WISCONSIN PAYS THE PRICE
Wisconsin Pays the Price The Story of The Repuhlican Administration Through Questions and Answers I The Progressive presents below the sixth of a series of installments from the Progressive...
...Q. Didn't the legislature increase the maximum possible pension...
...Insignificant appropriation increases cannot possibly take care of the greatly increased rolls...
...The governor's office intervened to prohibit the appointment of needed attorneys to fight these cases in behalf of the public, despite the fact that the commission had succeeded in collecting $9,000,000 this way under previous administrations...
...New York World's Fair...
...Wisconsin 12th In Passenger Cars Licensed State Has One Automobile to Every Four Renidents NEW YORK CITY—Only 11 other states, all of them of larger population than Wlscoasln, have more licensed passenger automobiles than Wisconsin, according to insurance figures issued here today...
...After nine months of delay, the legislature did vote some money for pensions, but Gov...
...Wisconsin passenger car licenses for 1939 totalled 703,807, It was reported...
...Q. What happened to these bills...
...This means that the next session of the legislature, which convenes in January of 1941, after the 1940 election, will have to raise money to finance the Republican administration's deficit in addition to raising money for .the operation ot th« government for the following two years...
...A. Not the slightest...
...of Cars One Car for Every Alabama...
...2, when it was recalled and sent to the special joint committee on pensions...
...30.899 3.3 persons New Hampshire 97.635 5.2 persons New Jersev...
...Georgia: "Peace State;'' Idaho: "50 Years of Statehood;'' Maine: "Vaea-tionland:" New Mexico: "Coronado Cuarto Centennial...
...the company had carried its figh,t to the circuit court...
...248.754 8.6 persons Maine...
...109.716 4.5 persons Illinois .......1,565.202 5 persons Indiana...
...Seven Use Plate Slogan* Only seven states have slogans on their 1940 license plates, the survey revealed...
...373.8% 7.2 persons Washinston .. 440.128 3.8 persons West Virginia . 230.637 8.1 persons Wisconsin _____ 703.807 4.2 persons Wvoming...
...Q. Is there any indication that the Republican administration might get around to cutting taxes if re-elected in 1940...
...A. Yes...
...Southern turpentine workers, one of the most exploited groups in a region where exploitation is the rule, are denied the benefits of the social security act...
...476.587 3.9 persons Kentucky...
...342,275 4 persons Nevada...
...A. The official records show that the Republican administration placed tremendous obstacles in the way of the tax commission which was trying to collect millions of dollars in back taxes from powerful individuals and corporations...
...Virtually every proposal to liberalize Wisconsin's old age pension law was killed on the floor of the legislature by Republican-Democratic majorities or strangled to death by Inaction in Republican-controlled committees...
...A. Nearly all of them...
...63.176 3...
...A. The present outlook is that their monthly pension will be decreased in the months ahead, instead of increased as promised...
...Q. Was this procedure used by the Republican administration in handling all pension bills...
...Q. To what extent will pensions have to be reduced under this Republican program...
...I.V1.027 5.6 persons Maryland...
...persons...
...703,457 5.7 persons Montana...
...Among the corporations fighting state tax assessments is the Heil Investment Company, the governor's personal holding company, incorporated in Delaware...
...650,534 3.9 persons Kansas...
...Collection of these back taxes from big corporations and wealthy individuals is vitally important to the average person because failure to collect adds that much more money to be raised through taxes on the rank and file of the people...
...A. No, quite the reverse is in the offing...
...The Republican administration did not want these pension bills passed, and rather than go on record against liberalization of old age pensions, it kept the bills bottled up in committee...
...297,492 3.5 persons Pennsylvania 1,730,893 5.9 persons Rhode Island 149,634 4.6 persons South Carolina 246.585 7.6 persons South Dakota . 152.138 4.6 persons Tennessee...
...Only 14 other states had a greater proportion of automobiles to population...
...277,860 3.9 persons tonnecticue .. 369,693 4.7 persons Delaware...
...441.184 5.8 persons Oreqon...
...868.734 5 persons New Mexico...
...Official figures reveal that under the Republican administration's record-breaking budget, the state treasury shows a deficit of $17,000,-000^ In other words, there are appropriations totalling $75,-000,000 and anticipated revenues of only $58,000,000...
...The seventh chapter will appear in an early issue.—EDITOR'S NOTE...
...Q. Has the Republican administration shown any disposition to keep its promises to the needy aged...
...Heil vetoed appropriation after the legislature adjourned...
...in a decision of the fifth circuit court of appeals...
...A. The overwhelming majority of them were frozen to death in Republican committees in order to prevent a vote on them...
...A. Yes, but this bill died by the same process of slow strangulation which the Republican administration used on almost all other pension bills...
...The pension rolls are growing at the rate of 500 persons per month, which means that the amount of money available will have to be spread thinner and thinner...
...78.360 4.9 persons Virginia...
...It' was discussed for nine months, and dozens ot bills were introduced to meet the campaign pledges of all political parties...
...The court held that these employes are agricultural workers and are therefore not covered by the law...
...105,793 3.9 persons Arkansas...
...Q. Didn't the legislature finally provide additional money for pensions...
...A. Yes...
...Turpentine Labor Denied Benefits NKW ORLEANS, La...
...The administration did not want to increase pensions, because the increase might have to be financed through taxes on wealth, However, it also did not want to incur the anger of the needy aged by voting against the bills, so the administration simply refused to let the pension bills come to a vote...
...To meet the Washington requirements so Wisconsin could get her share from the federal government, tne legislature increased the possible maximum from $30 to $40, but this increase, on paper has absolutely no meaning since not a dime was furnished to finance the increase...
...1,231.424 J persons Vtah...
...Q. What has been the attitude of the Republican administration toward wealthy taxpayers who are delinquent...
...337,584 $.6 persons Tevas...
...250.074 11.6 persons Arizona...
...A. Pension authorities have estimated that the cut will range from 10 to 15 per cent...
...167,045 12.3 persons California .....2,21.1.152 2 8 persons Colorado...
...Q. Was any attempt made to relieve counties, which can raise money only by levying on farms and homes, of part of their share of pension costs...
...Motor vehicle registration fees collected during the last year by state governments totalled more than $318,000,000 and total motor taxes exceeded Jl,500,-000.000...
...Heil's $5,000 a year secretaries told them that the governor was "sick and tired" of being pestered by the old folks...
...Following is a list of the number ot registered passenger cars in each state and their ratio to population: State No...
...1. This bill was introduced on January 24 and referred to the Republican-controlled committee on education and public welfare...
...4. Two months later it died there with final adjournment of the legislature...
...705.271 J.S persons Mississippi ____ 163,701 It.3 persons Missouri...
...The state of California, which licensed 2,213,152 cars last year, had the most favorable population ratio— one car to every 2 8 persons...
...Q. Was the subject of old age pensions a major issue In the 1939 legislative session...
...Q. Does that mean the bills were never voted upon...
...Unsuccessful in an application for an injunction to prevent collection of the tax...
...I OLD AGE PENSIONS N WISCONSIN'S NEEDY OLD FOLKS, who were wooed by Republican spellbinders with lavish promises during the 1938 campaign, have been handed one crushing disappointment after another by the Republican administration...
...of Lowndes county, Ga., just north of the Florida boundary, which had paid the levy under protest...
...A handsome tax refund Is due the Tur-ne,r Turpentine Co...
...28 when it was sent to the joint committee on finance...
...350.531 8.3 persons Louisiana...
...359.204 8.6 persons Idaho...
...2. It stayed in that committee until Mar...
...A. Yes...
...The net effect was like writing a check without money in the bank...
...Besides Wisconsin, with its "America's Dairyland" imprint on automobile plates, there are the following: Arizona: "Grand Canyon Stat...
...130,188 4.1 persons Nebraska...
...795.118 4.4 person* Iowa...
...Q. What then is the outlook for the old men and women in need...
...Cn the basis of population, this was one car for approximately every four persons living In thin state...
...Take the case of the pension bill guaranteeing $40 a month, for instance...
...107.038 4.9 persons Vermont...
...It had never come to a vote...
...When a group of pension delegates called at the governor's office to plead for help, one of Gov...
...89.592 4.7 persons New York .2.259.468 5.7 persons North Carolina 461.141 7.6 persons North Dakota . 141.195 S persons Ohio ..........1,688,555 4 persons Oklahoma...
...53.559 4.9 person* Florida . . . 352.978 4.7 persons D. of Columbia 148,614 4.2 persons Georgia...
...There are more than 30.000,000 automobiles on American highways, the survey indicated, a figure representing twice as' many motor vehicles as there are in the rest of the world...
...New York...
...3. It stayed in that committee until Aug...
...A. Yes...
...Wisconsin Pays the Price The Story of The Repuhlican Administration Through Questions and Answers I The Progressive presents below the sixth of a series of installments from the Progressive party's pamphlet, "Wisconsin Pays The Price...
...339.896 5 persons Massachusetts . 739.323 6 persons Michigan .....1,269,894 3.8 persons Minnesota...
...This same kind of tactics was used to smother bills calling for $60 a month pensions, for repeal of the lien law, for lowering of the age limit from 65 to 60, and for abolition of the citizenship requirement...
...The state of New York had tha most licensed automobiles last year, with a total of 2.259.468, it was reported...
Vol. 10 • May 1940 • No. 18
