ITEMS OF INTEREST February 19, 1910 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Representatives of the Farmers' Union appeared before the House committee on agriculture last week to urge the enactment into law of a bill which will put an end to cotton "futures" in the cotton exchanges. A speaker for the Farmers' Union declared that twenty-nine states are interested in legislation prohibiting future dealing. The Farmers' Union, he said, was not prepared to express itself in favor of any particular bill, so long as prohibitory legislation of some kind is enacted. He characterized the dealers on the New York Cotton Exchange as "hedgers and speculators," and said that as a result of their manipulation of the market the cotton producers not only had to stand for the losses which followed a slump in the market, but that the people throughout the entire world had to pay increased prices for cotton goods when the market manipulators succeeded in keeping the market at a high level.

Mayor Gaynor has suggested to the tax department that the present plan of levying taxes on personal property in New York city be abolished and that a system be adopted whereby practically all of the city's revenue would be derived from assessments on real estate. His proposal is a slight modification of the Henry George single tax theory. It would eliminate from the tax-book all assessments now levied on estates, resident and non-resident personal property, and resident and non-resident corporations. Officials estimate that the change would add about six points to the tax rate. Whereas the tax last year was $1.67 a hundred it would have been about $1.73 had the amount raised from personal assessment been dropped. The assessment on a residence valued at twenty thousand dollars would have been about twelve dollars more than it was.

Sixty-four defendants in alleged coal land frauds against the Government appeared before the United States land office at Lander, Wyo., last week in cases which have been brought by the Government for the cancellation of their titles to coal lands which are said to be the most valuable in the state. The cases involve ninety-five hundred acres of land, lying in the mineral district north of Lander, and have been appraised by Government experts at $1,500,000. The Government alleges that these lands were filed upon by "dummy" entrymen for the benefit of the Owl Creek Coal Company and the Northwestern Coal Company.

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