Officers and powers.

Party con

ventions.

in congressional districts wholly within the territorial limits of on county, or partly within the territorial limits of one county and partly within the territorial limits of another county, then the members of the precinct committees of the party residing within the limits of the congressional district shall compose the congressional committee.

(6) The city central committee of each political party shall be composed of the precinct committeemen of such party residing in such city.

(7) Each committee and its officers shall have the powers usually exercised by such committees, and by the officers thereof, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. The several committees herein provided for shall not have power to delegate any of their powers or functions to any other person, officer or committee, but this shall not be construed to prevent a committee from appointing from its own membership, proper and necessary sub-committees, and particularly defining, by resolution, the duties of such sub-committees.

SEC. 10. (a) On the second Wednesday next succeeding the April primary, the county central committee of each political party shall meet at the county seat of the proper county, and proceed to organize by electing from among its own number a chairman, and either from among its own number or otherwise, such other officers as said committee may deem necessary or expedient. Such meeting of the county central committee shall be known as the county convention. The county convention of each political party shall choose delegates to the senatorial, congressional, and State convention of its party: Provided, only precinct committeemen residing within the limits of a senatorial or congressional district shall participate in the selection of delegates to senatorial and congressional conventions respectively: And, provided, further, that in the county convention each delegate to the county convention shall have one vote and one additional vote for each fifty or major fraction thereof of his party as cast in his precinct at the last general election.

(b) All senatorial conventions shall be held on the third Wednesday next succeeding the April primary.

(c) All congressional conventions shall be held on the fourth Wednesday next succeeding the April primary. The congressional convention of each political party shall have power to choose and select delegates and alternate delegates to national nominating conventions and to recommend to the State convention of its party the nomination of candidate or candidates from such congressional district for elector or electors of President and Vice President of the United States.

(d) All State conventions shall be held on the fifth Wednesday next succeeding the April primary. The State convention of each political party shall have power to make nominations of candidates for the electors of President and Vice President of the United States, and for trustees of the University of Illinois, and to adopt any party platform and to choose and select in accordance with the rules and regulations of its party, delegates and alternate delegates to national nominating conventions.

(e) Each convention may perform all other functions inherent in such political organization and not inconsistent with this act.

CHAPTER XXXI

The impor

tance of the assessor.

An old

office under

new con

ditions.

TAXATION AND FINANCE

229. The Problem of Assessing Property

THIS extract is from a recent report of the Minnesota Tax Commission:

More important than the other three groups of influences on the assessment is the assessor. While he is hampered by the public opinion created by the statutory provisions referred to above, and checked in his work by the attitude of boards of review and equalization, the fact remains, nevertheless, that he is the maker of the assessment. As Professor T. S. Adams remarked in an address at the meeting of the National Tax Association, measured in dollars and cents the work of the local assessor is far and away the most important part of our fiscal system. Continuing, he said: "Compared with the general property tax, corporation taxes, inheritance taxes and all other taxes put together pale into insignificance. In 1902 more than three-fourths of all the general revenues of the state and local governments came from taxes upon general property. ... Whether we keep or discard the taxation of personal property, the local assessor will, for many generations, continue to play the principal rôle in the work of state finance, and upon his probity and efficiency will depend the real success or failure of our system."

The local assessor is one of the heritages that came with the township system of local government. Elected each year, he is supposed to represent the ideas of the people of the township and to carry them out in the making of the assessment. The time required to do this important work is estimated by the standards of an earlier day when property was limited and what there was,

easily enumerated and valued. The pay of this officer compares favorably with the old view of an assessment. Even this is not granted in some districts, the office being put up to the man who will make the lowest bid. In other districts, the man who needs the money is given the position. In the approximately 2,600 townships in the state, the larger number of voters try to select men for the office of assessor who will make a fair assessment as judged by the community opinion. This opinion, however, does not square with the law, since the basis of taxation is in public opinion uniformity and equality as compared with neighboring towns and counties rather than the statute requirement.

The fact remains, however, that an army of assessors, each one a law unto himself, and working on different standards of value, cannot but produce great inequality of assessment even if the conditions under which he worked were ideal. Ideal conditions do not exist. The assessor in some instances is forced to recognize the political element in making his assessments, to take into consideration the demands for favors from personal friends and political associates, the lack of time, insufficient pay, and the real inherent difficulty of the task. It is this last phase of the matter that is the most important and demands the largest consideration. The local assessor system as now organized under the law, while not a failure, will not permit of the kind of assessment that spells efficiency in taxation. The property holdings of individuals and companies extend into many districts of the state, so that the very conditions of competitive business demand equality of assessment, not only between individuals but as between different districts where business enterprises are located that compete with one another.

fecting the assessment

High rates of taxation are pretty sure to affect the appraisal of Factors afthe local assessor who has in view the tempering of the wind to the shorn lamb. As a heavy assessment may be met by complaint against the assessor or by the removal of the parties to other towns, the determination of the assessment becomes a matter of agreenent between the town authorities and the taxpayer. The forces

Growth of the idea of separation.

Reasons advanced

for separation.

of compromise, of what the people will stand, are factors that haw much to do with the placing of the assessment.

230. The Separation of State and Local Revenues

The proposal to separate state and local revenues has been made many times in the last ten years. The taxing officers of the various states have almost without exception hailed the plan as a means of getting away from the difficulties, uncertainties, and inequalities of the general property tax. In brief, the idea of separation is to secure the state revenues from statewide corporations and business concerns, such as railroads, insurance companies, public utility corporations, telegraph and telephone companies, etc., and to give over to the localities the revenues arising from the taxation of real estate, and in some proposals, the tax upon the assessment of certain kinds of personal property.

Four reasons, more or less important, and advanced with different degrees of emphasis, may be assigned for the separation of the state from local revenues: (1) The first of these reasons is the desire to secure a larger revenue to meet state expenses. This point of view emphasizes the original demand for heavier and more specific taxes upon corporations. As such taxes have been developed, the attention of legislatures and taxing officials has been drawn to the wisdom of that system of taxation and the better results ensuing from it over and above the old method of local assessments.

(2) As time wore on the need of more revenues, while insistent, no longer remained the essential element in demanding statewide taxation of specific corporations. The question of equality of assessment, ease of administration and the elimination of the annual wrangle with local assessors and corporation officials became dominant in the thought of men administering the tax laws, making the assessments, levying and collecting the taxes. This was a step toward the recognition of the more fundamental difficulties inherent in the tax system itself, those involved in the