The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-01-26

NoiiS HSuico nave pSCh W e
pared by State Auditor Dunn and his as
sistants which show in exact figures the
the operation Of the law for the taxation
of railroad lands, commonly known as the
Anderson bill. the last tag year having been
the first year of it's operation. The fig
ures, obtained from a compilation of the
returns made by assessors in the various
counties in the state show that the number
OF acres under taxation last year was
Gaps G67. against 80 663 1856 in 1896, an in
crease of nearly two and half million
acres.
That this is practically all due to the
new law is discernible from a study of the
ngures as In the southern part of the state,
where railroad lands have been disposed of
Tor the most part for long time, the 1887
hgures are practically the same those
for 1886, while in the norther and north
western counties decided gains shown
Aitkin county, while it's citizens were
among the foremost in the crusade for
the new bill, has only shown a gain of
1900 acres, although this is accounted
for perhaps, by the fact that the Aitkin
assessment was selected by the railroads
for contest and the tax cases are now
hung up in the courts. Anoka county
close it is, has $4,000 moro
under assessment Becker, 81 600 more;
Beltrami, So. 600 more Benton, $4,000 more,
while a county even as far south as Big
Stone has experienced a gain of $1,000
acres. Cass county, in spite of the de-
tachment of it's territory for anne xation
to Crow Wing, has gained 900 and Crow
Wing has gained 217000.
Sngularly enough, Chisago county,
where the author of the bill lives, has
dropped 1900 acres for some reason,
presumably the plating of portions OF
the county for town anu city lots. Clay
has gained $1,000 acres; Cook, $4,000; Cot
tonwood, 10000; Douglas, II 900; Grant.
$4,000; Hubbard, 10000; Isanti, without
mile of railroad, 1900; Itasca, $1,000; the
unassuming county of kanabee, 100 ooo;
kandiyohi $4,000; Kittson. 26IOO0; Lake.
80, 600; Marshall, $4,000; Mile Laos, 2lOOO;
Morrison, 124 900; Norman. $4,000 and Otter
Tail, %, 900
The banner county of them all, how
ever, is Pine county, which shows an
actual gain of 243C00 acres. There are two
main lines of railroad in this county, and
both have been faring we'll under the old
system.
Polk county, on the face of the returns,
shows a falling oft of 10000 acres, but
this is not hard to understand, as Red
Lake county has been detached from 1t
since the 1896 tax, and the 1000 acres I'M
der taxation in the new county show
net increase for the territory formerly
comprised in Polk county of 1l4,ooO acres,
the create. part of which must be at
tributed directly to the Anderson bill.
Roseau county, like Isianti, as yet I'M
tically doubling it's taxable area. st. Louis
gains 10000 Sherburne "a ,00O, Stearns 10000,
Stevens 14,00O. Swift $4,000, Todd 41,G0O;
Traverse q 600, Wadena $4,000. Wilkin $4,000,
Wright 5000 and Yellow Medicine 1900.
The counties not named above remain
practically the same only varying a few
hundred acres.
The value of the land increases from 1896.
'asls4 to sal 1863 ssa which shews -, that the
value per acre, as great deal of the added
land is remote and of comparatively small
value The average valuation per acre in
1896 was $7.37; in 1897. SOL.
The valuations Of towns and city lots have
s 81 60! dos 27 meantime ''' e@ ''''
The valuation of personal property has in
creased from $50 1893 S75 to So, 62.3, SIP.
The total valuation has increased from $685.
945 663 to $40. 59S,476.
At the same time the average rate of taxa.
tion has increased from "a mills in 1896 to 246
mills in 1897 thus Increasing the total tax levied
The state taxes levied for revenue, soldiers
relief funding odi tax se e a 10 Increased from $
The state school tax of Is mills in 1896 real
lied seas SOB g. the tax Of % mills for the same
The local school tax OF one mill netted $780,
o7s47 in 1897, against Sc2, 16i.9 the year pre-
The special school tax last year amounted to
So 3la so2 12. compared with 49, 1879 10 the
The interest and premium on state loans la
amounted to S241,S49.12 last year; $199, 924. AZ
against the year before
The county taxes follows
Revenue 1887. $l,sse, 1853 l6; 1896. se45. $780,
Interest, 1897, SPAS, o.; 1896 $252, $3.50. -
Poor, 1897. S305, 073,5l; 1896, 1895 727.5S.
Other special taxes, 1897, $215, 81: 1896, $780,,
1882.
The city and town taxes In 1897, 3d.
GAL. 75}. 66; in 1896, So $50, 4l454.
The township taxes were $G12, 237 06 in 1897
against 1851 ,060. 10 in 1896.
I he delinquent road taxes Were only SlG 459 81
as compared with $lG5, sl2 4a in 1896.
The interest on railroad bonds $S3, 1873. SO
in 1897; $62,975.94 in 1896.
The other special taxes amounted to 1858, 426, 40
in 1897 1878 564 AS in 1896.