The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-01-31
from $50 to $500 for each offenst
The act concludes by appropriate
ing 100000 to carry it's provisioA!.t
into effect. &

ago, calling on the governor to GI
plain why the state board OF eqnxl}
cation taxed farm property near IL
real value and railroad property at 7
very low figure. Now comes Gov
ernor Stone with an answer In ths
form of a special message TO tbs
house, in which he insists as pre-
amble to the mass of figures givei
that the man from Usage predicateS
his resolution on a mistake In fact
that while II is, therefore, hafdN
worth snswsriegS Z 11Iosds "a opp
In his special message the governo
declares that the house has beer
"betraye ed into an unwarranted crit
cism of state officials" He denie'
that the board of equalization ha'
ever added sixty five million dollar,
to the farm assessments of the state
He declares that the assessments oI
1893 of real and personal property
aggregated 1854, ,353, 1903, and of 1894
1887, 7,279, $40. The state board in
creased this $37, 7,Ol6, ,712, s29, 100, 145
fell on st. Louis city and county and
Jackson county and So, ,172, 956 on
acre property. The total assesse d
valuation of farm property in 1894
was 1906, ,920, ,048 and of city and town
lots, 1887, 700, 900, while the farm
taxes aggregated S767 900 and town
lots taxes about one million dollars.
The governor declares that the
increases were due to the efforts of
the state board to equalze valuations
between the several counties of the
state and not individuals. The local
assessments as returned showed
grossest inequalities. Many instan
ces Of these are given-notably,
Atchison county, sI1.20 per acre,
and Nodaway, richer and more val
liable, $9.37; Barton, 1888, and
Vernon, 5000, though the latter was
more valuable in every way; Living =
ston, 1856, and Charlton, S627;
Knox, $7.17, and Putnam, 81 80.
In each case the assessment of the
lower county was raised 80 as to
make it juster by comparison. The
governor declares his firm belief that
all intelligent people will approve
of the work of the board.
AS to railroad assessments. the
governor says that in 1893 the rail
roads of the state were valued at
$64 ,473, 900 and in 1894 at 500, 1855,
900. This does not include terminal
assessments made by local authority
The action Of the state board In
dealing with the railroads Is ex-
planned at length and it is held tha;
the assessments were made AZ nearly
in conformity with justice as posi-
BILE. He acknowledges that the
and buildings of rail :
roads are not assessed at full value,
but the assessments are relatively as
high as upon other property. He
shows that the average valuation per
mile in Iowa is s5,293; in Kansas,
SO, ,626; in Illinois, $S,542, and in
Missouri, sl1,157. In Missouri the
Chicago & Alton is assessed at $17, :
500 per mile, while the same road in
Illinois is assessed at only S10,545
per mile. If similar comparisons
should be made of roads extending
from Missouri into Iowa or Kansas,
the contrast will appear all the more
marked and striking. Thus 1t will be
seen that railroad properties in MIS-
souri, are assessed very much higher
than in the great states upon the
border of this state.
In closing the governor says
"The intimation contained in the
resolution adopted by the house that
the state board had Disseminated
against farm property and in favor
of railroads in making and equaliz-
ing assessments is unauthorized by
the facts. The increase made by the
board on farm property was only
All per cent. as against 1853 pei
cent. of increase on railroad prop
erty. I call attention to the fact that
of the SO, ,037, ,523 paid into the state
treasury in 1894, about "a per cent
was derived from taxes levied upon
farm property, real and personal ;
about 40 per cent. was from taxes
collected from city and town prop
erty, real and personal, al d the
remaining 20 per cent. came from
corporation and license taxes and
fron miscellaneous sources. / be-
lieve 1t is true that large amount Of
property escapes tax tion altogether
and that one or two classes of prop
erty are assessed much too low; bul
this is due to defects in the law, ant
is matter over which the state
board has absolutely no control, ant
which cannot be remedied except By
amending the statutes. To this very
important work OF revising anc
amending the revenue laws invite
the attention and corporation o
the general assembly. Irespectfull!
submit that the public interests car
be better promoted by sincere effort
TO enact good and much needed leg