Omaha daily bee., 1884-10-27
u ASSESSORS.

The voters Of this city will be called
upon at the coming election to vote fol
assessors. If there is anything in oui
municipal affairs that needs reform 1t il
our system of assessment as carried or
by assessors who persist In listing proper.
ty at valuations that are simply ridicu.
lous. They not only do this, but most oil
them do not exercise that impartiality
which is requisite for a fair assessment.
There is too much discrimination in favor
of the railroads and Of corporations, and
against the poor man. Under the pres
ent unfair system the poor man pay
much more taxes proportionately
than the rich man. Our as.
SCISSORS, as a rule, have also failed to
increase their valuations in proportion to
the increased value of property. They
simply depend upon the assessment list
of tho previous year, from which they
mako copies, with few, if any, changes.
They do not take the trouble to person
ally view property nor ascertain the ex-
tent of improvements and increase in
value. Lots that have risen in value ten
and twenty fold are assessed at the same
old figures they were five or ten years
ago. We never shall have a fair and i'm
partial assessment in this city until the
entire system Is changed, and this will be
n of the important matters for the
Douglas county legislative delegation
to consider. What we want and must
have is n general city assessor, who
shall have supervision of the entire work,
and have the power to employ a sufficient
number of competent deputies. Where
ever this system is followed the result
proves generally satisfactory. However,
as the present condition of affairs cannot
be changed until the next session of the
legislature, we ADVISE the people to select
as candidates for assessors men who are
competent, impartial, and honest, AS
usual Mr.. August Doll is attempt
ing to foist himself upon the
of the First ward. He
has held this office for many years.
He seems to labor under the impression
that the Office was created for his special
benefit, and that he has q life lease upon
it.
There is not much pay In the office, but
would seem that Mr.. Doll manages to
make it pay pretty well; else why should
he be 80 anxious to fill the place year
after yearl 1t is q well.known fact that
he is a plant railroad tool, and assesses
railroad property at outrageously low fig
ures. He also discriminates in favor of
the rich, and was never known
to favor a poor man OK
cept when he thought he could gain
some political influence by so doing. So
far as assessments are concerned Mr..
Doll is anything but an honest and i'm.
partial assessor. The recent action of the
board of equalization in raising the as.
seasment of the First ward twenty per
cent was due to Mr.. Dolls outrageous
of valuations. This man Doll
should by all means be compelled to step
down and out, but we suppose the rail-
and the rich property owners will
sndeavor to r~e-elect him. He is not the
only assessor. however, that ought to be
defeated. There are others who are toll
in his footsteps, but there is not
another one who has been guilty of such
gross outrages as August Doll. If they
cannot BIO defeated at the ballot box, the
only remedy is an appeal to the legisla-
to mako a reform in the entire sys-
EN- of assessment.
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