The Saint Paul globe., 1897-09-26
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
RAISES HENNEPIN AND RAM
SEY s15 Per Cent.
WANTED TO MAKE 1T HIGHER
BUT UNDER PROTEST 1T WAS
FINALLY FIXED AT THE
ABOVE FIGURE.
CoMMITTEE ON GRAIN REPORTS
Recommends Legislation to Cover
the Cereal In Transit-Other
Matters Taken Up.


hours yesterday afternoon, the state
board of equalization finally agreed
upon the assessments against the
merchants, wholesale and retail,
throughout the state, on what is
known as No. 16, goods and merchan-
disc.
The committee reported that after a
careful inspection of stocks in Ram
sey, Hennepin and ST. Louis counties,
OF all stocks assessed in excess of
$1,000, they had found them greatly
undervalued. in some cases the as
sessments were less than one-third Of
the real values Similar stocks in
other counties of the state were as
sessed relatively higher, and the COM
mittee thought there was discrim1-
nation in favor of wholesale stocks as
against retail They also opined that
these stocks were not bearing their
just share of taxation, and while it
would be impossible to enter into any
effort to readjust individual assess
ments, the fairest way would be to
increase Ramsey and Hennepin coun-
ties 25 per cent, and st. Louis, per
cent on this particular item. The fol-
lowing recommendations made by the
committee were then adopted:
Increase of assessments on goods
and merchandise, per cent: Blue
Earth county. 10, Carlton 10, Carver Is,
Chisago (excent the town Of North
Branch 20, Douglas 5, Fillmore ~,
Hennepin 25, Houston 5, Kandiyohi O.,
Lincoln 5, Lyon 10, Martin 10, Meeker
l., Morrison 80, Mower 10, Olmsted z,
Ramsey 25, Redwood 5, Scott 3, Sher-
burne 10, Sibley 5, Stevens g. Swift 10,
Wabasha q, Wadena s. Waseca 70,
Washington s. Wilkin Z5 Winona T.
Wright 5. Inv.
In the afternoon this was brought
UP again, several St. Paul merchants
being present to protest against the
unjust raise G. w. Hackett, the
member of the board from this dis
trict, produced figures to show that
the stocks in ST. Paul were valued by
the assessors much higher than In
most cities of the state, and that in
many places the assessments ranged
from only one-third to one-fifth of the
actual values: in some places they
were even worse.
Charming Seabury said that never
before had there been any such radl-
cal measure enacted by the board, and
he was competent to speak having
been on the board himself for years.
He ventured. the prediction that the
stocks in st. Paul were assessed for
fully one-half their values-he knew
that his had been anyway. .Fgsy s@t
J. F.. Steiner also appeared before
the board and spoke for half an hour,
berating the department stores and at
the conclusion of his address, Mr.. SEA-
bury inquired in his usual, quiet. way,
if Steiner was not a friend of the small
stores, and if he was, didn't he want
to see their taxes cut down That end
ed the harangue, ard the board looked
relieved. -p
By a vote of ten to three the board
then decided to reconsider the raise in
the case of Ramsey and Hennepin
counts, and then after wiDing out the
25 per cent raise, the board fixed the
increase at 15 per cent. In fact, the
Minneapolis merchants were expected
to send over a delegation to protest
against their increase, and although
the delegation didn't materialize, the
board thought it no more than right
that the Mill City dealers share in the
reduction.
The committee On grain, in their re-
port. said that they felt satisfied that
large quantity Of grain was escaping
taxation, as it was claimed to be in
transit when the assessments were
made, and that it was impossible for
tho assessors to ascertain to whom 1t
belonged. The attention of the next
Legislature should be called to the fact,
and also that there were no columns
on the assessors sheets to specify this
commodity. The grain in elevators,
said the committee, is practically all
in three counties, Ramsey, Hennepin
and St. Louis, and they fixed the as
scssments thereon to make the values
average 7 cents per bushel. The Great
Northern and the Milwaukee railroads
have protested against this, as have
also the elevator owners at Duluth,
claiming that the grain for which they
were being assessed was merely in
transit. The committees report was
adopted.
The telegraph companies were then
taken up, and their assessments were
fixed the same as last year, SS60,O9O for
the Western Union and $60,500 for the
North American They pay rate of
"a mills The telephone companies have
been taken out of the jurisdiction of
the board, and now pay a tax on their
gross earnings, the same as the rail-
road companies.
The reports from all the banks have
not yet been received, and the board
postponed final action on this item un-
til it's next meeting, week from to-
morrow, which will wind up the SeS-
sion.
Before adjourning, the board passed
a vote of thanks to the various COM
mittees for their extra labors during
the session.
Col. Clough appeared before the
board in the morning, and argued
against the taxation of elevator B, or
other elevators, similarly situated,
claiming they were railroad property,
and came under the exemption pro-
vided by the gross earnings tax. He
claimed that J. Q. Adams, who has
charge of elevator B, had general su-
pervision of the elevators along the
Great Northern line of road. He
would not make the direct claim that
Me- Adams was an employe of the
road. "a -szs
The board will. in all probability,
recommend the, state auditor to in
struct county auditors that these ele-
vators must be assessed at once in
order that the tax may be collected
this year. Il 10
We make the best woven rugs in the
world out of Old carpets. Schroeder &
| Dickinson, 16 East Sixth street.
Goes to- hePoor House.
The county board Of, control must provide
| for Ole Johnson recently returned to st.