesota has a trust fund which has been built up over the years largely from the income received from the occupational tax on iron ore. The fund at the present time amounts to 236 million dollars.
The state constitution provides that only the income from this fund can be used. The income from this trust is earmarked for school purposes. This income is small because of the low rate of interest secured on these funds.
Some people think that the trust fund is large enough and that it would be better to use that portion of occupational tax income for general state needs instead of adding any more to the trust fund. This is another question that might come up in the revision of the state constitution.
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A cannibal is one who loves his fellowmen — with gravy.
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