Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Natural resource conservation; taxation; highway safety

Points of Interest:

Governors discussed the issue of private capital (e.g., gasoline distributors) making excess profits from natural resources, and about the need to educate the public that some resources were finite.

A report was presented with respect to conferences that had been held around the country concerning prison labor for states' use, an idea that private organizations such as the National Association of Manufacturers had begun to approve.

Governors shared information about how their states imposed taxes, and discussed whether states should levy inheritance tax, which had been raised that year by the federal government from 25 to 40 percent. A motion expressing the sense of the Conference against federal interference in state imposition of estate taxes was withdrawn.

With regard to highway safety, Governors paid particular attention to dangers at railroad crossings. They also discussed licensing and insurance requirements, which varied from state to state, and the treatment of drunk drivers.

Governor Channing Cox of Massachusetts focused on compensation for injuries caused by reckless driving, and suggested the possibilities of state compensation funds and the placement of liens on vehicles that were responsible for accidents so that those vehicles could not operate until the liens were satisfied. He also said that legislation was pending in his state to require that anyone seeking a driver's license acquire liability insurance.

Memorable Quotes:

With respect to food supplies, Governor William McMaster of South Dakota said: "...we have an oversupply: we do not need the development of new areas at this particular time for the purpose of feeding this nation...as far as the development or the conservation of new lands in this country is concerned, that is entirely unnecessary."

Governor Thomas McLeod of South Carolina said: "My objection to a sales tax in South Carolina, and it will be true in a good many other similar States, is that limited to State purposes it would raise entirely too much money. A State can no more afford to have too much money to appropriate, than it can afford to have too little."

Governor Channing Cox of Massachusetts said with respect to drunk drivers: "The question has arisen, whether with the right of appeal to a jury...a jury composed largely of automobile drivers would be likely to find a man guilty when it involved a jail penalty." He also said "...a question which must soon be faced by every State...is the question of providing some adequate compensation for injuries which are caused by automobiles."