The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-12-18

Previous TO our annual town meeting, in
March Of the present year, the question of
assessing and taxing the real estate of the
several railroads in Rutland was agitatcd
and discussed. We freely threw Open our
columns TO all who wished to consider the
matter, and the policy propriety and i gal
ity of such taxation was forcibly urged BY
several correspondents. On the contrary,
we expressed the decided opinion that such
assessment could not legally be made under
our then existing laws, that il such proper
ty was appraised and placed on the grand
list that no taxes could be legally assessed
or collected thereon, and that we believed
that the railroad companies would resist
the payment OF such taxes TO the bitter
end. We enforced our argument by cita-
tons from the general statutes of the state
and by decisions of the courts of last re-
sort in Vermont and Massachusetts. At
the same time we placed ourself on record
as in favor of the principle of taxing this
as well as other kinds of property, upon
the general principle that all who receive
The protection of the state should contribute
to its support We remain of the same
opinion still, and believe that as the law
then existed the real estate of all railroads
in the state was exempt from taxation. 1t
might have been unfortunate but unfortu-
nately il 'cas law, and to it all good citi-
zens were bound to square their actions.
Notwithstanding the opinion SO expressed,
fortified as it was by statute law and the
decisions of the courts, many remained
unconyinccd, and, as a result, the town
instructed their lister to appraisc and set in
the grand list the real estate of all railroad
companies situated in Rutland. The list
ers were placed, as it were, between two
fires. On the one side was the law of the
state as cXpounded by the courts, but
whose construction was treated as "A nullity
or extra judicial by some /; while on the
other side were the express instructions of
the town whose servants they were. Hence
they followed the instructions If the town,
probably troubling themselves but little, if
ut all, about the discussions of abstract
principles Of lazy or the exact construction
to be placed upon a statute law, especially
when there were two opinions in reference
10 its true construction. and when they had
the town Of Rutland To "back' them ir
their acls.
The result of the vote Of the town anC
The action Of the listers may be found upor
the grand list. After passing through thu
hands of the county and state equaliznl
boards, the railroad property in RutIan.
stands appraised as follows Central Yer
mont railroad company, S5s.27j; Della
ware and Hudson canal company, $1,000
This appraiscment is made up of tie fol
lowing items The property of the Contra
Vermont being appraised as follows;
Rutland railroad bed. Observation-Disclosures. $40
Depot grounds and all building thereon
including machine shops, etc......,... 1890
Three houses in Center Rutland...... ... 81
Harlem Extension road bed.,. .......... l,s0
Buildln IS and grounds. .......... ........ $40
lbANls' ..s..r...F.. t0S,Zi
The appralscment Of the real estate o
the Delaware and Hudson company was Il
follows:
Rensselaer, Saratoga shops. ...........s 40
Road bed, ctc............,,.......... 72O
Iothi..''''''''' ''.'. .,,....,..... s7,G5
Making grand total of $65,025, one pc
centum of which is six hundred and fifty
nine dollars twenty five cents (S659. 20,
being the sum of money at which this prc
perry is placed upon the grand list ostens
bly, for the purposes of taxation.
Now that we have placed this larg
amount of property on, and made thi
large addition to, our grand list, what ar