The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-12-03
A Comparative Table Showing Valua-
tiOns In Tennessee and Elsewhere.

Comparative Table Showing Valua-
tiOns In Tennessee and Elsewhere.
The litigation now pending IN
which the railroads are seeking re-
lief from the assessments placed up
on the roads by the Railroad Com
missioners, and approved with slight
notifications by the Board of Equal
izers, has attracted general atten-
ton. The bill of the L.. & n. Rail-
road was published in full in the
Nashville Sun on the Goth of No
vember, and from this bill it will be
seen that the following valuations
were placed upon the properties
owned and controlled by this road
in this State:
The main stem per mile ......... 100000
The Decatur Division per mile 10000
The Henderson Division per mile $1,000
The Memphis Division per mile 27,5OO
The highest assessment upon these
properties for any previous year in
the State was in 1896. To wit:
Main stem per mile .............. .$3I, 900
N. IL D. Division per mile. $50. -. 2l,0OO
Henderson Division per mile . 10000
Memphis Division per mile .. 1880
The same relative increase exists
in all the other roads controlled by
this company in this State.
1t also appears from the bill that
the main stem is assessed in Ken
lucky at $4,000, the Henderson
Division at $27 800 and the Memphis
Division at $4,000. The N. & d.
road in Alabama is assessed at
$4,000 per mile for main track, and
$4,000 for the side track, and the
South and North-which is con-
tinuation of this road-at $4,000 and
$4,000 for side tracks.
1t is also stated in the bill that in
twenty-five states named. including
all the Southern and most of the
Western States and Illinois, the
highest valuation put upon any road
per mile is the 100000 valuation
placed upon the main stem of the l..
& N, in Tennessee; and the next
highest is $4,000 in Virginia, and
$4,000 in Alabama.
The bill states that in the follow
ing states their total mileage Is val
ued as follows:
Illinois 1928 miles valued at. .$75, 1924 1922
! Virginia 2,49l :" 1861 ,227
n. Carolina37Ol" g.. 25,34S,7SC
Kentucky 3,46" %" 4S,429,87G
Tennessee 8,OI4 " q. 6S'OOO,OOO
Attention is called to the fact that
Illinois, with more than five times
the mileage of Tennessee, places a
valuation of only 81 1924, 1922 in excess
of that in Tennessee; while Ken
lucky, with practically the same
mileage, values her roads at $20OOO,-
| 600 less.
This statement of facts, if they be
true, is startling, fer it will not be
claimed that there has been anv
advance 10 the value of railroad
property within the past few years,
and yet it will seen from the figures
that there has been an increase in
the advance of values for assessment
by the board of nearly l00q5 over
the past year. So there must have
been either great failure upon the
part of previous railroad assessors to
do their duty, or else the values now
! placed upon the properties is too
| high. How this is the present
litigation will doubtless make plain,
and, upon that issue practically de-
ponds the litigation. What the peo-
pie want is a fair and just valuation
of all property, railroads as we'll as
others, for purposes of taxation; for
it is not to the best interest Of the
general public that the railroads
should either escape their just share
of taxation or be made to bear more
than their proportionate share of
the burden.