Inaugural Address - Andrew E. Lee

              STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MEMORIAL HALL
PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA

INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
OF
GOVERNOR ANDREW E. LEE
TO THE
Fifth Legislative Assembly,
State of South Dakota
January 5th, 1897

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I have the honor and the pleasure at this time to commu­nicate to you, the law makers of the State of South Dakota, some reflections upon matters which are of deep interest to the people and some recommendations regarding measures which will be passed upon during the legislative session now fairly opened.
I assume that you understand your duty and that you will perform it . . I do not seek to instruct or dictate, but merely to state things as I see them. As for myself I have been elected from the ranks of the plain people in their hope and desire, as I believe, for a practical business administration of their affairs.
If I am to meet their expectations it must be along these lines alone, for I bring to the position no political training or experience in state craft. I shall be compelled to depend upon the loyalty of the gentlemen who were elected to this legisla­ture pledged to assist in making possible the reforms which the people think necessary to the improvement of their local government.
We are a new and untried party with no apologies to make. The eyes of the world are upon us. Let us so conduct our­selves that when our work is finished we shall then have no apologies to make. The majority is charged with the respon­sibility of leading in the measures which will be considered during the coming session. Our duty therefore becomes a dou­ble duty. The minority must be given credit for good intentions, but if the majority fails to do its work with fidelity no excuse which will be accepted, can be given for such failure. It is my belief that the people of all parties desire wholesome laws which will promote the common benefit. It must therefore be remembered that our election as the representa­tives of a certain political party does not release us from our responsibility to the whole people.
Before the third of November we were candidates of a party. We are now the chosen servants of the entire electorate of the state.
Economy in the management of the affairs entrusted to our care will find ready response in the hearts of the people who are now bearing heavy burdens, but good business prudence would not employ economy to the detriment of the service. Economy in that case becomes waste. The straightened condi­tion of the people who pay our taxes requires that their money should be jealously guarded and sensibly expended. The money of the state should be handled with the same wisdom and care which any thrifty business man would employ in the management of his own affairs, and every dollar of the public money should buy as much as the dollar of a private individual. Economy requires a saving of time as well as money, and the responsibility of all those who have been selected to carry out this policy does not end with answering roll call and drawing pay.
We have been placed here to do business, and that business should be the more promptly and faithfully attended to because it is the business of all the people. I would therefore most em­phatically though respectfully recommend that we proceed to active work at once in order that important legislation may not be left till the last two or three days of the session thereby in­curring the risk of ill·advised and immature measures. I urgently advise that the appropriation committees begin their investigations at once. That they report not later than the thirty-fifth day of the session, followed by the passage of the bills at the earliest practicable moment, to the end that the appro­priations may not be held up till the last hours of the session to be used as a club to kill meritorious measures or aid vicious ones.
We have no right to waste the people's time or draw public money for services not rendered, and if by conscientious and arduous labor we can shorten the session and save expense to the state, we can do nothing that will be more thoroughly approved by our constituents. In possession of the legislative and executive departments we shall be held responsible for every needless or heedless act done and for every necessary act left undone. The responsi­bility given us affords us the privilege and should impress us with the duty of proving to the world that the Populists and their allies in the late struggle are not destroyers of public credit, not wreckers of states, not repudiators, but, like the rank and file of all parties, are patriotic, honorable citizens, seeking only for honest laws, objecting emphatically to special legislation by which an even chance for all classes is denied, striving to maintain the state's credit and establish for it a good name, place its treasury upon a sound financial basis and pro­vide for its future maintenance without unnecessary and expen­sive temporary expedients or revolutionary assault upon the organic law of the commonwealth.
We cannot hope and I do not think we will be expected to bring about a radical change for the better in the general con­dition of the people, for that is left to the larger field of national legislation. Our opponents have been entrusted with the power in that field of operations and should be unimpeded in the use of it. Their theories will be on trial for the next four years, and we are left to afford ourselves whatever meas­ure of temporary relief there may be in wholesome state legisla­tion, content to await a future opportunity to put our national policies in operation.
We are therefore on trial in the state. We shall be per­mitted a continuance of power if we demonstrate our capacity to govern. If we show ourselves unfit we shall be hurled from power at the next election, and we ought to be. The fact that our opponents may have made mistakes in the past will not ex­cuse mistakes on our part. We should not be content to fol­low; but should lead in all necessary reforms which will pro­mote the general welfare of our people.

RAILROAD LEGISLATION
Without question the most necessary and important piece of legislation to be passed by the present legislature is a statute regulating the freight and passenger tariffs on our railroads.
The majority of the legislature and the executive branch of this administration stand firmly pledged to the people of South Dakota by the platform adopted at Huron on July 14th last to enact the measure known in this state as the “Wheeler Bill," being a copy of the Iowa law which has successfully withstood in the courts every assault made upon it by counsel for the rail­road corporations. It is probably the best of its kind on the statutes of any state in the Union.
This measure needs no introduction to the legislature or the people. It was matured long prior to and introduced in the session of the fourth general assembly and after a terrific struggle was defeated by the pernicious corporation lobby which has infested the capital at every session of the legisla­ture since the organization of the state. The necessity for the en­actment of a law governing the railroad carrying traffic has been painfully apparent for many years and the people have been frequently promised the relief asked for, but up to the present time the promises made have been recklessly broken, and the lobby, which has controlled party caucuses and conventions, dictating nominations and appointments, has insolently defied the public demands and successfully defeated every effort to overthrow its domination. This lobby cannot flourish unless it finds public servants who can be fooled or bribed. It will be unable to bring its baleful influence to bear upon legislation if the measure to which we are solemnly committed is passed with­out undue delay, and I therefore recommend with all the emphasis at my command, that this measure, which has been so well di­gested and so carefully passed upon by our ablest lawyers, be enacted during the first week of the present session, to the end that it may not be attacked from without by amendments and riders which would destroy its vitality, and in order, further, that the remaining time may be devoted to other important legislation. The demand for the passage of this law is the legitimate fruit of railroad abuses. The rates paid by our farmers on products exported and merchandise imported are so greatly in excess of rates paid in other states for the same ser­vice that our producers are deprived of a fair profit on their labor. Our cities and towns are so discriminated against in favor of outside jobbing points that commercial growth in our midst is impossible. I shall not take up your time by a tedious recital of individual instances, but inquiry at any railroad office in the state will prove that rates on corn to all points in the central part of the state are greater per bushel than the first cost of the corn in the southern part of the state. This entirely prohibits internal commerce and forces the shipment of corn to the Chicago market when many times it could be more profitably sold in the state. Again, the coal rate is exorbitant to a degree. The rate to Sioux City from the nearest mine, a distance of 430 miles, is $1.76 per ton, while the rate to Vermillion, only 33 miles further is $2.30 per ton. These examples might be mul­tiplied indefinitely. This unjust discrimination against the peo­ple of South Dakota should teach every one the necessity of re­strictive measures and should prompt the legislature to speedily redeem the pledge of relief given the people.
The rates charged for passenger service are no less exag­gerated than the freight tariffs. It costs no more to build and operate roads in South Dakota than in Iowa and Minnesota, yet the rate is greater. It should be reduced to conform to the Iowa rate, and mileage books or other tickets in any man's hands should be good until used, when properly signed by the company issuing them. The people are far more patient in en­during extortionate charges, discriminations and political in­terferance from corporation counsel than the railroads have a right to expect. But there comes a time when forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We are not now asking anything unreas­onable from the railroads. We are merely contending that they should be willing to share the reverses and prosperity of the people who patronize their lines. We are not proposing to com­pel them to operate their roads at a loss, but we do insist that they shall discontinue the practice of assessing against their customers rates which will yield profits over and above operat­ing expenses on millions of dollars of watered stock. We are satisfied to pay them remunerative rates on an honest valuation but protest against paying handsome profits on capital never invested.
If we are accused of being hostile to the railroads we are justified in replying that our duty compels us to insist upon justice for all the people, and under this policy the railroads will be protected in their rights in common with all other in­terests, but will not be favored at the expense of the weakest citizen in the community.
There is a broad and furtile field in South Dakota for in­dustrial development. New capital will become a pressing necessity to aid in this advancement. We extend to it a digni­fied welcome, guaranteeing to its owners all that it can justly and honestly earn in the field of enterprise, and requiring only that it take for its services no more than a fair share of the toil of our people. If it is contended that the passage of a railroad law at this time will retard the construction of new lines it can be answered that whenever the traffic grows suffi­ciently to render new lines profitable they will be built. They will not be constructed until that time under any circumstances, and to endure the present abuses for an indefinite period in the hope of inducing the construction of additional lines is a pro­position not based upon good business principles.
In concluding this branch of the discussion, therefore, par­don me for again urging the immediate passage of the ''Wheel­er Bill.''
The people have charged us with the duty and we should hasten to justify the confidence which they have placed in us.

LIQUOR REGULATIONS
Next in importance to the enactment of a suitable railroad law is the passage of a practical statute in restraint of the liquor traffic.
At the recent election the people passed unfavorable judg­ment upon the present law, a large majority voting in favor of the repeal of constitutional prohibition. A discussion of the defects of the present law is therefore unnecessary. The peo­ple have expressed their disapproval of it and it becomes our duty to unite in an effort to contrive a practical system for handling the traffic. Such a law must meet with the support and approval of a large majority of the people if it is to be en­forced. And in considering this measure I hope the legislature will mature a plan to which all good citizens will yield willing obedience.
I am not disposed to make a definite recommendation in favor of any system of regulation. The matter is with the legislature.
It was not made a test of party faith at the late election, and there are irreconcilable differences of opinion among men of all parties as to the best methods to be employed. Every man is free, therefore, to do that which his conscience directs, but it should be the constant aim of each to give the matter prayerful consideration and to formulate such a law as will meet with the expectations of the majority and command the obedience of all. 

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Our institutions of higher education should be such that every citizen of the state will be proud of them. Their usefulness has been impaired and their good name well nigh ruined by the scandals which have grown out of their mismanagement. No good can be done by a further air­ing of these various irregularities, but every possible energy of the legislature and executive should now be bent to the task of preventing a recurrence of these disagreeable and disastrous troubles. The first step to be taken in the work of reform is to absolutely divorce-if that be possible-every one of these in­stitutions from partisan politics. That they have been thus used there can be no denial made. There is also a suspicion, well founded, I think, that sectarianism has crept into some of them. Therefore the effort to divorce them from politics should be supplemented by a vigorous determination to relieve them from any suspicion or taint of sectarianism. In this way, and in this way only, can they thrive and be made to take high rank among institutions of like kind in our sister states. They are supported by a tax upon the people of all shades of politi­cal and religious belief, and they should be so managed that people of all parties and all sects will feel a personal interest in their welfare and growth, and so that it cannot be successfully maintained that any party or sect enjoys any power or influence in the management not enjoyed equally by every citizen, no matter what his or her political or religious belief may be.
The last legislature very wisely provided for a board of five re­gents to have entire jurisdiction over every institution of higher learning in the state. I have reason to believe five men will prove more successful than a greater number, at the same time saving expense to the state.
The amendment provides that the governor shall make these appointments. I would suggest that the regents should be chosen by a direct vote of the people, for the reason that the present method places too much power in the hands of the executive; and if we are to cultivate a purer de­mocracy the patronage of the executive office should be cur­tailed as much as will be consistent with good public policy.
There is no disposition, so far as I know, to disrupt or dis­organize any of these institutions, but there is an urgent neces­sity for their reorganization upon a basis of greater usefulness and broader culture. Appropriations for these institutions, as for all others, should by no means be extravagant but they should be liberal.
The time has come when no more institutions should be created simply for jobbing purposes, or to tickle ambitious lo­calities, but those we have should be decently maintained. We should strive, and to this end I will give my best efforts, to place the schools upon a high standard of usefulness to the people who are taxed to maintain them. It will be my aim to place in charge of them our most talented and distin­guished men and to inaugurate a policy under which it will be an honor and a mark of great distinction, entirely safe from the assaults of partisan strife, to be a member of the Board of Regents. To successfully rebuild our educational institutions will require prudence, patience and patriotism. Inspired with this purpose I hope I may have the aid and support of all those peo­ple who value higher education for the sake of education, and whose ambition is to make our schools second in point of cul­ture to none in the republic.

STATE SCHOOL BOOKS
The development of a system of state school books, to be furnished to the people of South Dakota at the actual expense of production, would do much to afford relief from the exactions of a monopoly which has long been overbearing and greedy. The prices demanded for school text books are so much higher
than the prices paid for other books of like style and finish that no further proof is necessary to show that school book publish­ers are demanding an exaggerated profit which the public is justified in refusing to pay if there is any escape from it. 
The practice of paying heavy salaries to agents and allow­ing large commissions to school officers and others having in­fluence could not be kept up by these concerns if their profits were reasonable.
The maintenance of large and expensive lobbies to influ­ence legislation on this subject is sufficient answer to the claim, sometimes set up, that there is no money made in furnishing school books at prices now prevailing. Viewing the matter from every standpoint there appears to be a necessity for cheaper school books which cannot be justly ignored any longer. No provision of law for furnishing at public expense free text books to children of poor parents can be urged in jus­tification of a system which robs all classes of the people who desire to give their children the benefit of a liberal educa­tion. I am of the opinion that the state can safely undertake the compilation and publication of its own school text books without fear of failure. It will be argued that the state cannot secure the talent necessary for the work of compilation. Have the school book publishers a monopoly of all the talent? Would it be impossible to offer inducements sufficiently tempting to in­terest persons who are capable of getting out such text books as we require for use in our common schools? And could we not better afford to pay for a revision of our text books every five years than to tolerate the present monopoly prices?
This matter is no new suggestion. The arguments in its favor have been made many times and never successfully re­futed. I take the liberty to bring it again to your attention in the hope that something practical may be drafted as a measure of relief from the extortion of those who now enjoy a monopoly of the school book business.
In this connection a suggestion regarding the state print­ing may not be out of place. I am informed by those who are competent to give an opinion that the state could do its own printing and binding much more cheaply and satisfactorily than under the present arrangement.
The proposition appears to be both reasonable and feasible and I think the legislature should investigate the subject thoroughly.
It is our duty to save the people every dollar possible when a saving can be made which will not impair the public service.

REGISTRATION
The demand for a registration law applicable to every precinct in the state seems to be quite general among the people. There are so many arguments in its favor that they need not be discussed here. The wholesale charges of "colonization'' and ''fraud" relating to the late election, which have been made and sent out to the press of the entire union are none the less injurious to the good name of the state because ridiculously false; and the fact that such fraud was committed, if at all, in the interest of those who have made the charges, furnishes ex­cellent reason for so guarding our election laws that hereafter no man will ever have the hardihood to allege that South Da­kota's elections are not fairly conducted. In this connection I also suggest that our present election law be so modified as to require the voter to designate, singly, the name of every per­son for whom he wishes to vote; that the old safe-guards which have been one by one repealed since the passage of the original law be reinstated; that additional protection to polling places be secured; that it be made compulsory for boards of county commissioners to appoint one election judge from each of the three political parties having the largest vote at the election of 1894, and that the committees of each party shall have the right to select their representative on the returning board with­out petition; that all political committees and all candidates for political office should be required, under heavy penalties for violation of the law, to file a verified account of all moneys expended by them in the campaign preceding the election, stating each item separately, and to whom and for what pur­pose every dollar of money was paid. The use of money and railroad passes in elections has become so general, so open and so flagrant that something must be done to create a better pub­lic sentiment or free institutions in this country will perish.
The practice has already grown to such proportions that few men can aspire to public honors with any hope of success unless they are in the confidence or employ of a railroad cor­poration, or have a large fund of their own which they are willing to spend in the purchase of an election to office. These are severe things to say, but they are true, and the sooner the evil is grappled with and destroyed the sooner we shall return to the honorable methods which were in the minds of the framers of the government. Severer penalties than now pre­scribed should be attached to vote selling and vote buying, and in addition thereto the man who sells or buys should be dis­franchised forever, for frauds of that character are more dan­gerous a thousand times than open treason.
Another evil which has grown up, and which should be throttled, if possible, is the practice of betting on election results. Gambling of any kind is bad enough, but gambling in large sums on the results of an election furnishes an incentive to defraud the people of their rightful choice if, as sometimes occurs, the result hangs on a narrow margin.

UNORGANIZED COUNTIES
Complaint is made by those living in the organized counties of the Black Hills that their court expenses growing out of criminal litigation from the unorganized counties are swelled to unjust and unreasonable proportions, and relief will be asked from the legislature by these people. The unorganized coun­ties are attached to the organized counties for judicial purposes, therefore the expense of all litigation, criminal and civil, from the unorganized counties must be paid from the treasuries of the organized counties.
There were two cases of homicide from Wagner, an unor­ganized county, tried in Butte county last year, the expense of which was between $2,000 and $3,000. Witnesses were called from a distance of 150 miles in some cases. The trials were protracted and expensive and the bills had to be footed by the taxpayers of Butte county where the population is small and warrants are already below par. There is no provision of law for the reimbursement of Butte county for the expense incurred to prosecute crimes committed outside of her boundary lines. It is an injustice and the legislature should provide for the re­lief of the counties which are now burdened with this expensive litigation.

DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL LAND
The people of Meade county complain that there is a large tract of school land in their county, which if developed, could be sold for a good price or profitably leased. The soil is of the very best, but it is now unavailable for want of moisture except for grazing purposes. A bill will be introduced providing for the sinking of an experimental artesian well on this tract in an effort to make the land saleable. If feasible, there may be other places where similar experiments would result successfully, in which case much of our school land now unproductive, might be made to yield an increased revenue for the school fund. This proposition is at least worthy of investigation.

CODE COMPILATION
A bill will doubtless be introduced at this session providing for a compilation of the laws of the state.
The reasons assigned for the general demand for compila­tion, which comes from the judges of the courts and all those connected with court practice, is that our laws are so widely scattered and so badly involved that it is a difficult task to de­termine what the laws really are. The laws of Dakota territory were compiled in 1887, since which time the states of North and South Dakota have been created out of the territory. There have been four sessions of the legislature since the last com­pilation, many new laws have been passed, many old ones re­pealed and many others rendered obsolete.
The compiled laws are out of print and can be obtained only through private sources at from $18.00 to $20.00 per vol­ume. Publishers decline to print new editions, anticipating code revision at no distant day. In view of these facts, a re­vision and compilation of the code seems necessary. But it should be finished in a reasonable length of time. The objec­tion that the work should be delayed on account of expense is offset by the fact that eventually the outlay would be more than met by the sale of the books. The expense can be re­duced if the work is not delayed, but a prolonged job involving heavy expenditures will result if revision is not begun now and pushed in a business-like manner.

TAYLOR INVESTIGATION
The legislature should take measures to determine the exact status of the Taylor settlement. The appointment of a leg­islative investigating committee to sit sixty days, during which time witnesses could be spirited out of the state would be futile, but a commission of competent business men should be selected to thoroughly sift the whole matter and report to the next leg­islature as to the value of the property turned over to the state, the incumbrances thereon and action necessary to protect the state's interests. Where the equities in the lands recovered are sufficient, provision should be made for payment of the in­cumbrances, but lands which are mortgaged for more than they are worth can be profitably abandoned. · The people are not satisfied with the settlement made. They never will be satisfied until they know all there is to be known about the matter, and they certainly have a right to all the information that can be given them concerning that very unsatisfactory arrange­ment.

TRANS-MISSOURI EXPOSITION
The attention of the legislature is called to the fact that next year, at the city of Omaha, Nebraska will occur the Trans­Missouri Exposition. An appropriation of $200,000 was voted at the last session of congress to assist in this great enterprise. Our neighboring states of Colorado, Kansas, Iowa and others will take part in contributing to the success of the undertaking. 
With the exception of the state of Nebraska itself there is no state more interested in its success than South Dakota and we should contribute our share toward that end. No state in the west can make a more diversified showing than ours. No state which will participate has greater resources of nearly every description than South Dakota, and we should avail ourselves of the opportunity to make a display of our wonderful products of farm and mining industries. While we want a cred­itable exhibit it should be done with the utmost economy, as our people will not for a moment tolerate another appropria­tion like that of the World's Fair, the main success of which lay in spending the liberal appropriation and not in what might have been accomplished with it.

OIL INSPECTOR
There is a difference of opinion regarding the policy of maintaining the office of inspector of oils. Demand is made in some quarters that the office be abolished. As the service costs the people of the state nothing, being supported wholly by a tax of ten cents per barrel on the oil inspected, it cannot be maintained that to abolish the service would result in any sav­ing to the public. On the other hand the abolition of the office might be expensive to the state, as it would certainly result in South Dakota becoming to a greater extent than now the dump­ing ground for illuminating oils which could not pass the legal requirement in other states. I am therefore of the opinion that if any legislation on the subject is attempted it should be in the direction of amplifying the powers of the inspector that a still better grade of oil may be required.
For several months past the people have been complaining of the poor quality of the illuminating oil furnished in this state. The chief difficulty is that the legal test in South Da­kota is one hundred and ten while in the neighboring states it is one hundred and twenty. The requirements here should be equal to those in other states. This accomplished a faithful en­forcement of the law will do much to pacify the present well founded grievances against the oil companies.

REVENUE AND TAXATION
The question of revenue is one which is very urgent in South Dakota at the present time, and will continue to be un­less the legislature at its present session finds some new means to relieve the treasury.
Usual estimates as to probable receipts generally fall short. This has been so continually, and as a result the state board of equalization has practiced levying a deficiency tax. The con­stitutional limit of two mills has been repeatedly exceeded, which has led to no end of discussion and criticism of our pub­lic servants. I am not disposed to raise old questions or enter upon a discussion of the causes which led to the deficiency levys. No doubt if the state funds had been properly hus­banded by the legislature, and accounted for by our treasury officials, some of the difficulty might have been avoided. But that is not the question now. The appropriations for necessary expenses in the future are not likely to be much more modest than they have been, although the charitable and penal institu­tions can doubtless be made to contribute more largely each year to their own support if the farms and other industries are prop­erly handled and judiciously extended. But unless there is a marked improvement in industrial conditions, which will give immediate relief to our people, taxes will continue to become delinquent and the public treasury will suffer. This is the present prospect and the legislature must face conditions as they are. The practice of issuing revenue warrants to be sold for money with which to keep the state's paper at par is humil­iating and expensive. It confers power upon the authorized officers which is liable to abuse. The temptation under this system is strong to issue these revenue warrants months in advance of the necessity for money, thereby furnishing cap­ital. at the expense of the people to favored banking institutions-a very profitable privilege for the banks, but an unthrifty practice no prudent man would employ in his own affairs.
A constitutional amendment increasing the legal levy from two to three mills would not at this time meet with public favor, and as the usual sources seem to be pretty well drained, the legislature will appreciate the pressing necessity of seeking a new field from which to derive money. Our laws relating to taxation do not give satisfaction. Indeed the question of taxation is difficult of solution. No system can be made to suit everybody, but it does not seem to me an impossible feat for the legislature to modify our present laws, without, at this time, undertaking a wholesale reformation of them, so that the burden will fall equally upon all classes. Corporate property has been especially fortunate in escaping just taxation. This is particularly so with the railroads. When property which is capitalized for from $30,000.00 to $40,000.00 per mile, and is made to pay interest and dividends upon that valuation is taxed for but one-tenth that amount, it is not strange that smaller property owners attempt to evade their public burdens.
I shall not at this time enter into an elaborate discussion of the matter of taxation in general, but incidentally I will recom­mend that the passage of an act for the payment of taxes twice a year, as in Iowa, would afford the people some little relief. The money of the people should be allowed to remain in their hands as long as possible. The creation of big funds of public money to lie idle or to be used for private purposes, while the people who pay the taxes are themselves cramped for funds or forced to borrow at heavy rates, is both unjust and dangerous, and will continue to lead to loss and crime.
Before concluding I desire to call your attention to the fact that in the range country west of the Missouri river there is a vast amount of property which annually escapes taxation.
I am informed by authority which I am bound to believe is reliable, that there are in the neighborhood of two hundred thousand head of cattle, aside from much other stock, grazing on the range between the Black Hills and the Missouri river and the Nebraska and North Dakota lines; and still the state auditor's report shows that in numerous instances the cost of collecting the state tax levied is greater than the total tax col­lected.
This is a ridiculous and inexcusable condition. This stock is much of it owned by foreign corporations and due to the low tax levied by the state and the failure to properly en­force collection, parties in the organized counties adjacent to the range seek to have their stock assessed in the unorgan­ized counties. The result is that the organized counties lose a portion of their taxable property and are at the same time com­pelled to maintain judicial machinery for litigation which arises in the unsettled country. The state should either levy a tax in the unorganized counties equal to that levied in the organized counties or else, where it is impracticable to organize new counties, the boundary lines of the organized counties should be extended to include the unorganized territory.
How to successfully handle this vexed question of taxation is a matter for the legislature to determine. To formulate a bill which will equalize the burdens of taxation, deprive the board of equalization of its present power, relieve it of its em­barrassments and provide the treasury with money enough, ap­pears to be a task requiring more than sixty days' time. The necessity for a complete reformation is so urgent, however, that it cannot be too long deferred and by way of expediting matters it has been suggested that the present legislature authorize the appointment of a commission of experts to pre­pare a suitable measure and report the same to the next legisla­ture.
 It is hoped that in this way a law which will meet the requirements may be secured with very small expense. 
Now, in conclusion, it is my fervent desire, as it will be my constant effort, to give the state a clean, conservative, business administration of its affairs, and to this end I ask the legisla­ture to contribute its best efforts. The people have reposed in us their confidence; it is our duty by every honest means to prove ourselves worthy of that confidence, and this duty is just as incumbent upon the greatest as upon the least of us.

Respectfully submitted,
ANDREW E. LEE