Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1894-02-08
L. L, Parker'S Promised Letter.

OF a mans character, 1t is impos
Slole to reply to them in detail, TO,
when you stoop tograsp them ther,
Is nothing i'll them, and calline
men liars, besides being the Ian
guage of blackguards, proves moth,
ing. So will make a plain state,
ment OF the actual facts in the mat.
ter OF my last assessment in the
county, and my present work on
last owners maps. Beginning bv
saying that all l will say is open to
easy proof, and if any taxpayer in
the county wants to investigate any
part OF 1t, let him come to the coun-
| ty-Seut turu will iHSit~erf,.iI,aail, "A ,......
l undertook the assessment in
this county in March last without a
particle of data of any description
to guide me, no map, no tax roll,
no records or assistance whatever.
l was simply tnrned loose to assess
the county for the first time. 1t
would be a most extraordinary
thins II, under the circumstances, 1
had made no mistakes, There are
doubtless some names left off the
assessment roll, but who for q mo,
ment supposes that if my intention
was fraud l would begin at home
by leaving such prominent men off
as ], S, Copeland, whose affidavit
was published with such a flourish
OF trumpets the other day? The
facts about him are that / went to
him repeatedly for his assessment,
and failed to get il until too late.
Badly handicapped as was |
found and assessed at a much lower
rate than heretofore, a gross value
oil 81 ,o49, 900 worth of property,
III this county, which is nearly
$500, 900 more than was ever assess
ed, and received as a total com,
pensation from the county $763. 30.
OF this | paid about 5000 for clerk
hire and supplies, and two of us
worked night and day for FIVE weeks
making out the roll; then take $500
which is reasonable for travelling
count on warrants, and you have
about $500 as my total compensa-
tion for the years work. And this
is all true. If you doubt 1t come
here and / will prove it to you.
Section 1862 Of Hills annotated
code, Vol. 2, 1892, reads as follows:
"It shall be the duty of the asses
sor in each county to make out ana
retain in his possession q duplicate
of his assessment roll, and shall
make the necessary corrections
therein, so that such duplicate will
correspond with the assessment roll
on file in the Office of the county
clerk, and also make a plat of the
government survey, and town plats
within his county, and note there
on the owner OF each tract of land
and of each town lot, and deliver
such duplicate assessment roll and
plats, and other documents relating
to his successor in Office. y
By this you will see that the law
compels me to furnish just what |
am furnishing set of last owners
maps for every township and town
site in the county, and of course the
law contemplates that the assessor
shall be paid. Now to do this
would cost the county about 81 900
which would have to be paid out OF
the county funds whether one cent
Of additional tax was collected or
not. In the meantime an evil came
to light which Becessitated a reme-
dy, in the way of double assess
ments on the roll that came from
Benton county, which cost the
county about 8, 100 in the way of
extra state tax, printing and deliu-
quent rolls, To obviate this en-
tirely a thorough system must be
adopted by which to do the work.
To get a complete system required
additional labor, so waived my
right 10 compensation under the
law and agreed with the county
court to furnish the maps for the
amount they would have to pay the
state as state tax, and which they
would not have to pay, and to wait
or my pay until the tax was col.
ected, so that instead Of paying the
state they would pay me, and the
would not be out one cent,
hereby saving the county 81 900,
IS ] have explained above.
IN order to do the, work we'll
secured the services Of one Of the
pest abstractors in the state, Mr..