The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-03-10
ABSOLUTELY pUEE

Seiyeu SO mucn attention as the present
Of the present Governor. John w. Griggs,
lnat II was drafted and passed. Ii was
SEE aside BY the Supreme Court. 1t was
sustained py- the Court of Errors ard
Appeals. and the conclusion was adj
Vanced that the scheme of the tax on
railroads by q different rule. from other
Ine scneme of taxation ~of 1884 has be-
come a part OF our system of State taxa
ton. It has filled the Golfers of the
become a part Of the charter of each rail-
roao. The Lehigh. Valley has a New
Jersey Division and a New Jersey ter
IieId 70 Jersey, City. On it they have ex-
pended several millions of dollars. These
improvements were made on the belief
would prevail, but now it is proposed to
cnange the system and impose greater
taxes by putting a double value on The
main stem. The system proposed by the
new bill differs from the uniformity of the
law and the constitution which provides
that taxation shall be at the true value,
The method of computing the value of
the main stem. Mr.. MeClrter thought,
was Illegal The entire stem is assessed
ty lines are assessed. lie then quoted
specifically some piece of road in a
sp,asssely settled county with. or perhaps.
would be impossible fer a local assessor
to put a value on the strip of tracks and
sleepers. He asked pertinently how an
assessor was going to separate the value
OF the three stations on the main ilne
In the city of Newark. The Board Of AS
SCISSORS fix a value of the main stem as
an entirety. then assess 1t in each county.
and If the total of the parts do not equal
the whole of the value of the main stem,
il Is not equal and just taxation.
Mr.. McCarter then showed that rail-
road is a class of property by itself. 1t
is at all times subject to legislative con-
troll, which Is not the case with individual
nr0nGFfN n Tl flraoH tfC In III A n
do business, even If the stockholders have
no profit. an individual can stop Whenever
it is burdensorle to do business. If a
railroad stops ten days, its charter is in
danger. Some years ago, several rail-
roads combined to regulate the sale of
coal. The Court of Chancery interfered
dividuals come. together and fix a price
for certain articles under their control.
RAILROADS must pay a tax on franch Sc.
the privilege to do business. Railroad
property is again special, because its
property is taxed to its full valuation.
wheelbarrow and pick axe as the personal
property of the railroad. It is a matter
Of fact that, it is. generally considered
and that other property is assessed at
about sixty per cent. of its value. He
stated that he had it from a tax assessor
prominent politician, that he always taxed
corporation property fifty per cent. higher
than private property. He then argued
that If the tax assessors Of Jersey City
would carry out the letter of the law
and assess property at its true value;
and if forty per cent. was added to the
more a year than would come into the
treasury by the proposed scheme of equal
taxation for railroads.
With what show Of Justice" he asked,
raising his right arm, .'siall Jersey City
tax her property at only sixty per cent.
of the value, and then ask railroads to
pay full value. and even a double valua-
larly since personal property of her citi-
zens IS not taxed at all n many instances
and railroad properly is?-
road property be over-taxed. when much
of the taxable property of communities
aas been created by the rsilroads9' He
1865. showing how thousands OF acres of
improved property was then mad lots. He
referred to the growth of many of the
roads that made them. He said that
the value of the criminal property Of the
seven railroads Of Jersey City is s24, 6Ss, Isl,
roads have relieved The state Of any
State tax. and for this they get no
credit. The effect of the legislation pro-
endless litigation; The bill seems only
to apply. to Hudson county and Jersey
City. If there was more economy prac-
ticed in the administration Of public af-
q IL tSSI
and the need of SO much money. Newark
has only a rate of Sl.9S on the hundred ard
Jersey City $2.75 He said it was his be-
lie work had much TO do with the condi-
ton of affairs in Jersey City. There are
evidences OF wrongful e-xtravagance and
Hall and Court House. If Jersey City
was governed with economy and thr #.
the situation would be different. Under
up the wastefulness by this extra taxa
ton.
Re was Of the opinion that the state
through railroad taxation. It has led the
people into extravaganza. When money
IS needed for useless things. the screw is
Mr.. Condict followed. and he said he
was going to talk ON the subject for the
last time. He thought the lrallroad rep
iect, and after referring to the fact that
the Legislature is not 10 consider how
much railroads are making or losing, ne
held up a book and asked them to imagine
it to be a piece of property worth $1,000,
on which he pays taxes, and ne held up
that as a piece of railroad property as
sessed at $1,000. As an Individual he
pays $3.50 taxes and the railroad pays
s. on the same property. and ne wanted
to know by what reasoning the dIscrimin-
alton was made.
He hen eombatted the proposition ad-
NdbG6Q ny MI. 4SlCSdIttE dIQ OtleFSs LIldl
railroads built up communities. He said
that communities helped railroads as we'll,
but that was no argument on the question
why railroad property should be under
valued.
He then paid his respects to ex-Judge
j. Frank Fort, whose arguments last
week had not been answered. Judge
Fort said that the tax law was a policy
of the State, and he wanted to know who
had promulgated this policy which means
that individuals shall be overburdened and
railroads exempt. He said that Leon
Albeit in 1887 was in favor of an equal
taxation bill. He said further that
Judge Fort was in error when he raised
the point that it would be difficult to
divide the tax on franchise. This DEM
onstrated that he was ignorant of the bt1TI
for it has nothing to do with the fran
chise. He also took exception to he
statement that only Jersey City was
benefited. when 1t was plain that all
counties were benefited. Mr.. Condict
claimed that Hudson county has as much
ratables as thirteen counties in the
State. These counties were Cape May,
Cumberland, Salem. Atlantic. Gloucester.
ris, Hunterdon. Middlesex and Somerset.
thirteen counties marked out in red. ami
Hudson in green, and 1t was only a small
blot in comparison.
Mr.. McCarter asked how it was that
Newark has less tax rate.
Mr.. Condict replied because they had
the right to call on nearly every foot CT
ground to help pay faxes, having only
5,C00,G COO of roperty exempted. and that
if the land of jersey City had not been