Omaha daily bee., 1886-06-29
THEY ARE NO TAX SHIRKERS,
The Testimony Of Business Men Before the
Commissioners.
REleHToNs FIGHTING WEIGHT.
Some Summer Suits-Held for Rob-
berry - Court Notes - The Grau
Opera-Brevities and Gem
eral City News.
They Are Not Tax shirkers.

penting the X Of l.. of Omaha, against
the assessment for taxation of the personal
property of n number of the leading job
bers and business men of the city, culmi-
aated yesterday afternoon in meeting
II the property owners complained of
before the county commissioners. An in
teresting and exciting meeting resulted
in producing evidence which should
etlectually disabuse the public mind of
the opinion that the iobbers and mer-
chants of Omaha do not pay taxes pro-
portionatc to the business conducted by
them.
The board had issued request for all
of the parties complained of to be pres
ent at the conference, If such it may be
termed, and representatives of the job
bling trade and capitalists responded to
'the request.
j. r. BOYD.
The first party called was Mr.. j. f.
BOYD, whose personal property is as
sessed at $17,SS0. Mr. Boyd was sworn
by County Clerk Needham, as were all Of
the witnesses, to answer such questions
as might be asked by the board of com.
mssioners. He was asked by Commis.
sioner Corliss upon what basis he calcu.
lated the value of his property IN return
ing his assessment. He replied:
VI listed all of my property, subject to
taxation, at more than one-third of its
cash value"
MIR. Boyd, what are the boilers and
engines in your packing house worths"
asked Mr.. Read.
81 will answer no questions from you,
sir" replied Mr.. Boyd. "lf the commits
sionerr ask me | will answer them" In
reply to the question that was then asked
by Mr.. Corliss, Mr.. Boyd replied that his
boilers and engines were not worth more
than $1,000, though they had been re-
turned us assessable at 81, 000 more than
e-third of their actual value.
Mr.. Read was not in the least troubled
about his failure to make point out of
his first man and quietly awaited the
progress of the investigation. The next
witness called was
r. w. ID. MAUI,
representing the dry goods firm of
Iootle, Maui \ Co, which is, assessed at
F.. $4,000. Mr.. Maui said his firms stock
would not average over $3.50, 900, and
to offset this they held uncollect-
able bills that would reduce their
taxable property to 100000 He there
fore asked that their assessment be re-
duced from $50, 600 to $50, 600.
You are undoubtedly assessed too
high if that is the case" chimed in Mr..
Read as he saw his second prop fall.
Sa1tL "A. FRIED,
OF the firm of Lee, Fried Il Co., assessed
at $4,000, was next called upon. Mr..
Fried said he had calculated on return
/. ing his property to the assessor at about
one-third of its estimated value.
b. GALLAGHER,
OF the firm of Paxton IL Gallagher, as
sessed at $30,2 was called, He said
that the personal property of the firm
had been assessed Mt more than one-third
nf nncl Ina Vac, IA. -
$4,000 on January and was now less
than at that time.
Mr. Read cut the fourth notch in bis
stick on the failure side.
JOHN S. BRADY,
of the firm of McCord Brady
u Co.. said his firms prop
erty had been assessed for taxes at
about one-fourth the estimated value.
The stock was assessed at $50, 100, and
would invoice less that 81, 100000.
HERMAN KOUNTZE
was next called MIR. Kountze is assessed
at $2,700. He said that this was on mon.
eys and credits on hand on April 1. His
household property was assessed in his
wifc's name and his bank stock under a
separate assessment.
Did you haye no notes secured by
mortgagesg" asked Mr.. Read.
Nothing taxable" was the reply.
T..
VI had large sum of money in gov
ernment bonds which were not subject to
taxation, was MIR. Kountzes reply.
The reply was apparently satisfactory
TO MIR. Read, and he quieted down as
A. J. HANSCOM
was called to the stand. MIR. Hanscom's
personal property is assessed at 81, $50,
OF which 81 $50 is money and credits. Mr..
Hanscom said he aimed to pay as much
nc nnI
man and considered his property assessed
at between one thru and one fifth of its
value.
The returns show you assessed of
money and credits in the sum of $1,65O
is that right?' asked Mr.. Read.
The returns would indicate that
wouldn't itS" sharply replied Mr.. Hans
com. That ought to satisfy you. pay
my taxes and you don't yours"
w. ]. BROATCH
was next called. He is assessed on his
personal property at $1,000. His stock
invoiced on January at $3l 900. Here
an interesting scene occurred when Mr..
Read asked If the stock was larger or
smaller on April as compared with Jan
uary !, MIR. Broatch hotly replied that he
would answer none of Reads questions
Read had been in his employ and had
been guilty of acts that forbade him hav-
HIM. Mr.. Corhss then repeated Mr..
Reads questions, and they were an
sswered by Mr.. Broatch, developing moth
ing that changed his first statement. Be-
fore leaving the stand Mr.. Broatch called
the attention of the board to few facts
that are not generally considered. "Oma-
ha jobbers." " he said, "are five hundred
miles further from the base of supplies
than are the merchants of Chicago and
St, Louis, and consequently have to car.
ry larger stocks in proportion to meet the
demands OF their trade. The jobbers |
here are continually sacrificing part of |
their profits with view of holding up the
trade. The jobbers of Omaha de. |
serve much of the credit for the
prosperity of the city IN general |
and II comes with bad taste to hold them |
up before the public as tax shrkers"
Mr.. Read hopped to his feet and chal. |
lenged MIR. Broatch to show anything |
wrong which he (ReaD had done while |
In his employ.
Alter this skirmish was completed
A. L. NIELDS,
OF the firm of ID. Nj. Steele d Co, assessed |
at S4O, 325, was called upon. Mr.. Nields |
SAID he had returned the personal prop |
erty OF the firm for assessment at 40 per |
cent OF ITS value and therefore asked a |
reduction OF 10 per cent on the assess
ment.