The Broken Promise of the Gross Earnings Tax

I made a pledge to the people of this Territory, and I am here to fulfill that pledge today. We were promised a change in the 'Gross Earnings' tax law, a measure that was prepared by and lobbied for years ago by the attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad. That tax law is nothing more than legalized robbery. Two years ago, both political parties pledged themselves to the repeal of that iniquitous law. The Republicans made the loudest promises, and the result was they elected members to the Legislature. But upon arriving in Olympia, they forgot their pledges to the people. That law stands on the statute books of the Territory today—a monument to broken Republican pledges and a corrupt lobby sent to Olympia to prevent the repeal of that law. The Northern Pacific Railroad was holding millions of acres of land between Tacoma and Portland without a shadow of title, and the Commissioner held that the company was not entitled to a single acre of the grant between those two points. Why, then, does the railroad continue to hold this land? It is because of the strong lobby and the influence brought to bear by this great corporation.