Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-10

|
| erty operated in more than one county, but
railroads operated in more than one county. and
applied to them a special system of taxation.
This special sytem is found in Section 10,
Article XIII. of the new Constitution which
prescribes that 1.-The franchise roadway road
bed rails and rolling stock of all railroads oper
| ated in more than one county in this State shall
be assessed by the State Board of Equalization
at their actual value, and shall be apportioned
TO the counties, cities and counties cities towns
townships, and districts in which such railroads
are located, in proportion TO the number of
miles of railway laid in such counties, cities
| and counties, cities, towns, townships and dis
| tricts'
This special system by virtue of Section 4 of
the same article, as construed by the Supreme
Court of California prevents the owners of such
property from dedueting from the value thereof
the mortgages or liens upon the same, and
denies to the owners of such property all pro-
lection from the general laws OF the land,
constitutional Or otherwise which
First-Require that property shall be taxed in
proportion TO its value
Second-ReQuire such proportion 70 be oscer-
tanned by the general law.
Third-Require that before liability be fixed
NOTICE AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE
HEARD MUST BE GIVEN.
Fourth-Giye an appeal from the Assessor to
another tribunal.
Fifth-Require the assessment to be made in
the county, and prevent its being made in
locality distant from the situs of the property.
SiXth-Prescribed the mode and manner of
the assessment and the rules OF procedure aud
evidence, and
Seyenth-Allow deduction for Indebtedness
secured by mortgages or other liens
The section in question which lifts this prop
erty out of the protection of the general laws OF
the land contains full grant OF powers It is
what lawyers call a selfexecuting section Ifit
be legal and valid, the power OF State Board
under it, and the limitations of that power, can
only be ascertained by an examination OF the
section itself. It is not within the rghtful au-
thority of the Legislature TO take away any part
of the power conferred by the constitutional
provisions. If these exceptional provisions are
valid, then railroad property operated in more
than one county can be assessed at any time or
place at which the Board i'll its pleasure may
elect to meet, without notice of any kind to any
person to be affected by its action, and without
an opportunity to be heard after is action, for
its decision is declared to be final
That Board may assess the roads at one hun
dred thousand dollars per mile. or it may assess
them at one dollar per mile, and its action being
final and conclusive, neither the railroad com
panies on the one hand, even if the power Is ex-
ercised to confiscation nor the people on the
other hand, if the Board becomes corrupt and
should assess the property ut one dollar per
mile, could obtain relief.
Referring 20 this system. one of the most dis
tinguished lawyers i'll this country, speaking in
the presence of the highest judicial tribunal
said: Somewhere in one of these briefs it IS
written that the author has searched from the
time of King John for so fagrant an instance of
discriminating and arbitrary taxation within
the pale of the common law, and that the ex-
ample before us leads all the rest. Be this as it
may, for enterprise and ingenuity, for rude yet
cunning severity, for irTeyerence for law, for
disdain of obstacles, appearances, ard tradi-
tons, and for contempt of vested rights it seems
safe to say, that carried away by excitement
California has in form sanctioned provisions
without parallel i'll the Constitutions of North
American States. made by white men for white
men, in our time"
In the exercise cf this monstrous power, and
as I am advised, at the dead hour Of midnight
the first State Board of Equalization made an
assessment Of railroad property. The yalua-
tions placed by that Board upon single track
railroads, running chiefly through thinly set
tied counties many of which roads had never
earned or paid dividend, was more than
double that ever placed upon any railroad with
in the United States. The locomotives of those
roads, some of which had been IN service nearly
quarter of century, were assessed at eighty
per cent. more than new locomotives of the
same pattern could be purchased for and placed
upon the road and this too in the face OF the fact
that knowledge of the prices of locomotives was
brought to them this in face of the fact that
the value of standard locomotives was as certain
and easy Of aScertainment as the value OF Stude-
baker wagons
In this respect there can be no mistdkc, and
when this issue was rendered 10 the people of
California in the Courts of the country, the at
torneys representing the State shrank from it
and stood upon the legal technicality that the
power of this Board was absolute submit now
hat there is not in the length ana breadth of
this State single honest man ,rIi0 acould submit
should be separated from the great mass of
property and should be assessed without no.
ticc, without an opportunity 70 be heard, and as
a fnality, by a Board of Commissioners which
could meet at any time or place within the
State, and which was bound by no rule except
its own pleasure? l submit that if such a man
can be found he i unworthy to be a citizen or
country that owes its origin chiefly to resistance
to illegal taxation.
1t is being said almost daily that the Central
Pacific Railroad Company in resisting the pay
ment of a tax levied under such a law, and un-
der such circumstances, is seeking to avoid OBJ
legations that are imposed upon all Others. The
distinction between an assessment made under
the general laws OF this State, and all assess
ment made under the provisions of the Consti-
tuition in question. are as broad. to the honest
man, as the distinction between the efforts of
the industrious poor and those of the highway
robber Part of the taxes laid upon this assess
ment are for county purposes, and the property
assessed HpOn which a tax is sought to be col
lected is, under our system of government. en-
titled to the protection of the local government. 4
If A owns piece of property in Contra Costa
county of the value of 81 600, and B owns an
other OF the value OF 5000 and the assessor of
that county should assess the property of A at
5000, and the property of B at $1,000, A would
have his remedy by an appeal to the local Board
elected by the people. The remedy would be
afforded by the process of equalization But if
the hour should come when the alternative of
cOntiScation or a low assessment should be pre-
sented by some State Board of Equalization to
the railroad corporations of this state, and such
corporations, instead of appealing, as they now
have done, to the legally constituted tribunals
of the country, should yield TO the demands of
the blackmailer, and their property within the
county of Contra Costa should be assessed at
fourth of its value, while all other property
was assessed at its full value then the dangers
of such unlimited power and the wrongs which
under it could be inflicted upon the people,
would be manifest.