The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-03-24
GheGntelIiqetrt
pc1I1Ion iro,n brooke County.

To the Honorable the Board Of Equal:
zation Of the assessment Of real estate oil
the State OF West Virginia;
Your petitioners respectfully presen! inc
following reasons, as briefly as possible,
why tho assessmentof lands Of the coun-
~ n brooke, made by Geo. Freshwater,
apjer the late act for that purpose, is
erroneous and unjust TO the land owners
Of This county and should in justice and
equity be reduced.
l.t, Because our assessment Is actual
" higher than any other county in tho
State. To convince you OF this fact We
only need refer you TO the tables in your
possession. During the past decade We
have, without any means Of obtaining
redress, paid far more than our just and
equal proportion Of taxes into the state
Treasury; because OF the action OF the
State Board Of Equalization which I'M
mediatcly preceded you, being made anu
completed without an opportunity on
our part to correct It.
Hence, your tables will show mat I a,
ing the last period, this county mas oeen
valued at over twcnty'nihe uolIars PER
acre average, Hancock twenty'onc, Ohio
twcpty.cirRt, Marshall fifteen, &c. Not
h"y;ng the tables before us We state from
Ne desire here to explain, as we under
stand, how the addition Of eighty.two per
cent was accomplished, to.wiI:
Ono OF the members Of the Board pre-.
ceding you, was sent TO look at this
county. lie entered it from the county OF
Ohio, on the route Of the Wheeling, West
Liberty & Bethany pike: thence from
Bethany to ire Wellsburg d Washing
ton pike; thence on that pike to Wells.
burg, thence down the Ohio river to
Wheeling, travcrsing in his entire route by
lar the beat portion and the best i'm.
proved section OF the entire county. The
section thus trayersed, ia, in the opinion
Of your petitioners, at least so per cent
more valuable than any other section Of
thi. county, and at least one hundred per
cent more than some particular actions.
This will be readily understood by you
when you take into consideration the fa.
cililies which thNtsection has enjoyed for
about half century by reason OF having
a frst.class macadamized road traversing
ii, facility enjoyed by no other portion
Of the county, until within the last three
or four years n similar road was made
from Wcllsburg TO Bethany up the valley
Of Buffalo Greek.
Your tables will show you that previ-
Gus to the addition Of the eighty.two per
cent, our valuation was u fair average
with other counties OF this State.
Having thus called your attention to
our relative valuation, we will proceed
to give some reasons why, in our opinion,
We are intrinsically valued too high,
without any regard to other counties.
!. It is q matter of public notoriety,
which every man possessing property is
aware Of, that for several years there has
been constant sinking Of values, and
especially in lands. In our judgement,
that depression in this county has ayerag-
ed not less than fifty per cent. We make
this estimate from actual transactions
which have occurred during the inter-
walls above alluded to.
And yet in the very face OF these facts,
an increase has been made in our valua.
ton OF near seventy.iiyc thousand dollars,
or about one dollar and fifty cents per
acre.
Another consideration which the OK.
animation Of our books will disclose TO
YOU is that one section OF our county, to
wit, the Gross Creek district, district ly-
ing opposite the city of StcubenvilIe, Ohio,
and traverscd ION its northern border,
and equally available to Hancock county,
by the great Panhandle Railroad, has de-
creased in value near fifteen thousand
dollars. The district OF Buffalo, without
any facilities whatever except one pike
land it poor one) has increased nearly
one hundred thousand dollars, or nearly
iOurdollars per acre. This, however, may
be more appropriate subject for our 10.
cal board to consider, yet We think your
Board can consider it IN making a cores
pOnding redsption in the different sec.
lions OF our county.
A second consideration TO which we
wish to call your attention is this: That
thcquantity OF improved and unimprnved
laudin this county is fixed quantity and
time does not nor cannot vary it. This
arises from the fact, that considerable
portion of our land, from natural causes,
il not susceptible OF cultivation.
We assert that the portion OF our land
that is now unimprovcd and unproduc.
tive il at least equal to one fourth OF our
entire area, which II deducted from our
available lands very materially dimin-
ishcs their value; n fact to which we do
not think our Assessor gave due con-
sideration.
Another matter in relation TO improve
ments, by which We mean farm buildings,
fences, &c, We assert that in this county
there has been but very slight additions
in that way, for the past twenty-five
years, and yet your tables will probably
show considerable increase OF values.
You will easily comprehend why this is
80 from your knowledge OF the progress
and settlement OF any old section of this
country. After the log house and barn
era is. passed into brick or frame houses
and barns, the changes are but few and
unimportant for many years,and we, hav-
ing neither cities or railroads, nor manu-
featuring industries, developing wealth,
progress slowly, and any increases that
have been made by assessors in this di-
rection arc purely arbitrary.
That We have an undevelOped source OF
wealth in our beds OF coal and stone, both
building and lime, We admit; but at the
same time assert that there arc many
counties in the State which have far more
and greater, which are rated at less than
One-fourth OF our assessment.
Whenever they become an clement OF
value to us, We concedc them as proper
subject for taxation, but undeveloped and
unavailable they should not be con-
sidered.
All that We have from our lands as an
element Of value is drawn from the cult.
walton OF the soil and from grazing, and
further than it has producing capacity
in that direction, We do not think We
should be taxed.
From this you can readily infer the de.
crease in the value Of lands throughout
the county their capacity for producing in
come, from the great decline in agricul-
tural products being so marked and gen.
eral. 49,.
Again, our lack Of railroad facilities,
OF manufactures, Of good county roads,
NC, makes our valuation higher than it
should be.
For these reasons We are Of the opinion
that, without any reference to other
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