The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-01-04
SITES ANsHERs LITTLE.
Comparative Valuations or Railroad
Property In the state.


Areporter Of the TArrlEn called yester-
day upon Messrs Sites ana Harrison, the
well known civil engineers. in their new
Office in tho new Fuller building, to make
inquiry about the valuations Of railroad
property for tax purposes. The enquiry
was prompted by the complaint of Hon
Henry s. Little, the President Of the New
jersey Central, that favoritism had been
shown IN making the appraisements. Mr..
Little is quoted as having said that the
Pennsylvania was carefully looked after,
and that the Central values were overesti-
mated. How the Pennsylvania is looked
after. Mr.. Little is quoted Is having ala
lis shown by the fact that while its 752
miles Of road are assessed At Us. OOO. 900.
the Readings 470 miles, earning 81, $40 less
annually per mile than the PENNSYLVANIA
lines, are valued at $50, 000, 900. The
Pennsylvanias franchise is assessed S24.-
581 per mile, the Readings $50, 407; its
main stem at $31, 5S7. the Readings at $780,
$50; its. real estate at 1875, the Read
ing's at $l9.584; its personal property at
SIS, 962, the Readings at 81, IT'S. The Penn
sylyania's total valuation is $77, SGT per
mile, the Readings Sll2,321. On its 470
miles the Reading is taxed only $40 900 less
than the Pennsylvania on 752 miles. Even
if the two roads were intrinsically Of equal
value per mile, the assessors own figures
would show that they have overvalued the
Reading $l6,000,000 or undervalued the
Pennsylvania $26,000,000 As matter Of
fact the Pennsylvania lines are worth
vastly more than the Readings per mile.
The statement was shown to Mr.. Sites
who, with Mr.. Harrison, made an expert
examination of the railroad property in the
State for the State Board of Assessors. He
said that Mr.. Lttles figures were eminent
ly unfair "The only fair basis Of compare
son" Mr.. Sites continued, lis as to the va
lues fixed for the main lines. The Penn
sylvania railroad to Trenton is 50 miles
long That is valued at Just twice the va
lue of the 50 miles of the main Central
line nearest New York city. The branches
of the Pennsylvania run through poor
country. A long distance traversed by
them is down among the pines, where land
is worth next to nothing, The Central
branches, on the other hand, penetrate
rich district. Take the New York and
Long Branch, for instancei Where is there
such a stretch of priceless property in the
State of New Jersey? It is panorama of
beautiful villages from Elizabeth down to
OI0dA oodcu. IL 4IOuS Dlhucu, " ISL Euu3
Elberon, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, a lot is
worth the price of lot IN New York. AT
one point the tracks divide the princely
parks of Commodore Garrison. The other
element of great value IN the Central Rail-
road possessions is their great expanse Of
water front at and beyond Communipaw
She owns and controls very much more
harbor property than the Pennsylvania
does"
evil you kindly furnish me with some
figures for comparison?" asked the repor-
ter.
Mr.. Harrison prepared a table showing
the average values per acre and per mile
placed by the State Board of Assessors on
the railroad property of the three main
lines in the State, the United New Jersey
Railroad and Canal Company, now leased
by the Pennsylvania, the Central of New
Jersey, leased by the Philadelphia and
Reading, aud the Morris and Essex, leased
by the Delaware, Lackawanna q Western.
The table shows the appraised values as
follows.