The San Francisco call., 1899-09-23
DODGE BEGINS
TO APPEAR IN
HIS TRUE LIGHT
He Cannot Lose That
POlItax Rak ke-Off.
STUFFING IN HIS "DUMMY"
TAXPAYERS MUST PAY DEAR
FOR HIS JUGGLERY.
The Doctors Eagerness to Make Po-
litical Capital Compels the Citi-
zens to Pay More Tribute
to the State.
STUFFING IN HIS dummy"
MUST PAY DEAR
FOR HIS JUGGLERY.

The truth with regard to Assessor
Dodge is dawning on deluded public.
The Call has shown to taxpayers the way
behind the scenes, where they could de-
tect his jugglery and see through the
magic that made a dummy assessment
roll speak SO loudly the praises of its
creator. The very figures furnished by
Dodge have risen up to confound him.
He can get away from them only in one
way and that he is preparing to do by
going into court in answer to a suit for
delinquency to be filed by the District
Attorney. and admitting that his dummy
is stuffed and that he is the suffer.
In his own defense, in answer to The
Calls charge that he has stuffed the as
sessment roll, Dr. Dodge has made the
admission that over SO ,000, 900 remains
on the roll in excess of last years roll, on
which it Is certain that taxes will be col
lected." Now, taking this palpable Jug
gle for the absolute truth which it is not,
IN what relation does it place the dummy
roll to the Siebe assessment roll of last
year? Dodge's dummy roll this year foot
ed up S405, III .615. Deduct from 1t this
$50 ,00U 00U on winch, according 10 his own
admission, taxes remain TO be collected.
The balance Will be $3.50 Ill ,615. Taking
from TINS other assessments upon when
taxes Will not be collected for the reason
that they were illegally assessed by
Dodge In ignorance of PLAIN provisions to
cut his dummy down to less than $685.
900 900.
The difference then between the Siebe
roll at 1852 344 ,061 and the Dodge roll Of
1915 900 900 is just $25, 900 900, on which at
the current tax rate of 81. SOC the taxes
brought into the city treasury would be
about $500 900. That would be very tidy
sum-, not TO be sneexed at. if it were not
the fact that at the same time it took
Sl50,O0O out Of the pockets of the taxpay-
ers TO put into the Golfers of the State for
no particular benefit TO San Francisco
But Dodge has done even worse than
that His dummy made so much fuss
parading around as a $400 900 900 creation,
although 1t was only trumpery bundle
of rags, worth may be less than 1915, ,0OO,-
600, that the eyes of the State became
fixed upon it. In consequence while the
taxpayers of San Francisco only paid into
the State treasury in 1898 under the Siebe
roll of 1852 ,344 061 the sum of $1719 439
they have been forced by reason of the
Dodge dummy roll of $4O5 iii ,615 to pay
into the State treasury the sum of $2,471,-
To make it so plain that no one can
misunderstood it, San Francisco, by rea-
son of Dodges manipulation of the as
sessment roll, has paid more than 500 900
have been called to contribute had the
juggling doctor kept his hands off the
roll left by Siebe. For this enormous sum
forced out OF their pockets by Dodge the
taxpayers of San Francisco get nothing
they had not last year, except Dodge
and he's certainly not a bargain a that
price.
Instances of this sort of costly padding
of the assessment roll are numerous in
the work of Assessor Dodge One will be
sufficient to show how his scheme works.
Take the case of the San Francisco and
San Mateo Railroad. Dodge put that
company on the roll for $l35 200 for its
franchise, track in San Francisco County,
rolling stock, etc, despite the fact that
under sections 1864 and 1865 of the reve-
nue. laws of the State it is expressly set
forth that railroads operating in more
than one county shall be assessed by the
State Board of Equalization Dodge paid
are so plain that no one can mistake their
meaning. He had only one end in view
he wanted to swell that assessment roll
and he figured that any old thing would
and San Mateo Railway Company for
S135 900.
Under date of August 26 last Auditor
Wells received notification from the State
sessed the San Francisco and San Mateo
Railway Company for a total valuation
in the two counties in which it operates
for $l50,OOO, the taxes on which would be
fication was what would be termed
call down for Dodge, the artful dodger
with the dummy His assessment of the
Contra Costa and the Oakland water
companies seems to be on par with this.
Assessor Dodge may be ready to do
some more crawfshing with regard to
these assessments, but it will certainly
come with bad grace from him to plead
Ignorance of a law so plain as that pro-
viding for the assessment of a railroad
operating in more than one county when
he has displayed such knowledge of the
workings of the poll tax law. 1t will
like 30 cents-especially that 80 cents he
has taken without distinction from rich
and poor alike in his personal capacity as
poll tax gatherer.