The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1880-01-08
10 the Americans:

w lllcUtSlcT l1DUc JOulHul W NV i'N"
inst appeared the followiu- rgmmu-
nj, alton:
F. li,or Home journal: Under the
,ct ol the Legislature ! was appointed
one OF The NniIroad FAX Assessors b,
the power therein given to the Gov
to make such appointment Geo.
b. Mcclellan and John H. Glass wer,
my associate assessors. The Govern
or, the Secretary and Treasurer wcr,
the Appellate Board. We dId assess
TIE PROPERTY Of the railroad companlc'
under the act authorizing their taxa
ton, 10 the hest OF our aDilit,, iupt-
ing for our guide the rules tina, govern
in The assessment Of all other property
Of tue S,aic-that is, according to it,
value. To ascertain the value 81 rail-.
road property we took into crn'idera
ion the capital stock, tic CORPORATE
property, the franchise and the gross
"arnirsa Of the company The most
controlling thing 10 he considered IL
liXing he value Of railroad pr"prlly l.
lie gJoss earnings. and was SO drcldr'
ia the Sumner county case, in ST..
II, i.krI. We were hound to c,nsid~
tAr.e lOng item, in fixing The value .Oi
railroad property When we APPLIED
,hs rule to Tie Nashville ~ ChatIanoo
"a railroad property, We thought the
property WAS worth SlI,213. ~ per
nile upon III" main road. ihc Board
hat a.sessud Two Yeas before had as
scsacd the road at 81 3CS "A per
mile. The Revising Board, the Treas
urer aud 5, cretaIy One Governor. as
one of the Revising Board, protesting
against the reduction reduced the as
scs,ment from SIT 243.7O per mile to
50, 500 per mile. making dlierenc,
per mile OF SS,743 70 between our AS
scss,neut and theirs, and S4,S7i 80 he
/ low the assessment OF the Old Boar
two Years ago These changes hay,
been made when The property OF th'
| n. a. & Railroad Company was rating
very high. The stock Of the company
was rating from 81 to 81 90 why
| this very small value has been placed
upon property 80 valuable needs rx-
PLANTATION. The public, or tax PAYERS
require an explanation. They wish t,
know the reasons why railroad prop
crty cannot be taxed as o,hrr Property
JESSE ARlEDGE.
With equal fairness, we might ash
Nh AIlcdgc TO explain 10 Tic pubIl'
why it was that, notwithstanding td'
company gave in its property III its
sworn .clcdule TO the RAILROAD tax as
,essoro AT valuation Of 57 G9JSS pei
nile tor Ia ~ mites, tue assessors
dsrcgar,lcd such valuation and assess
ed the Nashville u Northwestern rail-
road at only 80 5lO 80 per mile; ano
why they assessed the Jasper Division
of l0i miles at 1000 per mile, when
tie company gave it III al So,G9J,SS
per mile? Bat we cannot do this
though the facts are that way; that
would only be giving part of the truth
and that is our only objection TO NJ
Arledges communication. We think
best 10 explain fully.
The Nashville. Chattanooga and 81
Louis Railway Company is Il consoIi
dated railway company, composed oI
the Nashville 4 Chattanooga, Nash
willie IL Northwestern and Jasper rail
roads, and il, to all inlcnts and pur
poses, one road and so operated. As
such one road it filed its schedule, us
required by law, with the Comptroller
last May. which was turned over to the
Board Of Assessors.
When the Board Of Examiners.
composed OF the Governor and our
selves, on final hearing came 10 con-
slider Of this case we found that the
Assessors had disrcgarled this SEIZED
uIe, aud without even taking proof o!
the equities of division, had assumed
to divide up the road into three src-
tons and assessed it as separate valua
tions; and We found also exceptions
fled by the company through its altor>
neys to this action. We, the under
signed, were satisfied by such cXcrp
tons, and our construction Of the laN
on the subject, that the action OF the
Board Of Assessors was erroneous :;
and we treated it As a whole road, and
ordered the whole 3iG 22-l00 miles a-.
scsscd as one road The State gets
just as much tax this way rs il divided
into sections. True it makes differ.
cncc in the amount received by com
ties ana towns eqnalizing them, for
the act says: "Ailcr aSceftanlng the
whole value OF n railroad, and all i,s
property wherever situated, the AS
SCISSORS shall divide the same by the
number of miles in the entire length OF
the road, ami the result shall be the
value per mile for the purpose of taxa
ton; and the value per mile OF any
such railroad rs thus ascertained shall
be multiplied by the number of miles
in the State, and the produc. thereof
shall he the sum to be taxed for State
purposes; and the value per mile, as
ascertained, shall be multiplied by the
of miles or fractions thereof
lying and being in any county and the
product shall be the sum to be taxed
for county purposes " See sec 3, ch.
rs, acIs 1876 We did not make our
decision in favor of or against an,
COUNTIES, but felt it duty, especially
when our attention was called TO it b,
Exception allowed by the act, 10 carry
nut plain provision of the law. Its
fleet, 1t is true, is to take from certain
counties on the more valuable part of
L. Il. IL LII L..