The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-20
|nO. MORE CONCESSIONS
Board Of Appeals hsst Dismouat
Prom Their Altitudiaous Steed.
ASSESSORS WILL SIMPLY WAIT
Unless the ASSESSOR Are Allowed tho
Use Of the 1905 Books They viii Not
Make the Assessment. Because These
Books Are Indispensable.

There is Just a bare possibility that
the board Of appeals may result In the
year passing by without an assessment
being made.
The city assessors aver that they can
not complete the assessment to the
satisfaction of themselves, and the city
without having the use Of the 1896 books
for making comparisons; the board of
appeals will not allow them to use
these books unless they move their Of
flee to the quarters Of the board of up
peals; and as by doing this the asses
sors would be virtually conceding the
disputed point, whether or not they
need Office quarters-it Is not at all
likely that they will gain access to the
books under those conditions.
Assessor H.. d. Jones says that they
wont. He was seated in his Office yes
terday, with his elbows resting on the
arms Of his Easy chair, and his hands
clasped before him, looking away into
the far beyond as II absorbed in deep
came upon him with the customary
sally: Anything new?"
Cannot Mako Assessment.
Eyes, there is" said Mr.. Jones. 1.-THE
board of assessors will not be able to
lIIuhC Oil tiiAo ySSA aitS
there Is some change in the existing
conditions. We are about through with
the work Of noting changes and i'm
provements in properties since last year
and should loon be at work on h as
sessment, to make which 1t will be nee
essary for us to have the 1895 books.
We have asked for them. but the board
Of appeals will not let us have them;
not even n at a time. l can't under
stand why they refuse us these books.
when we gave them up we merely
did so to avoid any dispute. The board
of appeals agreed at that time to let
us have two books at a time when
aver we desired to consult them. They
refuse now to let US take even M book
out of their office. Do they think we are
thieves or that W. will eat the books?
/ am ready to give bonds for the books
while they are in u possession II that
Is what they are afraid of. No they
want to force US to come TO-. their
quarters and be subservient to them.
| thereby proving their contention that
the assessors have no need OF an Of
flee. Unless we make this concession
there can be no assessment made this
year, and I do not think We will make
any such concession"
Tried TO Avoid Trouble.
we IdNC uOhC al lliuk YAH DC CA-
pected of us by way of AVOIDING trouble.
We rave felt right along that the board
of appeals Is an illegally constituted
body and we were taking a big respon-
sibility when we allowed ourselves to be
induced to recognize them. The act says
distinctly that the board shall organize
on or before the first Monday in Sep
TENDER. This board was not elected
until a month later and therefore are
~~A 10 ~ Alt~ yy>n VIy@ 40 Al
old board, working under the old act,
by virtue of the law which directs us to
fulfill oud duties until u successors
are duly qualified, concluded when the
first Monday in September passed by
without a board of appeals being or
ganized. that they could not legally or
ganize this year and so went in with
the assessment.
I'm their own good time the members
Of the board of appeals got together and
in defiance to the law organized lille
gally and assumed the power which q
legally organized board Is entitled to
At the advice of the city solicitor we
refrained from making an attack on the
illegality of the board. fearing that Il
the matter went into court 1t might in.
terfere with the assessment. which mus
be completed before January 1. Tht
board Of appeals also agreed to accept
u assessment, n as we supposed
both sides were to shut their eyes or
t~echnicalities and proceed harmoni.
moniously in the work before us.
Board Wants Too Much.
Having made concessions to then
for the sake of peace and the city's wei.
fare, they want us to make others, som
Of which are forbidden by the law an(
some of which our dignity and manhood
will not permit. The Outshot of thu
whole matter Is that we will sit here
until we get the books and If no assess
ment is made we feel that we can sat
isfy the courts and citizens that WI arr
not responsible for the dire conse'
Mr.Jones also referred to the attempt,
of the board of appeals to cut down tn,
salary Of the assessors clerk and to fl,
the assessors remuneration at so mucl
q day, characterizing these efforts a.
childish. spite-work, unworthy of mel
entrusted with the responsibility O
city government. He furthermOr,
claimed that any act of the board Of ap
peals was subject to n contest in thu
courts because of the board being al
illegally constituted body.