The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-02-28

NtT
cents q dag would bankrupt every road
in the United States.
Mr.. MCGEE warned the committee tnat
the proposed law would bankrupt an the
railroads IN the STATE, ana Inrs Kill the
goose that has been laying TIC Sa.Ggl
egg. In support OF his statement that
| can pay, he said the D. L. and ". roSa
lasr year had been raxed i've per cent. on
It's gross earnings, while other corpora
tons, NOT railroads, mad been taxed but
proposed law would place a tax of fifteen
per cent. on the cornpany,s gross earl-
ings.
IN conclusion. Nr. Niece asked the
! members OF the committee to " Fair,
and told them that they as individuals
wpule fight against such a lay Il i was
New Jersey has pursued has. he said.
made her great. while the opposite policy
OF the Western States nas driven them
Mr.. Queen said the arguments Of
Messrs. V~redsnburgh and MCGEE were
bye M Iam alle as The I29sg present. aagans system aas. 81 w tsas
alton, he said, was injurious not only to
Jersey City but TO every county in the
the proposed law was for HUDSON County
COUNTIES is not far Off.
The property in Jersey City, Mr.. Queen
said. is assessed at $4,000 800. and Of This
SSi, 900, 600 is owned by indiv.1uals and
$500 900 by the railroads. The people.
railroads. r$42s,o 0a. The proposed law, he
said, provides that the railroads shall
pay the same rate OF taxation on real
was sorry the poor railroads could not
make q living. but thought they could
brook the hard times as easily as pri-
vate individuals.
Mr.. Queen wanted to know how 1T was
that railroad stocks are selling far above
par and at the same time are not de-
claring any dividends. He denied the
1 SfatSTTprt that the P0adS arp navy naViMo
their taxes c~heerfully, and said they were
compelled to DO 50 only, after the hard
! est kind of a fight. Railroads." said Mr..
Queen. pay nothing cheerfully."
AsseInblyman Edward Hoos. of Jersey
City, was the next speaker. He said that
railroads had ruined Jersey City and that
when the Pennsylvania Company took
the Henderson street crossing the sew
ers were cut off and illness followed. He
city are useless. because the people have
moved way and that the former beau
tiful home Of Leon Albeit, on Sussex
wards, he said, were needed by people
who were forced 70 move to the hills to
escape the annoyances for which the rail-
He said the debt of Hudson County
is SIS, 000,0 COO and that the railroad COM
panies bore but little of the burden all
though they were responsible for most of
it. He denied that real estate in Jersey
City was assessed below its value, and
said a property owned by him or New
l. dkSiGC az q I ~ LII
that he would be glad to sell it for 0.001.
If the railroad companies would be fair,
Mr.. Hoos said, they would set better
said, frequently sock it to the compa-
| MES because they don't pay their taxes"
he added that if the companies were
eminent lawyers $4,000 a year to attend
H. v. Condict said that 1t was the duty
of the Legislature to give relief to any
part of the State when it suffered, and
that he would not be present If he did
not believe Mr.. Queens bill a just one.
sona1 property and franchises were good,
1 but that they had nothing to do with the
case. The stockholders of railroad COM
world. and that the earnings of New Jer-
| sey's company are of more beneh to
other States than to this one.
of standing in the way, of a sewer into
the Hudson River. and said the great
pools Of green water back Of Hoboken
were the result. He asked the RAILROADS
property and said that they were well
able to do SO. He said that Yesterday
Norris and Essex at 1874, and that Penn
sylyania stock. owing TO its great value,
was seldom placed in the market.
Every road. he said, Is ambitious to
have a terminus in Jersey City. and that
as a result SO many freight trains sought
passage through the Erie tunnel that it
l. OFTEN IeGu1feQ InIGo Gays IN CfQeFE TO get
4 car through it. He said the roads of
New Jersey were built OF the best ma
terials because thew are used by so many
a anss asla sp q &e ourasef h he cisimed. Simply ly
threw dust into the ewes Of the committee
in order to avoid the main point. In
objected to equal taxation why they did
not make a proposition for the relief of
taxpayers.
Louis v. Booraem said that the Erie
roaE loA cfnnd ronro rahhip o. 81 than nnv
ether company could stand. that the West
Shore was paying a surplus. and that the
Tinted Railroads Of New Jersey are pay
Central would buy the system and pay
the ten per cent. and five per cent. in adj
dit.an. bn5 that It YES not for sale
individuals and railroads are taxed on a
different basis. The former in Jersey
City paving 70 and the latter 1,5o; This
ton. which provides that all property
shall he taxed the same.
Mr.. Booraem said the railroads paid as
much yearly rent for docks in New York
as fney did To- acquire the ownership
of the Jersey City docks. and that they
paid but " per cent tag on the cost
sessed ten years ago at s35, 900 is assessed
now at 100000, and that he would sell
il for 0.OO0.
said the railroads could be sold for
three times their assessed value.
GeefG6z MciEWan sad That HUDSON
county had always been proud Of Mr..
Vredenburgh and Mr.. MCGEE. but would
not be when the people heard of the
said it was d~emagogism to attempt to
array Hudson county against the farm
ers. He said the people sometimes called
| equal taxation people cranks, only be-
cause they are a little in advance Of
the times.
The remainder of Mr.. McEwan's re-
marks were in reply to the statements
made last Tuesday by Mr.. Allen.
When Mr.. MeEwan had finished, Mr..
Lower. Chairman of the Committee, al
most paralyzed the friends of the bill
by announcing that the hearing would
be adjourned until next Tuesday evening
at half-past seven O'Clock. He had been
requested by Judge J. Frank Fort (who
it viii be remembered, was chairman Of
the Republican convention that nonni-
L. & w. Railroad to grant him a hearing
on the bill. Mr.. Queen was so Indignant
at this p~alpable Intention to delay the
report that at first he could hardly
speak. Finally he said that all the
counsel had received notice and should
be here. He wanted a report on the bill
either favorably or unfsyorably. without
any further delay. The counsel who
wished to BE heard represented a road
which had already had its views. pre-
sented to the committee by eminent
counsel. The session was drawing to a
close rapidly, and he was DESTROYS to
AVE the bill reported without unneces-
sary delay. If the bill should be fortu-
friends wished time to present II to the
Eanafp