The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-03-06
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= "a protest oi Mr- q tiiaghrr IT Lsu3-
er'iais., L. yesterday Ia the House OF Rep
res~ti ~ ives, agaih-t tite acceptance GA the
/ part "a; tiie STATE of the cnm 3rou.is - prop
si;ion OF The Mobile ami Onio Railroad Com
/ ltany, the aid' rSign,d members of the COM
mtftees thrt have had the same under can-
sidera'ion, desire that the motives which
+ prompted them to favor TIL com promise
should likewise be made public through
/ the same medium.
In 1918, the Mobile and Ohio Railroad
/ Company Was granted. b. its charter. eX-
en- ption from taxation oH us road until said
road was paying per cent on cost Of con-
structioD. In 1850, the Congress of the Uhi-
ted states donated to the State 81 Mississippi
large amount OF land. to be held in trust
for purposes of internal improvement. In
/ 1852, the State yes ed in the Mobile and
OHIO Railroad Company over 100000 acres
OF said trust lands, and in 1854, the Legisla-
ture OF The state exempted said lands from
taxation for twenty years. In 1915, the
Legislatul of the State of Mississippi passed
an act providing for privilege tax OF $75
per mile on ali the railroads Of the State; ;
bnJ by the third section Of the charter of
ISIS, the Mobile aud Ohio Railroad VAS eX
empt from the provi-ions Of yhis law. In
1875, tax was sought TO be collected by the
Sheriff of LauderdaIe county. on the road
bed ana lands of said company, tor the year
1874. The case was brought before the
Court on demurrer and the decision WAS
rendered merely upon question OF law !;
and the fact to whether there were any
taxes due by the company was not involved
AT all, and the only question presented by
the demurrer was whether the property of
said company was liable To taxation or not.
The Court decided that under the third
section of the original charter, the com pany
was not liable to taxation on its "tranchse,
/ road bed, right-of-way, rolling stock, depot
grounds and buildings. machine shops and
machinery, in short, every sort and species
OF property, real and personal, necessary to,
and used in the actual business Of the COM
! plny as a common carrier of passengers
| aud freight" unless it was shown by proof
that Tin point of fact, the earnings of that
| portion of the road located in Mississippi"
have been sufficient 10 pay an annual inter-
est of eight Ter cent upon the capital eX-
pended in the construction of sail !. al.
This proof has not been made in the Courts
as vet. See Mobile and Ohio Railroad VS..
Mosely. Sheriff, etc, - Miss. p. LIZ. AS to
the detached lands belonging to said road,
the Supreme Court OF the State held that
they were liable to taxation at this time.
Under the term, of the grant of lands by
Congress TO the State of Mississippi, the
State cane under obligations To the Federal
Government, if the road was not com pleted
within ten years to return To the United
States all money that said company derived
from the sale of said lands. An injunction
is now pending in the Federal Court re
straing the collection of the taxes on the d.
tached lands before mentioned. Grant that
this INJUNCTION would have been dissolved
upon motion. the company would doubtless
have taken an appeal to the supreme Court
of the United States there to remain for
several years, for the Court is now behind
with its docket three years.
We must not only take INTO consideration
the delay that would neces sarily follow in
an appeal to the United States supreme
Court, but the risk we would run of that
Court failing to concur in the views of our
State Supreme Court as TO the Liability OF
the lands 70 taxation. aud. further. the Sn-
preme Court of the United States might pos
Sibly decide that the company had not COM
Piled with the conditions of said grant, and
that therefore SAID lands would revert TO
the United States Government, and the
State would be required to pay TO the United
States the amount of money that has been
received by said company from the sale OF
said lands.
should the Supreme Court of the United
States have decided the suit favorabiy 10 the
State of Mississippi. the road would still
have been at liberty to resort to the courts
to contest the amount of taxes for which
its lands were liable. on the plea of Over-as-
sessment, and would probably have bafiled
the State for another term OF six pr eight
years And when the final decision should
have baen reached, the accumulation of
taxes for so many years would have render
ed the amount so large that the com panF
would have permitted the lands 70 sell for
taxes; and they would have fallen into the
hands OF the State without ever having
yielded one dollar of revenue to the State.
The Mobile and Ohio Rrilroad Company
owns at this time 657 900 acres of land, much
of which is of little value except for It's tim
Der. But estimating the value OF all the
lands of the company at fifty cents per acre,
the whole value amounts to S32S.500. Fix
ing the rate of taxation at twenty mills on
the dollar. the taxes OF these lands for 1874,
1875, 1876, and 1877 will amount 10 $26 $50
1t will thus be seen that the concession made
by the advocates of the bill 10 compromise
with the com pany for $25 900. is merely the
nominal sum at $i,2S0, " hich Is more than
balanced by the immediate settlement OF tile
taxes, a withdrawal of the suits and pay
ment of costs by the road, and by the place
ing of the lands of the road on the assess
ment rolls, to bear their proportional share
of the burdens of taxation for the future.
In arriving AT these conclusions il will be
proper 10 state that we have had frequent
consultations with the Attorney General OF
the State, on this important measure, and
have been assured by that distinguished gen
tleman that our views as stated above are
correct, and that the bill ought to pass.
Ii is scarcely necessary for us to state that
we have had in view the interests Of the
State, and es pecialy OF our immediate con
stit uents, who are so deeply interested in tn
settlement of this yeXed question, and that
we have been actuated by no other motive
than desire to faithfully discharge our en-
tire duty in this connection to our constitu-
ents and this we feel that we haye per-
formed without prejudiue, either to the NJ.
& o. r. r. Com pauy or TO the State Of Mis-
sissippi.
J. z. SEABRooK,
J. III. FIELD,