The record-union., 1893-08-29

| III itdAlLdblOI N6StCIudN. I6udlId anu
| Sacramento Counties had been cited to
appear in regard to property assessments,
and Los Angeles County had had her
hearing continued till that date, so that
representatives of all three counties were
on hand, if not eager for the fray.
Tehama had the first inning, and AS
! SCISSOR Barham, supported by j. S. Cone
and Supervisors Z. 0. White, D. B.
Lyons and II. S. Bressler, were her repre-
sentatives. Assessor Barham made
statement of reasons for depreciation of
| property in the county.
| The lowest land, he said, was assessed
at 81, and there was lots of land not worth
! 10 cents an acre-that between Big and
Little Antelope Greeks, for instance
The sheep that were turned out on it
managed to get little feed from it. Tho
French estate was appraised at 81 so per
acre. 4,49l acres. and the administrator
tried three times to sell it at public sale,
| but could only get bid of 50 50 per acre.
He finally got bid of So, and sold it for
! that price. 1t is assessed for So an acre
and $500 improvements, or $500 more
than it sold for. He mentioned lots in the
| city that were assessed for 81 800 and sold
for 81 200.
NOT CLOSELY SETTLED.
| Mr.. Morehouse asked if, when some
! land in the valley was assessed at $50 per
acre, land on the opposite side Of the
river would sell for as much as that. He
was answered that he did not think it
would. Some of it had not done so.
! Between MIR. Cones north line and the
river Is distance of twelve miles and
/ har ic nj cot i IL
I there are 50 large that he cannot place
high values on the land as could be done
| II 1t were well settled. He was about
| S46,0OO in advance of what he was last
| year. He assessed telephones at Sl25
and the Board of Supervisors did not
change it; in fact it had not during the
past seven years changed his figures, al
though he had had some hard fights with
| it. He should have telephone line for
/ sale soon if the company did not pay it's
taxes. He had assessed it as realty, in
accordance with the instructions of the
State Board of Equalization.
Some of it was on the county road,
some on railroad property and some on
private property. Most of the boxes in
the county are in use by the Sierra
Lumber Company, which paid the assess
ment on them last year and will probably
pay it this year. To enforce the collection
of taxes now would be to stop the wheels
of their machinery and throw several
hundred men out of employment, there
fore he had not treated it as personal
property. The boxes he had assessed as
| improvements.
SPECIMEN RANCH.
Returning to land values, be said that
Mr.. Cones land, he was satisfied, under
| the present circumstances, would not sell
as a whole for 25 per cent. of what il is
| assessed for. 1t contains nearly $1,000
| acres.
| He believed that the best lands-those
! best calculated to make living from-are
all in the hands of five or six men, and
he believed that fact retarded the pros
| perity of the county and kept down
! values, but he had no disposition on ac-
count of his opinion to do an injustice to
Mr.. Cone or anyone else. 1t was his duty
to protect them equally with those who
had small holdings.
CONE IS LAND POOR.
Mr.. Cone said he would be glad to sell
his land if he could find purchasers, but
at present there are none. lie was land
poor, and did not know where he should
get money TO pay his taxes. Their crops
bad not paid expenses, and there was no
money in the county-it is to-day the
poorest county i'll the State.
Mr.. Barham stated that heretofore the
members Of the board who had visited
his county had endeavored to make an
examination of the land, poor as well as
good. MIR. Hebbron's time was limited.
and he only saw the best of the land. He
would have been glad, had time allowed,
to show him other qualities-the sheep
land and medium qualities. He thought
from that fact that Mr.. Hebron would
class the lands in the county higher than
they should be classed, and hoped that
| those memb bers of the board who had in
former times been over the ground would
remember that it was not all frst-class
land.
heard, Sacramento's hearing was deferred
till to-day.
Los ANGELES UNDER FIRE.
In the afternoon j. w, Cook. Chair
man of the Board of Supervisors, Super
visor e. A. Forester, Andrew Smith and
g. J. Griffith, capitalist of the county
appeared in behalf of Los Angeles
County. They presented such a tormi-
dable appearance that the board did not
feel competent to stand them off till two
belated members made their entry, and
the interest on the S74, So, ,547 assessment
OF the county during the half-hour's de-
lay amounted TO a nice little sum.
Mr.. Cook said the county was placed in
dlsadvantageous position through the
TACT that the Assessor was not able to be
present. He desired to call attention to
the fact that their fruit lands had greatly
decreased in value. Notwithstanding
this. the assessment had been raised on
such lands 10 per cent, and that made it
much higher than it was selling for.
He read a communication from the
Assessor to him, stating that he had given
careful attention to the values of citrus
fruit in the San Gabriel, AZucO and Po-
mona Valleys, and had raised the assess
meut on them S2Sl ,675, although he much
doubted the justice of doing so. He
raised the assessment of various other
places and for various amounts.
WHY PROPERTY HAS DEPRECATED.
The depressed state of the fruit and nut
interests had determined him not to raise
some other localities, therefore he had
not done so. Property in the city, north
of Temple street, he had not reduced this
year, but it would evidently have to be
reduced next year, as at this date it
would not bring within one-third as
much as it is assessed for, in payment of
Just debt from a solvent debtor. His
personal property roll he had raised
about $4,000 over last year, when it was
very low.
WHY DID GRAY NOT COME?
Mr.. Swan asked Mr.. Cook if he thought
that the fact that Mr.. Gray, the Assessor.
could not answer the questions of the
board satisfactorily had anything to do
with his not appearing before the board,
He was answered that Mr.. Cook did not
think that was the case but he did not
know why he was not here.