, 1889-08-22
TRE SCHEME Is WRONG.

The Wyoming board OF equalization has
finished its work and has returned a total
property valuation in the territory OF $751;
43l 900 as against S33. 000, 900 for 1888.
The decrease is said to be due to heavy
failures and a partial withdrawal of capl-
tai from the development of coal and oil
fields. Wyoming will have to make a
better showing or its statehood will be de-
ferred for a greater period than Its citi-
zcps desire.
The foregoing clipping from the Omaha
Bee shows a degree of misinformation in
a newspaper which has usually faithfully
covered Wyoming news. There have
been no great failures in Wyoming in the
past year and there has been no capital
Withdrawn from the development Of the
coal and oil fields. On the contrary there
has been considerable put in.
The falling off is simply due to erron-
cous assessments made in several counties
last year and the assessment of mortgages
which was carried on the assessment roll
hut was subsequently declared to be erron-
cous as it should have been. The terri
torial assessment this year is a trifle more
lldn IL WIS last year anu HuoNH III uCAuhl
valuation of over 800, 00O, 900.
One great drawback in making a
thorough assessment inWyoming is found
in the fact that so much property consists
of sheep. horses and cattle which roam
on the open prairie making 1t almost i'm
possible to reach a Just estimate of their
value. Articles like that quoted from
the Bee, however, ser5e to emphasize the
fact that our whole assessment scheme is
on a wrong basis A man with a herd Of
horses for instance. some of which are or
binary COW ponies but many OF them val
liable horses. has them all assessed at a
lump valuation as though they were com
mon stock. Land when it is owned in
large bodies by an individual or a rpora
ton is likewise assessed at a lump valua-
ton of so or 10 cents an acre, without
any reference to the Tact that some Of it
may be very valuable and some
of almost it worthless. 1t il for this
reason that one quarter section of land
which is the solitary possession of one man
is assessed at So an acre. while the ad-
joining quarter section, a part Of n large
body of land owned by another individual
or corporation and equally valuable in the
opcn market is assessed ut only so cents
per acre. There is no good reason why a
man owning a single quarter section
should be charged a single cent more in
proportion than a man who owns thous
adls Of acres. This rank injustice might
be rcmedied by follow D. the scheme of
the Bay State Cattle company which puts
n valuation upon each quarter section of
the land which it owns in Laramie county.
A good all around scheme would be to
put all property at its exact valuation aud
net at oue-third, one fourth or one-tenth
as is now done. In this way the large
owner and the small owner would be rep
resented equitably and at a pro%portionate
valuation. There would De the
further advantage that our territorial as
sesSment roll would not only show over
one hundred million dollars worth OF pro-
perty instead OF one.thlrd of that amount
as it does now, and while giving a magni-
icent advertisement to the world taxation
would be adjusted equitably in proportion
to the possessions of the people taxed.
1t is an exceedingly delicate and diff
cult duty to adjust the assessment roll so
that the burthen Of taxation will be Justly
distributed, but i could be more s~atisfac-
torilY arranged than it is now without
much waste of the gray matter of any
body's brain.