Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-04

state of North Dakota:
Great Northern railroad. S1O5l "a
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul. 118 81
Chicago s Northwestern...: 10 q S SS
And for the year 1894 on that number
Of miles of track, road-bed, right Of way
and rolling stock they will pay the fol-
lowing amounts of taxes:
Great Northern. 500, 3O8 go
Chicago, Milwaukee & ST. Paul. $3.50 81
Chicago & Observation-Disclosures. o' i59 IS Is
Making an average tax per mile on the
Great Northern of 1851; on the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & st. Paul, S21.51; 500,
$13.35, and Chicago & Northwestern,
S11.13.
Taking it for granted that a mile of
railroad, roadbed and ri%ght-of-way with
it's proportionate share of rolling stock,
depots and other buildings and appli-
ances used in the operation of same, is
worth only one-half the amount of con-
struction bonds taken by the Holland
syndicate IN the Gaeat;Northern, namely,
s6.75O, and the levy for state, municipal
and school purposes at 30 mills would
amount to 5000 so, or $1l6.59 per mile
more than the Great Northern pays, or
1909 per mile more than the Chicago,
Milwaukee & st. Paul now pays, $189.15
per mile more than the 500 now pays,
and $l9l.37 more than the Chicago
Northwestern now pays. The 500 road
owns and operates in Ransom county,
1884 miles, on which they pay a tax of
$l55.86, or $668 tax for county purposes
for a mile of railroad. In Cass county,
the 500 road pays on 1872 miles of road
for county purposes, S32.85, or s6.68 per
mile, and at that rate the 500 road pays
taxes In Barnes, Cass, Dickey, Foster,
LaMoure, McHenry, Ransom, Richland,
Sargent, Stutsman, Ward and Wells
counties. Let every %taxpaying member
of the legislature ask himself the ques-
ton whether or not the taxpayers of his
county are not compelled to pay more
taxes than this for county purposes on a
single quarter section Of land in his
county; and whether or not it is a fair,
just and equitable proportion for a cor
poration to pay, compared with the
taxes that all business, including the ag-
ri%culturist, pays. The Chicago & North
western railroad pays on IA miles of
railroad in Dickey county $79.58, or the
enormous sum of 1854 per mile for
county purposes. The Chicago, Mil
waukee & st. Paul pays for county
purposes $l0.T per mile to the counties
of Cass, Dickey, LaMoure, Richland and
Sargent. Compare these figures with the
value of the property as assessed by the
local assessors of the various counties
and the tax the farmer is compelled to
pay upon everything he uses in connec.
ton with his business, and see if COM
PARSONS ARE O 1NDEE oD1oUs.
A short time ago, I addressed a letter
to afarmer il Emmons county, a county
which has no railroad, and asked him
to give me his gross earnings on a quar-
ter section of land for the year 1894, and
he informed me as follows:
r. N. Stevens, Bismarck, N. Oak.
Sir: In answer to your inquiry as to
what tax [ pay on a quarter section of land
in Emmons county, l cannot give you what
would probably be a satisfactory answer.
SO far as gross earnings is concerned, 1
have not received 500 worth of crops off
OF my 100 acres of land, or that part of
it which is in cultivation which is a little
more than one half, in the past three years.
My crops have been a failure, inc I cannot
therefore report you to exceed 500 as my
gross earnings for the past three years. l
don't remember the amount of taxes I have
had to pay. as 1 have not at hand my tax
receipts. 1 know, however, that the tax
which has been levied, and which l will
have to pay on my quarter section of land,
and the stock W in connection there
With, amounts to something like 1923 or 1924
per year. There is no sale for land in this
nelgh1ornoo at any price. The first time
matter up, and write you more definitely.
Yours respectfully,
l ask every farmer who reads this
article to examine his tax receipts, and
ascertain the amount of levy and the
amount of assessment. Multiply the levy
by the assessment and ascertain for them
selves it they are not paying three or
four times more taxes, according to the
actual value of the property owned by
them, than the railroad companies are
paying under a gross earnings system,
and then ask themselves the question, if
they do not believe it to be right and just
that a corporation that pays dividends
on 100 per cent of watered stock should
contribute in some more equal proper.
ton to the discharge Of the burdens OF
taxation. Let every board of county
commissioners who assemble at their
January meeting examine their records
and ascertain from them the rate of tax.
alton and the assessed valuation placed
upon property, and compare that with
the amount of taxes the railroad com
panies in their counties pay per mile,