St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-08
IN THE CONFESSIONAL.
A Minneapolis Paper Gives the Bogus
Boom Snap Away in Good Style.
Minneapolis Journal, Sept. g.

| COMPARATIVE REAL ESTATE VALUATION.
We take it that the period of buncombe in
the development of this city has passed.
We have enough solid advantages to make
our future secure, and we do not need the
adventtious aid of high comparative as
sessment to demonstrate our superiority to
all rivals. The citizens of Minneapolis in
! these pinching times, are not willing to pay
an increased taxation for the mere luxury of
Dragging that our real estate assessment is
higher than that of st. Paul. There is no
doubt that our real estate is worth something
more, but The actual difference is enough to
attract attention without the aid of the fancy
figures which the Minneapolis assessor seems
to have put upon the various patches of earth
comprised within our municipal boundaries.
The State Board of Equalization has now
under consideration the question of the com
parative accuracy of the valuation of the twin
cities. At the meeting yesterday it was
shown that the personal property valuation
was nearly equal, but that Minneapolis
doomed above st. Paul in real estate valuation
more than fifty per cent, as follows:
Minneapolis. st. Paul
Valuation of personal
property as equalzed Si4, 922,359 S14, 435, S43
Valuation of real estate
as equalized. 20, 722 4Os 1906, 431
Totals. .SS5, 645, 1867 SCI, GAL ,774
1t is claimed that portion OF the superior
real estate valuation of Minneapolis is ac-
counted for by the larger area. But the
property included in the increased area is of
course altogether suburban, and therefore
ought not to amount to many millions.
And again it is the accumulation Of personal
property and people in a city that gives value
to real estate. st. Paul, according to the
current run of statistics, being absolutely
equal to Minneapolis in personal valuation,
and nearly equal in population, her real es-
tate ought to come up very closely to that of
Minneapolis in value. 1t was shown before
the board yesterday that in 1882 Minneapo-
lis real estate was assessed at S31, 800, 600,
and st. Paul real estate at $50, 900, 900,
difference of only 100000. How is it then
that in two years the two cities, having
grown at substantially at the same rate in pop
ulation and personal property valuation, the
value of Minneapolis realty should have in
creased to SO, 800, 600 and that of st. Paul
o-only SAT, 200, 900. That is to say, while
the real estate in the twin cities started in
1882 equally in the race, that in Minneapo-
lis it has increased to the extent of $50, $780,
600, and that in st. Paul 1t has increased to
the extent of SIG, 300, 900. The figures are
proposterous. Either those of st. Paul are
entirely too low, or those of Minneapolis
are romancingly high.
We suspect that great portion of the diff
ference is founded in the vivid Imagination
OF the Minneapolis assessor He is man
who scents the increase in values afar off, as
Jobs war horse scented the battle. His pen
chant for raising assessment values is such
that he might be, not unjustly, termed q
| crank upon that subject He seems to pos
sess a sort of second sight, whereby he can
see large property and value (for purposes of
taxation) where even search warrant in the
hands of person of ordinary vision would
be unable to find one cent The board of
equalization, as matter of equity, will of
| course make such reduction of ouI Mime
/ hpolis real estate valuation as lies in its
power, but it will be a sheer impossibility
for it, within its legal discretion, to reduce
it to affair basis as com parekwith that of st.
Paul. The Minneapolis assessor has done
our people an irreparable in
| jury in saddlingupon them an undue
share OF the burdens of taxation. We
| don't care a rush for the buucombe features
which a morning paper attempts to intro
| duce into the discussion. 1t won't put q
cent into the pockets of Minneapolis prop
erty owners to shout "a st. Paul back down"
| till they are hoarse: but it takes good many
dollars. out of their pockets to pay more than
| their Droportion of taxes