Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-01-25
DOlNGS AT DENVER.
stsms Of latss..t Prom the city sad the
state Capitol.

Rev. +. +. Passmor". the minister
who was driven from the Methodist
Church because OF his denunciationr
Of high officials. hns returned TO Den
yer after spending some time In min
Ing. He tried To speak at Asbury
Church Sunday. bur WIS elected and
arrested.
Deputy Register Ol,eilly OF the state
land board. who II preparing n list VI
delinaucnts who hold land under the
ccrtiicai. of purciins. plan. has found
that the sum due To inc state ~ $.s.-
600. No, NIL the i.llndu.ncics have
yet been discovered. Abant l.UD GER
tificates are yet To be examined. W.
II. Lawrence. who purchased under
this plan section III. township 2. range
'S west In lssa. IL behind 5000 In
payments. This represents u balance
OF the purchase price. $4,000. and In.
fcrcst at seven per cent. Money col.
lccted from the dclinlUenis Will so
Into the public school permanent fund
and the Interest Into the public school
Income fund.
The state Inns taken steps 10 prevent
the new Colorado Springs and Cripple
Greek district railway from entering u
railroad trust. In deciding Monday TO
grant the road the right Of way across
school section In the Grassie dis.
trici. the land board voted to insert
a provision providing II the company
shall ever bc directly or Indirectly con
solitistri with or absorbed In any other
line or system In conflict with the state
constitution respecting the combina.
tion OF parallel or competing lines
the right OF way shall Herewith n.
N tIts. N us fhnnutt right
OF way had ever been granted. Atior-
ucy General Campbell originated this
antitrust Idea.
Chief Engineer Cownu of the Colo
rndo & Southern. has returned from
mn Inspection Of the work on the Grip
pie Greek Short Line In South Platte
canon. lie says that the ground Is 20
frosty that the men ARE making slow
progress. He does not think II praciI-
cable tn do more than complete the
working surveys before spring. The
survey N now complete for eight niles
up from South Platte station, aud so
far the construction presents no very
great difficulties. Rhodes Bros. remain
confident that they can prove In court
that the short line can be carried
around and above their reservoir ate,
and TO this end have surveyors In tho
ntiu TuHuins test Hucs.
The state has been defeated In every
point la the suit Instituted against WI.
lard l.. Amcs and other county asses
sars 10 compel them 10 increase assess.
mcn's 1--WE per cent. and to cIuaiizo
values in accordance with the state
boards orders. The Supreme Court
handed down a decision Wednesday
morning In which the bench unnnt-
L.. II, sl...n 81 Af
izaiion usurped It's powers and went
entirely outside OF Its Jurisdiction In
making the recent changes In the coun-
~ assessments. The writ of mnndamus
against Ames and the other county
authorities Is quashcd and the costs
OF the suit taxed up to the state. The
victory for the assessor Is a sweeping
one. Governor Thomas Is much disap-
pointed over the result of the case. In
commenting on IL he observed: The
decision leaves the state board prac-
tically powerlcss as epualiZcrs. All our
efforts to improve the financial condi-
tion OF the state are declared void. The
court says that our method In raising
assessments and cqunlizing are Illegal.
but pr,scribcs a method that has been
tried time and time again and has been
found to he impracticablc. In fact. IL
* absolutely impossible to. carry such
M idea in,u effect ns the court recon-
mcnds. This adverse decision does not
necessarily mean an extra session Of
the Legislature There will he no extra
session IL 1t can possibly he avoided"
The decision of the court takes $4,000
from the prospective income of the
state. The board increased the valua-
tions from S2O3.o0O.oOO 10 S2l3,0OO.0oO,
and -four. mill tax on the increase
would have brought Il revenue Of S40,-
coo. The main points in the decision
are given in the following clause: 'The
state board has no authority to revise
lhc work OF the county board: there
fore. II has no power TO eQualiZc valua-
lions between classes or kinds of prop ,
eriy in the respective counties, for that
III a matter which the constitution con.i
tidcs to the county board. In order,
then. that the two boards may work
harmoniously. the action of one not to
Interfere with the other. and the au.
thority of each. within its own proper
sphere be supreme. 1t must necessarily
follow that the state board. In cullaliZ-,
ing and adjusting values. must deal
with the respective valuations as re-
turned by the county assessors as en- >
tiretics. by making such changes in
each county valuation as n whole. as
will relatively epunlizc the entire prop
erty values In the different counties. so
that the burden of supporting the state
government shall rest proportonatcly
upon each. in the case at bar the state
board has not adjusted or cqualizcd
property valuations in Arapahoc couu-
ty in the manner which the law con
templates. but in selecting different
classes and kinds of property. and
raising or lowering their values. has
usurpcd the functions of the county
board. and attempted to revise Its ac-
ton in this respect. In pursuing this
method, 1t has clearly trunsccndcd its
authority. undertaken to perform acts
which II had no power TO do. and hav-
ing but special and limited jurisdiction.
as n board of equalization. all acts out
side of its authority are void. The
state board cannot compel compliance
with orders which Automatically nnnnnr