The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-12-19

Ing them as adapted to railroad uses,
but without reference to the location p1
the particular road or Its capabilities:
that the market value OF the stock Of
the indicated an excess OF value
beyond this appraised value OF its prep
Board proceeded to find this factor.
which obviously enhanced the value of
the road as an entirety, and which had
not been embraced in the estimations all
ready made; this ~unvaIued factor was
ascertained by adding to the market
value of the stock the debts of the com
pdny, and deducting from the sum so
found the value of the corporate prop
erty as appraised by the Board. 1t is
plain that the subtrahend obtained by
this process represents what had been
the entire road, its chartered privileges
included. It was sixty per cent. of the
it the value Of the franchise, added to
the sum of the valuations made by it,
IN manner already mentioned, of the real
and tangible property Of the company,
stract value and of the adventurous
value of the road. that its entire value
was found. 1t Is quite impossible for the
Court to say that the result thus reach
ed is in anywise erroneous or excessive.
1t is certainly not excessive if the mar
ket value OF the stock OF the company
sions after the deduction of its debts,
for the Board has discounted largely
from It's estimate obtained on that basis.
We can perceive nothing in the facts be-
( fore US that would justify us in inter-
fering with valuations Of this class
As to the second-eiass property Of the
Delaware, Laekawanna and Western
Railroad, and The maps Of Jersey City,
showing the assessed value Of all locally
assessed vacant real estate adjoining to
the railroad property, and which was pre-
| pared at the solicitation of the allied
counsel for companies, shows as a fact
the valuation put by the local assessors
upon such lands IN Jersey City to be not
more than FIVE per cent; below the Stands
| ard of the State Board of Assessors.
State Board standard, S22,a 29, 140; local
standard. 81, 5E. sS7.
OF the lands which Mr.. unruh estimates,
standard, at about $4,000 per acre, the
most southerly portion, 35,725 acres, or
about one-third of the whole, was pur-
chased by the e Ssn9 So nn June a 1854, the
| $50, 385 per acre The land was then only
partially filed and Subject to overflow
at high tide. The Commission have seen
| the extensive improvements placed there
on. It is assessed by the State Board
at $40. 600 per acre.
1t is not denied that comparison made
between the State Board valuation Of
| the local ASSESSORS value OF adjacent
| lands, as lnstanceds by counsel for the
Central Railroad of New Jersey, or that a
few acres of land wrenched from the
main stem OF a railroad, and compared
| With the Assessors value Of the acres OF
salt marsh or farm lands adjoining. may
| show large differences. But it is as
| ridiculous to attempt to compare an acre
| In the main stem of a railroad or a build
| ing lot in the centre Of a terminal yard
as to its value for residence or store pur-
poses, as it would be to fix the value Of
| a lot in Fifth avenue, New York, on the
| basis of what 1t would be worth as the
| site of a coal trestle or water tank.
A very large proportion of the second
class railroad property in the State would
be of little value for any other use. In
most cases its adoption to railroad uses
isolated and cut OFF from its connection as
a part of the unit or machine 1t would
be worthless, but the main stem without
depot plots, yards or terminals would lose
a great portion of Its value. Ten acres
of the land in the main stem of the Della
ware, Lackawanna and Western Rail-
road cut out and alienated from the rest
| of the roadway between the Hudson and
the Delaware would destroy a great part
of the value of the road. It would make
little difference whether this severed por-
ton was taken from a point where ada
cent lands were worth 10000 per acre or
L $50 per acre.
There is ne warrant in the law or the
| practice of the State Beard of Assessors
to sanction the method of dissection of
railroad property as practised by counsel
for the companies before this Commission.
The courts of the State have determined
that the roads are valued as a unit, and
tHSg SO uecIdeu dlteF tne same ume
had been presented by the same counsel
for the same railroad as are now pre-
sented to this Commission. The separa-
ton Of main stem. personal and second
class was only for the purpose of con-
venience in computation and distribution
of the tax.
II was proven in the tax eases of 1884
and 1855 that the State Board of Asses
sors did not accept and use cost of re-
production as value-that the value placed
by the Board upon the Central Railroad
of New Jersey was far below the cost of
reproduction as found by the States en-
| ufneers and tpStffea Ia nv axparfS