Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1899-07-27

~~ses va44e6oseU 0b3eBSW0At'
r One Of the decisions Of the appel
late court handed down last week wa
one holding that the county commits
. sioners cannot change the assessmen
Of railroad in the county after it i
fixed by the railway assessors. Tn
variegated assessment laws Of th
State keep the courts guessing. Her
are few Of the remarkable feature
Of the returns:
The assessors in Donipan count,
tried to do their duty as required BY
law and assessed horses an average O.
$40 each. In Jefferson county, just
thirty miles away, the average as
sessment Of horses was $6.97, or over
$l30less head than in Doniphan.
Out in Grant county horses are as.
sessed at $5.45 and in Stevens, %. 80.
The valuation OF horses in Marshal
county was 1851, while in the adioin-
ing county. Washington, it was
1882.
La Allen county cattle are assessed
at $500, while in Jefferson, a better
cattle county by far, and the home Of
the finest Of Kansas herds, they are
assessed al $640. Out in Stevens
county the assessors fixed SAT- as
the valuation Of cattle, and in Cove,
Nl5. Lyon county, big cattle dis.
trict, assessed cattle at $1O.67.
Regardless Of what nice things Sec.
rotary Coburn said about sheep cul-
ture in his last quarterly, the asses
sors Of Ellsworth county evidently
don't like the pesky things, for they
assessed sheep at 20 cents a head.
Mitchell county, just north Of Ellis
worth forty miles, fixed the valuation
at $1.l9, Leavenworth at 81 flat. al.
len county put the largest valuation
on sheep, fixing 1t at $l.46.
Just as wide discrepancies exist in
the assessment Of mules. In Doniphan
county they are valued at 1887; in
Cove county, 1919. Allen county
assessed them at $14.60, while its
neighbor Linn fixed 5000 as the val.
uation. Logan county must have a
poor quality Of mules or poor quail
ity OF assessors; mules there are val
ued at $427, and in Comanche,
1896.
Cheap family buggies and carriages
IRE certainly all the rage in western
Kansas. In Stevens they are assessed
It $4.9S each; in Stafford, $4.95; in
ellis, 1886. Barton county has the
80 grade. while Leavenworth heads
he list SO far in the way Of prices by
'utting Its vehicles at 1892.
Gold watches are not SO expensive
n the west as they used to be. For
Instance those in Stafford county are
'alued at 1926 each; in Stevens, at
4.66; in Comanche, at SAP. Leav-
nworthians believe in wearing a tol- {
rably good grade Of jewelry, for their 8
Vatches are assessed at $22.70, or
even times as much as they are in
tafford.
The valuation Of pianos tluctuates
ven more than the wheat market. In
'oniphan county they are assessed at }
7l.3S each; in Jefferson county,
1886 each. Clark county evidently
as a good grade of pianos, for it '
alues them at $74 each, while Stat
'rd county certainly has as poor :,
uality of pianos as it has of wagons, =
uggies, watches and hogs, for it a
My values its pianos at $17.04. Ellis v
orth trains second in poor qualities,
18th 1896 pianos, and Grant county IL
lird with 500 instruments. VI
Kansas needs, and needs badly. q >,
Weeping assessment law that will !,
sess fairly and equally and the 7,
gislature that can frame it will de. II
rye much praise. h
What General King Says. g'
Brigadier General Charles Kinp. 81