The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-02-18

the present time is 27.50 per thousand. If
the railroad property. were assessed in
the same manner as the other property OF
ABLY less than TWO per cent. OF course,
such a reduction in the tax rate would very
fsrgeiy increase the values Of all the
Again. if the railroad companies were
assessed like individuals upon their hold
ing they would take an interest in the city
government and receive a salutary effect
thereon in the direction of economy. Jer-
sey city has the. right to demand equal
Lehigh valley Railroad Company has
been purchasing large blocks of property
IN Jersey City, and that as 2 matter Of
property, and thereby Increases the bur-
den of individual taxation.
be s seen 'bby By It's present oa mt v WSrsin ays'sIg Jersey say
City has a large debt resting upon It:
When this debt was created nearly all
jeet thereto. BY the workings of the
property is purchased for railroad pur-
poses. so much of the security OF the
bondholders of the city Ia taken away,
and the burden of the remaining property
0w S1erse y c lafyel in ahi IS m ans same asks Es'i Simply
Mr.: Henry =; condict followed the
Mayor. He said that there were two
classes in Jersey City-one. the railroads.
a privileged class. and the other. the pri-
vate property owners, the unprivileged
s fhe ral AesGEdi paid e s s tax pr ons class sysss o9
property and sl5 upon another. while the
Individual property owner paid 81. 50.
discrimination In New York and Penn
sylvania the railroads paid the same as
individuals.
you say they paid alike in Pennsyl-
vania 2"
Yes. sir replied Mr.. Condict.
: We'll. the railroads dontt pay anything
Then I'm sorry for Pennsylvania," re-
piled Mr.. Condict, while Mr.. Dear re-
marked that that showed bow the rail-
roads had Pennsylvania in their grip.
Resuming, Mr. Condict made a special
appeal to each member of the committee
by name. Mr.. Tice. of Mtddlesex asked
tax the corporations twice, once at the
present State rate and again at the diff
ference between that rate and the local
rate. Mr.; Condict replied because If they
did not let the present State rate remain
there would be a State tax and the rural
communities in which7 there is no rail-
n Hudson County did not secure relief
in this direction, he continued, she would
be driven into bankruptcy. He declared
that the railroads were not a charity and
should not be exempted from taxation.
why last year." ne said, the rail-
iOduS lldue $7], wv, Uuu, anu yet iuGy COtIie
to the Legislature and ask to be exempt
like any other charity. The railroad pre-
perty in Jersey City, he declared, was the
they were trying to put a value on the
water front of Jersey City the late Gov
ernor Bedle exclaimed:-'Put a value on
it. sir. It's ~invaluable" And that was
the roperty Mr.. Condict. said which was
practically Exempt.
mostly non-residents of the State, and
yet the Legislature exempted them from
taxation; took money out of the pockets
into the pockets Of citizens Of another
State.
Jersey city can have All the railroad
stock she wants II she will pay for it,"
Jersey City win never have money
enough to buy stock while this unequal
taxation exists" said Mr.. Holt.
well, that's not our fault" chuckled
Mr.. Allen.
Mr.. Condict then went onto show how
Notwithstanding. that the railroads did
had the use and enjoyment Of the city
water, fire and police departments. AS
soon as there is a riot or any other dis
notify the authorities that they will hold
them responsible for any loss they might
sustain. In closing. Mr.. Condict said that
the prosperity of the cities, and that the
committee should insure the prosperity
of Jersey City by passing the bill, for il
the railroads continually buying property
which is taken out of the local tax levy
the city would soon BECOME bankrupt.
W on property valued at $1,000, on which
he paid $500. and property in the same
taxing district around the corner from
and assessed at 50, 600. on which the COM
pany only paid $40.
Mr.. Allen and Mr.. Lower chairman of
the committee, recognizing the force of
this argument began to ask Mr.. Condict
irrelevant questions about whether that
81. 1000 covered the house and lot in his
alone in the case of the railroad com
pany. This started a discussion, in which
Mr.. Condict's foreible example was soon
lost sight of.
Mr.. Joseph A. Dear said that he wished
to refute the argument which was made
in favor of the system in the State Board
present system was wise and Just be-
cause the property of railroads was taxed
to it's full value, while that of individuals
value. He said that railroad property wa
assessed at the same value today 1t was
in 1884, while the Individual ptoperty had
Of ofnt Ohio. GMassachusetts and illinois tax
said, and New Jersey was the only State
to a k care Of those corporations.
Excuse me-" broke in Mr.. Allen again,
did I understand you to say that Illinois
"Yes, sir" replied Mr.. Dear
ut is not SOL retorted Mr.. Allen, 'the
New Jersey act is copied from the law Of
illinois," .
aWell, there's where you're wrong"
exclaimed Mr.. Dear in triumph. II knew
I'd be taken up on this, 80 / brought the
law with me. Here it ISL harding Mr..
Allen a book, "and you can read while I
Continuing, Mr.. Dear said that the city
of Chicago received from the railroads
in that city $1.2O6. sos more than the
entire State of New Jersey receives from
its railroads. The Illinois Central Rail
road pays to the State of Illinois Z per
cent. of its gross earnings. This WAS a
remarkable showing, Mr.. Dear said, when
compared to what the New Jersey rail-
Myron J. Furst was the next speaker
Il am a stockholder in the corpora
ton of Jersey City. The stock of that
city at present is bad, n 1t is getting
smaller. In ordinary business when that
state Of affairs occurs LII usual to call
you can. That course in. the ease Of
Jersey city is not advisable. What is
vance, asSsI Since 1870 sS'f the ciity Of Broakiyn
has increased its population from 1850 0
to over I,000, 600. Jersey City has only
have as good advantages and as many
The reason Is thai we don't collect
enough taxes. and we cannot hold the
r~ent-payer. We are almost the only large
city that has not a decent park, and
the amount of our assessable valuations
is constantly decreasing because of the
n,.roba eaS rrado hv Tho rafIraade - 4t