The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1882-05-18
TAXATION OFRAILROAD
LANDS

LANDS.
Gen. Baker, railroad commissioner
in answering some inquiries made Of
him by the auditor Of Martin countv
takes occasion to review the leoisla-
| tive decisions and prospective le0isla.
ton on the subject. The following ia
his letter in full:
NJ L. L. Shanks, ESQ.,, Auditor Mar
tin County, Sir: There are so many
inquiries in reference to the taxahia
condition of railroad lands, that l take
the occasion Of your letter to state the
general facts for the information Of
the public.
On the 4th of March, 1881, in til Q
last hour Of the session, tho house
adopted report of the special COM
mittee OF railroad lands" This report
set forth some specific facts, as shown
by evidence, relating to railroad lands
alleged to be yet exempt from taxation.
though virtual sold. or contracted to
be sold, and had in fact become the
property of private individuals. The
concluding clause in this report di-
reefs the Attorney General that he
might. sin his discretion, stipulats
with the different railroad COMPANIES
mentioned for the bringing ri test
suits to determine che taxability Of the
lands in said report mentioned; and in
case said course is agreed upon, the
other lands not embraced in such test
suits, may in the discretion or on the
direction of the Attorney General. not
be placed OH the tax-roll until such
test snits are determined. This in
strnction was not binding upon the
Attorney General, for the reason that
it was not a joint resolution Never
theless he has taken action in accord
ance with the direction.
BY agreement OF the Attorney Gen.
| eral with the attorneys of the roads,
| two test cases have been made to I've
brought before the district court Of
Hennepin county this summer in time
to reach the October term of the SUI
preme court, where they must 90 for
final determination. The first of these
cases is that Of the st. Paul Il Chicago
Railroad co npany VS.. +. 5. Mcdonald,
county auditor, and Frank Slocum,
county treasurer Of Ilennepln county,
Gordon +. Cole being attorney for the
road, AID the Attorney General him
self to appear in behalf of the State.
BY direction Of the State auditor the
above officers placed tract of this
| land on the tax list and sought to COL
lect tax thereon. This case involves Il
class OF railroad lands where the rail
road company had made contract
with ! construction company to trans
fer to them 4 part of their lands in
payment for work in the construction
of their road. the construction compa-
ny Ito have the absolute separate own
ersllip of the lands" The report of
the house committee seems to indicate
that the lands were earned by the con-
struction company, but never trans
ferrtd to prevent taxation.
The second case to be made is that
of a tract of land belonging to the st.
Paul & Sioux City railroad COMPANY
In this case the committee of the house
allege that certain special land stock.
or scrip, WAS issued to pay Il debt. and
block Of 10000 acres Of land was
placed in the hands If the Hon. VIM.
Il. Marshall, Il trustee, the proceeds Of
the sale Of which land WAS to be devot-
ed to the payment Of the special land
stock. This trustee was to make an
lrrevocable power Of attorney to +. F.
Drake, to sell and convey these lands
to satisfy this scrip. This scrip car
ried a power to locate these lands. In
fact the scrip or land stock owned
these lands. Thus it was claimed that
while the naked legal title to the lands
was not in the owners of the land
stock, they could take tile ut any mo-
ment, but did not Il so to avoid taxa
tiou. It was further set forth that the
present owners Of the st. Paul & Sioux
City railroad, represented by II. II.
Porter, president, had TO right or in
terest in any of these lands, and that
Mr.. Porter had So testified before the
committee. it WAS claimed. that rs a
matter Of fact, the lands lad gone
into the hands ct private individuals.
This case Will be represented by Judge
Palmer for the company and the At
tOrney General for the State.
A third class Ct these lands are those
Of the Southern Minnesota railroad,
designated as the Clark W. Thomps, n
special trust lands. and the 233 Wyko1f
and Thompson land trust certificates
These embrace two blocks of land OF
! about $4,000 acres in all, located in
Houston. Fillmore, Freeborn, Mower,
OlmSted and Martin counties. These
lands have been held by Il recent de-
cision of the Attorney General (Au-
gust 81, 1882. to he taxable. His opin-
| ion is based on Il dtcree of the United
states court III foreclosure proceedings
| OF July Il, 1871, which sets apart Ger
! tain lands for the benefit of the holders
OF cert! tlcat"s. SO as to confer Oh th m
the right to the proceeds of the sale OF
such lands, or the lands themselves if
they choose to have them partitioned.
The supreme court Of the State, i'll re-
terrlng to such contingency, holds
that under such circumstances the
company had sold aud conveyed" the
lands Estate VS.. trustees of Southern
Minnesota Railroad company, vol. 81.
page 35l. The Attorney General holds
that such a state Of affairs exists as to
the aboye mentioned tracts. The
State auditor is now engaged in &c, IT,
Tying all these tracts to the respective
county auditors. so that they may be
placed on the duplicate for the ensuing
year.
A fourth class of cases, of the great
est present Importance, and on which,
the Attorney General has just this day
received Adhesion, is this: The rail-
road lands contracted to be sold have
heretofore been assessed in fee, and
according to the value of the land.
These lands are henceforth to be as.
scsseI only to the interest Of the pur-
chaser THAT is his payments,) which.
together with his improvements, are to
be taxed as real estate, (see Edgerton' 3
railroad laws, page 33l. section 81 AS
all these lands have heretofore been
taxed in fee, according to value, the
new r.rIe will work a radical change in
the whole system. The radical change
is the manner of assessment. When
county auditors sell these lands for
taxes. they can only sell to the extent
Of the purchasers interests and i'm
provements. The sale cannot reach
the land, for the fec Of the railroad
company lies entrencled and bnttress-
ed in the exemption contained in their
charter. franchise and grant.
Parties having heretofore paid taxes
under the assessment hitherto prevail
ing. now finding the taxes do not fol-
low the land when they forfeit, might
naturally ask for return of their tax
es. But the Attorney General holds
| that the nurchaSer havinr valiant - 81 81,