The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-10-29


the funds. His company believed in i
soh, yes,f interrupted Mr.. Edwards.
"of all the railroad companies coming in
to this city the Lefigh Valley has used
Continuing, Mr.. Corbin said that the
city should have the money and not the
State from the second class property with
in the clty's limits, but the State ould
tax the franchise. He said that the State
was TOO -extravagant with the money. 1t
was am arrnory here or an additional
building there, and it couldn't collect
enough of its tax TO meet these expenses
and the railroads had to suffer.
Surprising. interrupted General Rus
ling we deducted the SEQ, 200 from the
jersey 5sase a city eaS how sii SilI Il 3he 'hs state sem e e4
through? Arlnories and Hospitals are
needed, and If you take that sum away
what viii the state De- III, 3
tri1e slower in the extraordinary mill
tary expenses of the State replied Mr..
you wouldn't interfere with the mill
tia before election?" asked General Rus
No, after election we won't need to
spend so much,'' replied Mr.. corbin,
amid laughter.
The Attorney General interrupted here,
saying he did not see what the expendi-
ter at issue. To him it was that Jersey
City pays more h its share OF the
| State tax.
II am dealing with this in a broad
light, and look upon you as advisors of
the Legislature replied NJ. Corbin.
What do you suggest to lessen the
States expenses asked Mr.. w. H. Vre-
denburgh.
Economy promptly replied Mr.. Cor
bin. w pay too much for printing, and
the extraordinary expenses could be cut
ct is wrong that our State is so ex-
~travagant." chimed In Mr.. y~redenburgh;
I'VE ought not to build Armories unless
they were absolutely needed"
.sThat's all right" argued the Attor-
ney General: but still 1 think that ex-
penditure question is not our province.
crease in these State expenses was for
| the increased judiciary. Are we seriously
going to advise the Legislature to cut
| question is, Are the railroads paying their
fair share of the tax?'
Mr.. Corbin, in reply, said they were
and then praised the system of railroad
taxation devised by the Act of 1884.
Having agreed with Mr.. Edwards that
the State shall return to each munich
pality the tax on property found there,
what do you say to raising the rate to
2 per cent?, asked the Attorney General.
Mr.. Corbin thought that was too arbi-
trary, but it was idle to raise it unless
the assessors and the boards were the
Assessors. and said that they got true
values; but the work of the local as
| SCISSORS could not be compared with that
of the State assessors. He, Mr.. Corbin,
had no confidence in that guesswork style
done in Jersey City.
The Commissioners then switched off
into personal property tax and Mr.. Corbin
said that if there were SSl 100000 worth OF
| property In this city at least $50, 900. 600
was personal property and a great bulk
of it escaped taxation.
How do you propose to collect it?'
asked Mr.. Vredenburgh.
sk-Al~- fhA fanrfef+nrgo1 nroAAodtnra ~
them as you do to the railroads. re-
piled Mr.. Corbin, who then proceeded to
talk of assessing the franchise of the
railroads, created much amusement by
saying that the method of separating the
franchise from the main stem was abb
surd.
you might just as WELL" he said.
"take a strip down my body, call It main
stem, then take my soul and call 1T a
franchise, and all the rest of my body
Nsecond class property" loud ~laughter)
At the close of Mr.. Corbin's argument
he was warmly eompiimentsd by the
Mr.. Flavel MCGEE followed on behalf
Of the Delaware, Lackawanna Railroad
Company. He said at the outset thai he
would not touch ON the proposition COW
cred by Messrs. ~Vredsnburgh and Corbin.
He said that if the tax on railroads is to
be increased the company must in turn
increase their tolls, which increase will
affect passengers and traffic. He said
A44NAN AAAC ~ EAA1 - = ~ AALL 49,
Railroad in jersey City and Hudson
County were formerly swamp lands, and
a large part was under water. It had
been bought from the State. and there
was no force in the contention that the
railroads took a large amount Of pro-
| perty from the city's taxable area.
Turning to the mode of assessing rail-
road companies property Mr.. MCGEE com
planned of the burden on the railroads.
Assessments, he said, were too high.
While the whole of the real and personal
property of the railroads is taxed nearly
all the personal property of private peo-
pie escapes taxation. No attempt As a
TO list personal property of citizens by
the local assessors, and the burden Is on
the officials. 1t was the height of injus-
tfce and inequality to tax one class of
property TO its full value and allow an
other class to go free.
What do you say as to taxing riparian
lands?" asked Mr.. w. H. Vredenhurgh-
Mr.. Niece thought the tax should go
to the State. Whatever the Commission
did, ne continued, reverting to the pro-
posed raise in rate, they should not make
the rate any higher than it is at present.
So far as the Morris and Essex Railroad
was concerned, he said, the company
"a taxed 8 per cent. On It's gross receipts
and that, in his opinion, was high enough.
An adjournment was taken until next,
Thursday, when the Central and Erie's
cases Will be presented.