The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-03-12


less than'it was in 1874. In the Fourth
District, however, Of which Mr.. Domi-
nioue Urban is the Assessor. there
seems. from his books, to have been a
very different result, and the value OF
property there, In 1876, has been as
sesscd for $1,967,173 more than 1t was
assessed for 1874. But from the report
of the committee, and the testimony
taken by it, it appears that this extraor-
binary Increase of the assessment Of the
Fourth District was not due to the
appreciation of property there, but
to the very peculiar manner in
which the brother-in-law Of Mr.. Hahn
deemed 1t proper to. discharge the duties
Of his important office. If the general
causes which operated to depreciate the
value of property I'm six districts of the
city. also affected the Fourth District,
and such the testimony and all the
generally known facts prove to be
the case, the assessment OF the pro-
perty in the Fourth District, instead
OF being nearly $2,OOO,OO0 greater In
1875 than 1t was In 1874, ought to
have been at least $1,0oo,OOO less.
Thus it appears that the brother-in-law
of Mr.. Hahn has over-assessed the
property Of tho citizens of the Fourth
District very nearly three millions Of
dollars, and thus rendered the property
holders of that district liable for very
nearly one hundred thousand dollars
more taxes than they are justly obi
gated for. a- a
II is interesting to follow the report
Of the committee, notice how this was
done, and the object the assessor had
in view. Mr.. Urban, Of course, was not
appointed to the Office he has so fla
gravity abused. because Of his integ-
rity, good moral character and
competency, but because he was the
brother-in- law of Mr.. Michael Hahn.
an influential Radical politician. That's
the taxpayers of the Fourth District are
to be bilked in the sum of nearly one hun
dred thousand dollars because it was ne
cessary to provide a fat place" for one
of Mr.. Hahn's family To show into the
hands OF what sort of a man Mr.. Kel-
logg, in his partisan administration Of
the government, has given over the
property holders OF wealthy portion Of
New Orleans, we quote tho following
from tho testimony taken by the com
mittee: ,s.. .a5f.. "ff..
"Mr. W. p. Freret, a prominent real
estate broker and agent, says:
"' do not consider Mr.. Urban a com
petent assessor Of real estate in the
Fourth District
"Mr. Louis Schneider, formerly city
Administrator Of Finance, and leading
merchant and banker Of New Orleans,
testifies Hn...I.. .....i.- t..-
AZ do not consider Mr.. Urban fit
man for assessor nor for any public
office, because Of his personal habits !,
" Mr. James Coyle, a large owner of
flies thus:
81 do not consider Mr.. Urban to be
acquainted with the value of real estate
in the city of New Orleans. ~
However. it appears that Mr.. Urban's
the Fourth District, and his loose per-
sonal habits did not disqualify him to
look after the personal interests of Mr..
Urban We find, indeed. that he has as
sessed one piece of property, worth not
more than $4,000, at $4,000; another.
worth about $50, 600, at SEC, 1000; another,
worth $4,000, at $4,000; while,
upon the other hand. he has assessed
many pieces Of property at much less
than their real value; as for instance,
one piece at $4,000, which the owner him
self testiies is worth fully $4,000. But.
further insight into the gentleman
operations shows there has been a
method in his ignorance, and that the
values were fixed on this most extraor-
binary scale with view Of blackmail-
ing the property holders. Testimony
taken by the committee shows that Mr..
Woods, who was Urban's assistant, ap-
preached several taxpayers and offered,
for a money consideration, to effect
reduction Of their assessments. The re-
port Of the committee also says:
Mr.. James Coyle testifies that Woods had ap-
preached him and offered to effect a reduction
for him from 100000 to $4,000 for u fee or com
pensation of 5000. which however. Mr., Coyle did
not pay. The same witness testifies that he had
to accomplish the same thing as Mr.. Woods for
n compensation. the amount Of which would
depend on the extent of the reduction. These
brokers stated to Mr.. Coyle that one-haf Of the
reduction would 20 TO the assessor. Mr.. Robert
son Il. Torian. commission merchant. of No. "A
Union street, and who owns property in the
Fourth District, teStifies that reduction Of his
assessment for city taxes was effected by a broker
named Thompson for a fee or compensation.
Thus it appears that the State Assess
or,!appointed by Mr.. Kellogg, has over
assessed the property Of the Fourth
District of this city nearly three millions
of dollars, rendering the taxpayers Ii
able for upwards of one hundred thous-
and dollars of illegal taxes; and that he
and his assistants have instituted reg
ular system of blackmail in the Fourth
District, reducing the assessments where
the blackmail was paid and leaving the
property holder liable for the excess of
tax when he refused to pay it. We are
not astonished at the conduct Of this
official Hundreds of Radical officials
are doing just such things here and all
over the State and Radical officials have
been doing the same sort of thing these
seven years past. 1t is not every one of
them, however, that we can so clearly