The San Francisco call., 1899-07-22
Oakland Office San Francisco Ca

gentleman although it is rumored that he
may appear tomorrow. Only two more
Gays and the life Of the Board of EQuali-
cation viii expire.
coroner MRhrmann is now in the back
ground Il is a case of exit Mehrmann,
enter Dalton and Black RYAN.
IN 1ne Call yesterday morning atten-
uon vas called to the fact that Mr. Dal-
ton, had cut the assessments of the San
Pablo avenue road to merely nominal
hgure- The right of Mr.. Dalton to do
thls has been challenged, and certain
CRITICISMS have been made Of his assess
ments of railroad property in other
places.
To-day Mr.. Dalton published the fol-
lowing defense OF his position: Il re-
0uced the railroad company's assessment
IN the San Pablo avenue cable road be-
tause the road was valueless at the
time the assessment was made, mas
much as the road was then about
to be converted into an electric line
Il would have cost much less to
nave built the electric road had
The cable road been out of the way, as
any Talr-rninded person will admit Tn
der the law, I am required to fix values
as / find the property Shortly after the
drst Monday In March, the San Pablo
avenue cable road property was to be en-
Grely destroyed so far street rail
way system was concerned The electric
road property Was mol in such shape as
10 be assessed Next year the electric
road which has taken the place of the
cable on San Pablo avenue, will be as
sesSed on The same basis as other electric
roads in this county.
The assessment on the Central Pacific
Railroad COmpany's thirty-eight acres al
oakland Point was made this year 10 con
form TO a reduction of assessment made
upon the surrounding property belonging
10 individual taxpayers. the assessment
0etng placed 5000 per acre, and l defy
any unbiased, competent person TO say
hat II is underassessed- Under my prede-
SSOr- SlAtS-elghI acres lncluulhS Lhis
<lIrtN-eIght acres, Were assessed al only
lIl 500, whereas the thirty-eight acres are
assessed by me al $190. 900 The thirty-eight
a,TeS of this same tract OF SIXty-elght
acres are assessed by me at Sl9,2 200 more
nan the whole SIXty-elght acres We're as
s-SSed by my predecessor. II the whole
tract were assessed by me at the same
cate per acre. il would make an assess
nent of $4,000 as against Sy11.SO0 as made
y my predecessor.
Since l have been in office, the state
Board Of Equalization claims the rlght to
and does assess part OF TINS tract amount
lul 10 thirty acres as the right OF way
II the Central Pacific Railway COMPANY
''AS to the improvements made at the
znd OF the broad guage mole curing the
vast year. far aS lne utlns IN OF the
and Is concerned comes under the juris-
IlctiOn OF the State Board of Equailza-
ion, and is not assessdble by the County
The southern Pacific Railroad Com
pany's property has been treated by me
COr assessment purposes TINS year as III
actual cash value for assessment pu;-
poses so long as remain Assessor OF lhlS
bounty. o,--+,,.
Pacific Railroad Company varies IN FaIue
from year 10 year according to the
amount and value OF personal property on
Deud and IS assessed accordingly
y have not made an assessment against
i1a nsrr0W gauge railroad rOadbed and
rolling stock as The State Board OF
EuualZatjun claims that right ana mas
made the assessment, and il has not come
under my Jurisdiction 10 watch the I'M
yrovenlcnts made on that line
The question Of assessments mas been
.aken advantage Of by politicians on poIh
sides Of the fence TO renew SIIIsSle
I've wears old between Assessor Dalton
On one side and Supervisory church IaI-
cott and Mitchell on the other side
The past month has revealed many
strange things in this county family Ieud-
After five years OF sycophanuc support
If Nr Dalton morning Democratic ur-
sau has recently taken three oppor tuil-
lies to administer severe snubs 70 the
1ortu1irT offered by the difference Of
5ninion betweeen Mr.. Dalton and State
Controller Colgan TO repeat ana rerepeat
holding back the pay Of the hundreds Cf
srhoOlTeachers in Alameda county 1t
next took occasion to reprimand Mr.. Dal-
ment rolls ready as soon as Sle assess
ment rolls were completed NoW. after
nent on the San Pablo road he is cred
rf0 infeTentldllN
INTO the railroad camp and with making
an Illegal assessment
This remarkable change Of front has
raused much Winking Of eyes and nod
3iDe of heads. Those who recall the oeCu-
lar combinations made by the Demo-
cratic organ in the county fight last fall
and the municipal campaign this spring
are wondering why such change has
come about, and the only eXplanauon 50
Mr.. Dalton aspiring to be Republican
member Of the next Congress he can 10
longer expect anything but snubS and
roasts from a Democratic organ the pro
prjetOr Of which asDires to sit In the
United States Senate
supported Mr.. Dalton has openly eX-
pressed itself on the change in the Assess
RS Democratic supporter and in replying
20 one of its recent attacks said:
In a San Francisco morning daily,
which seems 10 be given of late TO the eX-
9loitatiOn Of wild stories and baseiess ru-
rors. there appears q story to-day that
recently "A delegation Of indignant tax
2ayerrs waited upon Chairman Ialcott or
The Board Of Supervisors to make com
nlaint that there was no index to the as
5essment rolls and that no deputy was
furnished by the Assessor TO assist prop
srty-owners in their hunt for assessments
The article continued commenting on
these matters. making It appear that the
nished an index or deputy"
The article is then strongly denied.
Mr. Dalton was asked to-day If he anew
IF any reason why his late Democratic
supporter should have changed it's atti-
tude and he said that ne knew or none.
"AI talk that ] have gone to the rail-
-oad is absolutely false, said Mr.. Dalton.
"I have always endeavored to be fair.
That expresses the whole situation" Mr..
Dalton took from his safe. a well-worn
sheet of yellow paper on which was some
typewriting. purportng to be list OF the
,ancldates for whom the railroad ordered
all its employees to vote This was pro-
duced at the last election and it was no.
ticed that it contained the names of all
the men. whether Republican or Demo-
crats, who at that time were being as
sailed by the Examiner, It particularly
mentioned that Captain Hackett, the
Democratic nominee for Assessor. was
the railroads choice. Mr.. Dalton says
this is prima facie evidence that he was
not supported by the railroad at the last
county election. Notwithstanding the fact
that the railroad ward in which Mr.. Dal-
ION lived gave him q vast majority.
Then comes the other side to this pam
ohlet incident. II is remarked that this
pamphlet never saw the light Of day until
I appeared one morning in Mr. Dalt2p,s ,2I
vas construed by the old guard as evil
gence that the paper in which It appeared
fO nrOdnctiOn and II