The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-07-12
What is the Right Basis

What is the Right BasisS
The SUNDAY TATTLER has from time to
time given careful resumes of the testi-
mony taken in the suits instituted by the
railroads to defeat the new railroad tax
laws We have not instructed our reporters
to gather uninteresting figures, but to
acquaint themselves, for the purpose of
acquainting the public, with the facts Illus
trating the methods pursued by the State
Board of Assessors in reaching their valua-
tions of railroad property. These methods
as applied to the tangible property of the
road, have been portrayed with singular
clearness in the testimony given by Edlow
w. Harrison, one of the civil engineers en-
ployed by the State Board to ascertain
values, given in the New Jersey Central
RAILROAD certiorari case; and reported-we
fatter ourselves, intelligently- in the Sun
DAY TATTLER as often as anything of inter-
est was developed. As applied to tangible
property, we say-for with the valuation
of that intangible element of value known
as the franchise, he has had nothing to do,
nor have any of the methods followed in
fixing that valuation yet been laid bare
either to the public or the corporations
interested. Our reports show that Mr.
Ell son places a peculiar value upon the
railroads right of way. He figures that it
is worth three times the value of adjoining
property. This is on the assumption that
it is to be irreyocably used for railroad pur-
poses, and goes ON the theory that the fact
that it is adapted for railroad purposes
brings with it special element of value
The railroads attack this multiple of three,
and say that the value of the land is just
what it would bring, in an open market, for
ordinary use. Here is wide variance of
view; and the question it injects into the
litigation is, as we understand it, an entire
ly new one in judicial circles. Even in
States where the railroads are taxed for all
they own, the topic has not yet been made
the subject of such close litigation as that
to which these railroad suits have given
rise. In New York State, where the rail-
roads are taxed, and taxed heavily too, the
State authorities have allowed them to
make mp their own valuations, and assessed
them upon their own figures. And the
question is as intricate of determination as
it is new. There is much argument to sup
port both views of the case Ordinarily
,,ro,,nrtu ;c ocoocood for what ~ mill h-;,<
for ordinary uses That is mainly however
because only property that can be used for
ordinary purposes has heretofore been
made the subject of litigation. And even
in these ordinary every day ltigations over
the tax values of property, it is doubtful if
the principle followed by the State Board,
in putting the value at the figure that the
best use to which the property could be
put would bring for it, has not been en-
forced. Even farm lands or lands used
for farming purposes, are assessed fre-
quently at their value for building pur-
poses and as city lots. Ex-Assemblyman
Stevens pays tax upon the city lots in his
truck gardens on the assumption that they
are valuable for building purposes. No as
sessment Board would permit the assess
ment of lot, available for a mansion, for
low figure because it might also be useful
for manure heap. In fixing values of
property in a rich business district, the
fact that such property might also be use
full as place of residence is not allowed to
deter1orate its tax yrlue. AS place of
residence it might be worth only $4,000.
AS a site for business it might be worth
100000. In fixing the value the Assessor
has right to assume, and the Courts al
ways sustain him in assuming, that the
owner la holding it for the man who will
pay the biggest price for it, and that some
man looking for a business site will pay the
biggest price for it. Is it not so with
railroad land? The land in the main stem
of railroad loses its old time characteristic
the moment it is put to its new use. 1t
might have a certain value, in cities, for
building purposes, and in rural districts for
farming purposes; but it is peculiarly SER
yiceable as railroad bed, and it is by its
usefulness in that direction that its value
is to be fixed 1t would be manifestly I'M
fair, as ex-Judge Hoffman suggt SITS, to
measure the value of continuous line of
land, 100 feet wide, stretching from New
York to Easton, by the value that might be
put upon each little section of ii, unconnect-
ed with each other little section that helps to
make it continuous highway for hum
dred miles.
It is funny to observe the treatment the