The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-23

IT the lines named above are cor rectly defined as the trunk road" or trunk line" of this company 1t neces- sarily follows that all said lines con- meeting herewith are branches" and are to be so treated, provided they meet the conditions named in the stat ute, which is that the board of equali- zation shall determine them ito be of less value per mile than one-fourth of the average value per mile of the trunk road" In the returns this year we have made the claim that the Hou- satonic road, the Shepaug road and the Valley road should be treated as branches under the provisions of sec tion 3921.
 During the past year the Housatonic and Shepaug roads have been merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company. To ac- quire these roads this company issued S,614 shares of it's stock for the Hou- satonic road and 6000 shares of it's stock for the Shepaug road. All the shares of stock so issued must, under the provisions of the law, be taxed. The Hartford and Connecticut Valley railroad was also merged into this company several years ago and for 1 that road this company issued 5000 | shares of its capital stock Hitherto | the Valley road has not been claimed | as a branch line because it did not | connect directly with the trunk line, although it runs to Hartford. The merger of the Shore Line last year, 1 however, makes it connect directly I ,ryi+l l,,aa thnrafnrn | should now be treated, for purposes of | taxation, as a branch road under the statute, being of less than one-quarter ] value per mile than the trunk line. IL | is perfectly evident to everyone that it would be most unfair and unjust to l treat a mile of either Housatonic, She paug or Valley roads as of the same value as a mile of the trunk line, yet | this would be the result if this board 1 does not treat these railroads as branches. The mere fact of merger has in no way changed the valuation ot these roads. They were very poor and unprofitable roads when this company bought them and possession by this com- pany has not increased their value or earning capacity. They were taken, as everyone understands, by this com pany to protect itself against the schemes of foreign spectators ana III l the belief that the state Of Connectlcut preferred one good railroad to two or l three bankrupt lines, pelleI Whlcn l the legislature of the state has fully l confirmed. It is submitted, however, that inasmuch as the capital stock or the New Haven road issued in exchange for these poor railroads is fully taxed, it would be a monstrous exerclse or the sovereign power of the state to tax these single tracked railroads as con stituting a part of the trunk roao or the New Haven company. rms must necessarily result unless they are treat l ed as branch lines.
 sunnosins no merger had taken place this last year, these roads would have been taxed as heretofore at small valuation per share. Wlll any 4 fair man claim that because the New Haven road has issued it's stock TOT these roads that this fact has enhanced the value of the roads in any partlcu- lar? They are precisely of the same value this year as they were last ana are not entitled to be valued as part or 1 the mileage of the trunk line.
 Finder these new conditions then 1t becomes the duty of the board to ascer- tain whether these roads are "of less value per mile than one-fourth of the average value per mile of the trunk road.' If the board finds that they are. the statute is imperative that neither the value or length of either of said roads .han be included in fixing | of tba New York. New Haven and Hartford railroad for purposes of taxation The statute also declares that "every such branch shall be estimated at it's true and just value bv the board of equalization, and such railroad company shall pay to the treas urer of this state 1 per cent. on such value, at the time fixed in the piecedT | ing section for the payment of other railroad taxes"
 From these copsderations it is per- fectly clear that it is the duty Of this board to fix a fair valuation on these merged lines for the purposes of taxa tion.
 What then are the values of these different lines in question ana now shall such values be determined?
 If the terms valuation" and value can be cOnSldereu as SyiivuS lilCuSt II would seem that the value of both the trunk road and branch lines should be determined by the means of fixing Valu- ation prescribed in the statute, that is on the basis of the market value of the stock and the par value of the bonds. On this hypothesis it would be fair to deduct from the valuation of the New Yc.k. New Haven and Hartford rail- road the stock known to have been is- sued in exchange for the stock of the yasscy road and from the mileage in Connecticut the mileage of the Valley road and divide the remaining valua- tion by the remaining mileage to get the value per mile of the trunk road.
 To determine the value per mile of the Valley road it would seem to be fair to take it's stock at the market value of the New Haven shares issued for it and divide the valuation thus as- certained by the mileage of the Valley | road.
 On the basis of the 1897 return this would figure out as follows:
 Valuation of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, exclud- ing the shares issued for Valley road, $SS, ,696, ,897O9.
 Mileage, excluding Valley road, 252.12. ] SS3 ,696, ,S97. .O9 divided by 252.12 equals