Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-01-12

Hull III NNNfN nArt OF mo country lNI ~ ~
a well known fact thai mineral Is uuivcr-
salty di1usol throughout the carth'- sur
nco and Do is N q the waters " thg soa con-
tain silver. IL j. up' Improbable tho soil
upon which vour Office stands viii he
found upon nnalvsisto h9 ~ strongly i'm
ptognatol with IMMORAL a. is the llnd In
dispute. holinve h il claimed that The
disputed lands contain mineral Ia suih-
client quantities to Justify thoir working
aud development ns minOml claims, blt
! believe tho claim FOO boz uttOrly grurui-
loss. The trdth b. ihcy have uCycr been
40 regarded since the settlement or tho
| Territory, and thi people arc generally
OF tho opinion they viii newer be avail
abla Tor such purposes. Previous To the
government SURVEYS tho bust lands
In Utah Including many school
H.ctionsl hai been tlkon up By
settlers, aud the tito has since passed
To thom. Since the survey tho com
tinuod settlement Of the Territory has
oncroachcd 80 largely upon the available
land that very little ~ such land l. now
lett. n any. aud tile schools will have len
fer liou lands only a choice from lands
not tlllnbla and OF little yaluo. Part Of
tho land IN dispute a. valued by spm0
persons az high a. $500 por aero. II viii
be seen how important Il X 10 the Tori
tory that 10 DO protected iu IT, tito to tho
limited amount of good land reserved or
NJ aside for educational purposes. ask
on behalf Of tho Territory that YOU cause
such .tcilon to br taken, or instructions TO
bo given ~ will In your judgment be-
necessary TO protect tho interests Of tho
Territory In this mauor.
am, sir, very respectfully,
ARruuH l.. THOMAS.
Governor.
To Hon John W. Noble. Secretary Of
tho Interior, Washington, u. c.
Commissioner Foreman engaged
the services Of Mcs-ts. ParFs Il
rhomp-on to assist him In the
cOHteei. | an glad 10 he able 10
say that the contests were successful
and the entries cancelled. The state
ment made by Parks a. Thompson,
marked exhibit II. gives very COM
! pletc histOfy " tho contests. Exhiblt
II h the application made 10 tho CONF
missioner " the Repcral land office by
Commissioner BOtemsn Tor speedy
action. recommend that q sufficient
sum be appropriated 10 compensate
Commissioner Foreman aud Mea,rs.
Parks * Thompson for their services.
RAILROAD AND MINERAL LANDS.
have received from the legislature
Of Montana q Joint resolution (vxhibit
l3l respecting lands claimed by the
Pacific railroads containing gold, I'll.
ver, copper and lead, with a request
that 1t be submitted 10 the Legislature
Of Utah.
the COLLECTION OF THE REvENUE.
one Of the mos, i'm lortaut questions
that viii require your attention i the
assessment " property aud tle cOllec.
ton OF the revenue. IL ssutns to mo
that tue nystrm which viii permit of
tee most thorough work NJ the least *.
pense viii best serve the public iutor.
ests. In my orinion our present sys.
tenn " 100 expensive, aud entirely
Inadequate 10 the public needs. I'm.
der tie present laws que person "a re-
quifed 81 assess oil the taxable property
In county. In the ease OF "a county
where the settle ments are Few, and the
number OF Inhabitants limited, u il
possible that one psrsDn may list all
the property, but In the more thlclgly
settled counties IL il impossible for him
10 do N. Tho result j. he employs
dcputies, and rs tho salary NJ the depu-
ties must bee paid from the salary OF the
assessor, II Is not unlikely that the
q ut-tlOn Of expense IN an important
Item In determining the amount OF
work 20 be done. do not believe that
sucn system permit, Of u close assess.
mcni. IL T. possible that under 1t
large amount ui taxable property may
escape. As a rule, the farm lnnds, or
the house Hnd lot rarely escape. | bs.
lleye that the nearer the Assessment IL
brought home t. the people, tho better
II viii he, nui suggest for your consid-
Grafton tue system which has been
adopted ny New York and Pennsylva.
MA, AMI which has been in force for
many years. In th,se States each
township, or precinct, as We call IL,
elects an assessor 10 Anrve for two
years. Ona certain day lxel by law
he procure. from the county commits.
AiOners, the same ~ our cJun.
~ courts, the township as.
sessment book OF the proceed.
ing year. In this book under the
name IL shown all tho taxable property
owned by the person In the township
Ut the time the assessment was made.
He visits every person In the township,
and makes the necessary corrections
aud additions In the assessment roll.
When his work IL done, aud he Is re.
quirGd TO complete II within thirty
days, he files his book In the office OF
the county commissioners, soon after
the commissioners sit ~ board OF
equalization for a stated period, aud
then the tax roll II handed over 10 tho
county treasurer Tor collection. These
are, | believe, the essential features
OF tho eystem which exists la these
states. think such a system IL sim.
pie, aud more likely to secure q com.
plete asses meut than ours.
The question OF expense Is also "A
great objection TO our system. am
informed by the clerk that In 1891 tho
expense Of assessing the property and
collecting tho revenue In Salt Lake
county was slI,7jO,00 for salaries, and
ss,Sll.10 for other eNpenRes. la adj.
dition TO this the county treasurer was
paid salarie of Sl00O,JO, making S24;.
1910 in all.
II the New York or Pennsylvania
system was Ia force the expense OF
salaries would only have been S3B1D.OO.
calculating on a basis OF forty precincts
and there are only thirty, with The
salary aud expense OF the treasurer to
be added.
But the contrast does not end here.
In the States | have referred TO the
assessment made by tho township or
ward assessors they are called wards
IN citicsl serves Tor both county aud
municipal purposes, the City Treasurer
collecting thu city taxes. This system
would save the cities the salaries OF am
Assessor aud Collector and other ex.
penscs.