Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-03-27
The City Assessment.

mach the g,Iher hv Mr. Sans as
~ -,inon'. Or rather. she Is the
gamer bat her citizens are not; fol-
Ties VII h'omlly have TO "pav the
lVt ~ q two.foll sense. The
property Valuations, instead Of being
reduced from the fancy figures OF
l.' yen alc in many instances in
cr,a-,l, aul the aggregate list shows
70 total II .hou, $500 GOA larger than
a." n.".'. .'i1to a>ac>Nm"nt winch
created -, much dissatisfaction and
ioI 81 sue. financial embarrassment
f the poC.or classes. \ partial ex-
animation Of the loll returned by
Ma Swan slows unques.ionably that
ihcic - n screw loose somewhere in
hiY knowledge box aud that the ma
chime has been running in all sorts
II devious ways, and doing work
which !, viii be difficult to patch up
INTO scrviccab!c condition. The CITY
Council have assumed the task, but
tboy Will doubtless meet with some
81 the difficulties encountered by the
county Commissioners, year ago,
who were fe,eSatei 10 private lie for
a failure to cIuaIizs" nearly the
whole list with the very few reason
able assessments of property values
appearing upon it.
Tho INJURY done by the short
sighted policy of assessing property
on inflated values, should by this
time DO apparent to everybody. 1t
ties up money, discourases enter
prise, foments discord, creates dis
irusi. and cngenders an indiffer-
enco to the most worthy OF pub
lie objects. This is tho primary
cause of the deep-seated oppo-
sItion to nj; forms of special tax, and
The IMAM reason why still hunt
had to bo inaugurated to carry"
tho late school tax. Many o. our
people are property poor, possessing
non-produc,ive real estate, which,
after being subject to the tax for
$4,000 annual interest on SIS 900 of
county bonds, besides u high ratio
OF county, Territorial, school, road,
poll, bridge and municipal taxes,
absorbs every cont of the yearly
earnings. with no prospect of relief
until moro liberal policy has been
adopted. They have demonstrated
without effect. They have waited
patiently for relief through the ordi-
nary channels, hoping that the warn
ings which popular discomfort from
time TO time had given, would be
finally needed. But so far the effort
has been futile.
The Assessor should be man of
good judgment and broad views.
He should DO selected with special
reference as to his fitness for the i'm
poriant duties devolviug upon him.
He should be possessed of at least
enough business sagacity to have
made tolerable success of the man.
agement of his own individual of.
fairs. Mr.. Swan has shown no such
ability. He was chosen with full
knowledge that his Encouragement
OF county interests had cost the peo-
ple several thousand dollars, for
which lie was solely responsible.
An overwhelming defeat when he
appeared for reelection as Commits
sioner indicated that the people
fully realized his incompetency and
would not longer trust his judgment
on such important measures. The
City Council could not, or would
not, however, profit by this exper-
fence. They followed in the rut
worn by years. of selecting for this
most important service one whose
every net has shown him to be
failure in financial sense. Could
a better result have been expected,
uuder the circumstances Can the
stream rise above the fountain head T.?
Can figs be grown from thistles d?
Or would it be reasonable to expect
that so difficult task as listing a fair
assessment could be made by one who
has shown himself to be SO incapable
OF managing judiciously the minor
offuirs NJ nrivafo lifa .