The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-05
SOUTHERN RAILWAY TAXES.
The Increase Over Last Year Is Over a
Million Dollars There Is a Kick.

| EtC ltlAF case ANEt AdASA car - ONGF q
Million Dollars There Is a Kick.
The officials of the Southern Railway
| are dissatisfied with the assessed val
| uation of their property in the State
| by the Railroad Commission, and they
| are making a mighty kick The first
| kick resulted in a material reduction
! in the rating of its property, but the
| second has ayailed nothing And what
is more, it never will. The minds Of
! the minds of the Commissioners are
| made up on that point.
The assessment of railroad, tele-
graph and steamship properties in the
| State by the Commissioners was com
| pleted last week. OF the Southern Rail-
| way properties, the road from Selma
| to GoIdsborO was rated at $4,000 per
mile, and that from Charlotte to Sell
| ma at $4,000 And these are the items
| that the railroad company alleges are
| eXhorbitant, compared with the assess
ment of other railway property in the
+ State.
accordingly the complaint Of over
| assessor ent was made before the Conn
| mlSSlOucTs, and a reduction to SIS 900
| and Sl1,OcO per mile, respectively, was
| made. But il seems theSouthern Off
| Gals were not satisfied with these
| liberal reductions, and are now saying
| the whole road ought to be assessed at
| only $4,000 per mile, as is the other
| principal railroad property of The State
| the Raleigh and Castor. Raj igh and
| Augusta, Atlantic Coast Line and Sea-
| board and Roanoke.
This would make a further reduc-
| ton of some 100000.
No official notice has yet been given
the Commission that such a decrease
in taxation will be asked, but it is gen
orally understood that it will be. Ger
tainly Southern officials are making no
secret of the fact that they think the
valuation too high, and are pointing to
other rival lines in the State TO show
that they are Disseminated against.
The Commissioners, on the other
hand, are determined to stand by their
last action, and make no further re-
| duction in tax valuation. In answer
to the charge that they have discrim-
mated against the Southern Railway
in favor of its rival lines, they say that
these lines are in very different cir
cumstances from that of the Southern
Railway from Goldsboro to Charlotte.
which is the bone of contention.
The North Carolina division of the
| Southern is practically free from in
cumbrance, having no funded debt and
capital stock of $4,00U,000, and, ac-
| cordng to the terms of the lease. the
| stockholders are now getting a net
dividend on stock of 61% per cent, and
| after 1902 they will get per cent.
| On the other hand, the Raleigh and
| CASTOR has a funded debt of about
$1,000,000, on which it has to pay a
| yearly interest of $4,000, besides it's
| taxes. In addition to this, it is assess
ed with part of he loss in operating
| expenses of the Georgia, Carolina and
| Northern Railroad, which is run at a
| loss. Last year also there was deficit
on the Raleigh and CASTOR of $4,000,
and stockholders got nothing
The Raleigh and CASTOR has funded
debt of $1,000,00O, on which it pays
100000. Last year it had a surplus of
| $41 900, but there was a deficit the year
before, 1895, which had to be paid out
| of this surplus, and no dividend was
declared.
The Wilmington andl Weldon has a
funded debt of over $7,000,0O0, on
which it has to pay taxes.
The net earnings per mile of these
| -FOUR roads are as follows: 4orth Car
DINA, S5,491; Raleigh and CASTOR, S.
$50; Raleigh and Augusta, 5,614: Will
| mington and Weldon, $5,7S4 Thus it
| it will be seen that while the North
Carolina Railroad has the smallest
earnings per mile, it has no bonded in
debtedness on which to pay interest
| and exhaust it's dividends.
The North Carolina Railroad in 1895
was assessed $1,s07, 7G7. This year the
assessment is $2,S95,S13, an increase of
nearly million dollars. This is due
to the fact that the road bed. which
has hitherto been exempt, is this year
taxed for the first time Making it
through line and the improvements
thereto has also greatly enhanced its
value. And altogether it is generally
believed that the rate of taxation is
much too low, rather than too high.