The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-01-24
COUNTRY ASSESSMENTS.
How They Are Overvalued- MechanI-
cal and Agricultural College
Mt Baton Rouge


| TO the Editor of the Democrat
For the past few days we have had fine
weather-clear and frosty--and business has
been better, but our roads are 80 bad IL s i'm
possible to get about with any convenience
| whatever. There Is not State, believe,
more blessed with laws than ours, yet we
have no road law. nor any system whereby
good roads can be secured. Here Is chance
for some aspiring legislator.
l had occasion recently to visit Baton
Rouge, and while there enjoyed the hospital
ity Of the Louisiana State University, or Me-
chanical and Agricultural College, as il is
now called.
This institution is working ahead under
many difficulties, some of which 1t Is within
the power OF the present Legislature to re-
move, and 1t is TO be hoped these will be, that
the establishment may grow In Importance
and usefulness, az 1t bids fair to do In the near
future. One hundred and twenty students
now attend, from nearly every portion of the
State, and the number Is increasing As
many more can be accommodated In the
buildings now occupied, and 1t Is to be hoped
they. will gather there, and a "home institu-
ton be built up worthy Of our dear old State.
liz seems the idea that country property
ought to be assessed at 100 to 200 per cent
above Its present value, II for no other pur-
pose than to pay crushing interest on
fraudulent debt, has Its advocates In the
country as well as in the city. The columns
OF your paper show that we have one here
Judge James Crowel, who, like other advo-
Gates OF the idea, Is extreme In his views and
reasons from an exceptional case, which he,
to make matters worse, has failed to state
correctly.
In 1876 Judge Cromell was clerk of the court
In this parish, and as such was a member of
the board OF assessors as then existing under
the law. AS such he, with his Republican
confreres, the sheriff and recorder, who CON
stituted the board, revised and equalized the
the assessment of this parish, and fixed the
total value Of property in it at less than ST.
100000. The year following, In 1877, the DEM
ocratic assessor fixed the aggregate value of
the same property at over $2.3o0,oO0 Here
was an improvement, IL an increase of
over twenty per cent can be so called, without
any intervening cause to bring 1t about that
we can see save one.
AS TO the individual case mentioned and
not correctly stated by Judge Crowell that
of Roth, McWiliams Il Co, we find that the
two items of property mentioned. and so men
toned as to convey the id a that these items
We're all the property Of that firm, when they
are not, were, valued by Judge Crowell in
1876 at-the plantation and movablea, $500;
stock in trade $500. In 1877 this same prop
erty was assessed, partly In Iberville and
partly in West Baton Rouge, where it lies, as
the law now requires, as follows: The Medora
plhtts NoO6o, bIe MPuOTA place,
West Baton Rouge, $500; stock in trade,
$4,000.
Here is an increase of over $4,000 In this in
stance, and those who know our parish well.
and who know likewise the property of Roth,
McWilliams d Co. mentioned, will say the
assessments Of 1876 II correct, should have
stood for 1877, because the property Of our
parish, and that of the firm, are worth about
the same in the aggregate. They were in
creased, however and as far as the aggregate
OF the parish Is concerned, 1t Is generally
conceded that 1t is nearly correct, though
some properties are assessed too low,
while many others are too high. Now,
why even this increase We have been
in the interim travelling toward re-
sumption" coming to hard pan and
values have been shrinking everywhere. /
see but one cause for this or any Increase
but one cause for the great enhancement of
values Judge Crowell tells US ought to be
here, and that Is the change Of government
from the Radical rule of usurper Kellogg to
that of the Democrat. the peoples choice,
Francis I. Nichols; and as Judge Crowell is
one of the ''stalwarts," present him this d.
lemma, and give him choice of horns Either
he grossly failed in his duty as sworn
official in 1876, or the Democratic government
of the State has enhanced the value of its
in the amount he claims, viz: 100
per cent In two years. PELICAN