The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1895-03-23
Some of the Correspondence of
This Wonderfully Ratified
BlaclStOnian.
SOMEWHAT FORCETFUL OF FIGURES.
He Makes Himself the Wafer
Company and Runs 1t with
High Hand.

We have gone to some pains to
procure the letters of Thos. +. Brady
verbatim copies of which are sub
joined. A little Of the story in their
connection will serve to make them
more Ineligible or understandable.
1t seems that in assessing the proper
ty of the Neihart water company, Of
ficials had always taken the statement
Of Mr.. Brady, the Lord-knows- what
of the company, in matters relating
to the amount of property held by
the company. Mr.. Brady first states
as will be seen, that he has Tor they
have) 9,7OO feet of main pipe, of
which only 5000 feet is within the
town limits, and SO subject to the
town levy. 1t would have been bet
ter had the writer remembered his
story and repeated it, instead of writ
ing, after one year, "You will notice
that only 1000 feet of our water pipe
is situate within your city limits"
These discrepancies of figures led to
a survey Of the mains within the city
limits, which was conducted by Dep
uty Sheriff Jennings, Marshal Muir
ply and City Attorney Bennett, who
reported 1926 feet of main pipe
actually within the town.
In order to settle upon basis of
taxation for the company's property
in 1893 the following letter was writ
ten to j. J. Hennessy, assessor at the
time:
Great Falls, Montana, Jun. "a, '93.
To the Assessor, Meagher Co.,
Dear sir: Please find herewith en-
closed assessment list furnished our col
lector at Neihart, of the Neihart water
company. 1t was mislad and only
reached me few days ago, since which
time have used due diligence in getting
you the information needed on the sub
ject. The list will show you the number
| of feet of pipe we have laid, the value of
Der of hydrants.
OF this 9,70O feet, when you come to
make up the town assessment list for the
town of Neihart, you will find that only
5000 feet of this pipe is situate within
the corporate limits.
Yours truly, Thos E. Brady,
Sec. Neihart Water Co.
This misstatement had grown cold
and time rolled around when another
had to be made. Here is the second
letter:
Great Falls, Mont, July %, "a.
To the mayor and city council of Neihart
Gentlemen notice by the Neihart
papers that your body, sitting in some
representative capacity, raised, or decid-
ed to raise The assessment of the Neihart
water company from $2,525 to $4,000,
and that further action was to be taken
by your body on this matter Aug. 81.
(Here the writer indulges in a lengthy
| flight of jingo, giving the council to un-
derstand, what everybody knows, that a
| towns assessment must be the same as
the county's assessment within the town,
that town taxes and county taxes must
be computed upon the same base and
that our honorable body should know
that it has no power to raise assess
ments.)
| will state that the figures at which
our plant is assessed as given by the pa
per and brought before your body, arc
certainly erroneous, because our plant
was listed this year, and from figures
have, who did the listing, it was turned
in at Stab the same as last year.
You will notice that only 1000 feet OF
our water pipe is situate within youl
city limits. Yours respectfully,
Thos f. Brady.
The discrepancy of figures in the
above is noticeable. Every man Sc
cures an assessment of his property
at as low figure as possible. Blu
where is the man who so clouds tn.
assessor with false reports, that h'
escapes paying taxes for that whicl
he really has? The man who has hi
property assessed for half its value
is excusable; but what shall we sa,
of the lustful wretch who hides hal
his property, and not only does h
not report it to the assessor, but act
ually swears he hasn't it. No maj
who will bury his property and max
false statements to the assessor, ca
be called an honest or aw-abidin!
citizen.
The county of Meagher is suini