The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-05-10

Gr any d's s,ssss,., !:-s s,,. n =.
count? Pianos? Live stock? Sewing ma
chimes? Watches or clocks! Household
goods: Gold ddst?'
These are few sample questions from
list Of nfty-six that furnish the verbal
ammunition Of . deputy county assessor
In the field. For two months . small army
Of weary-ioektng men. armed with pencil
and paper pad. have been patiently pop
ping thesm 1t tax payerS. ana now within
ten days or % the annual assessment OF
King county will be complete % far -
they are concerned. and the uemoere OF
the little army will retire to private lie.
assessor In the iiela 1 has ana one Which
only the promise OF substantial per diem
from the county treasury urges him 90
undertake. He u compelled to patiently
appearance q piece Of impertinencs and
him - scapegoat and heap upon his de-
s snS y the Whole county
government. And he. meets. With All
classes OF generally disagreeable citisens
besides. unies. he be person full OF
reer 10 6 rt to be short indeed.
Besides being unpleasant. the ASSESSORS
task II difficult. This has been especially
true this year. for the assessment n,
estate not being assessed every year. TO
assess . piece Of land, OF which the value
IL In q measure apparent. - not much OF
not 20 easy. and added to this. the asses
sor must discover the property before he
values It. II u case Of "Arst catch your
hare"
The inexperienced assessors deputy usu-
ally starts out full OF the milk Of human
kindness and believing that the truth II
rampant In the land. But his experience.
Ah
him a firm believer in the old adage that
all men are liars. And in the same Cate
cory he is soon willing TO class all women
also.
would you believe" said one OF Asses
sor Bailey's field deputies yesterday. that
In my whole city district. in whica there
were over 100 houses. I found but two
We'll. that is an absolute fact. The Law
requires the tax payer TO list all personal
property Of which he was possessed on
second question IS whether the tar payer
has any money gold dust or bullion on
hand or on deposit. In my district the
people interviewed unblushingiy told me
they were paupers, and l was compelled
20 take their word for II. The only ex-
ception was one man. who candidiy told
me that on March / he had $40 in bank
and married woman, who told me ingen-
uously that her husband had q bank &C
count. but that she didn't know how much
IL amounted TO.
In my rounds. Il struck one prosperous
looking old couple who were living In an
elegantly furnished house. which they In
formed me they rented furnished. The
rent must have been at least 80 month";
and they further informed me that they
were going to build soon: that they were
newcomers Ia the city. But the only item
sss rshee perS aS ana sea
ively I would have liked to inaptct their
bank book just to satisfy my own curios-
There were a few questions on my list
that most people answered fiippantiy. For
instance. about nine persons out OK ten
would say. when asked regarding their
them stocks and bonds7 Why. I'm
loaded down Notes and mortgages?
Yes. but they're on the wrong side Of the
Ledger 90. -.
when asked whether he had bank ac-
count. Well. wish had
I'm the case OF ordinary property. such
as household goods. when a tax payer was
fiippant or refused 10 list his property
our instructions were 10 make our own
estimate and sign the slip Refused to be
shut the door in my face. quietly sat
down on the door steps and put down my
own figures. found out afterward that
the figures were just ave times greater
than in the previous year. when the assess
ment was given in properly OF course.
the tax payer complained at great rate.
but all We could do was 70 refer the man
to the board of equalization.
I'm most cases the refusal of the tax
payer to list his property was the stereo.
typed Why. ! haven't got more than $500
worth Of property. What do you have to
list II forg' Or, Go ahead. and do what
you please You fellows win put II
at what you want to. anyway. That's the
way. the fellow last year did
:" The man last year in my district must
have had many sides 10 his character. In
enc house / would be told. All. he was =