The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-20
Is AFTER THE IUNBERN[N
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
DID SOME IMPORTANT WORK
YESTERDAY
PRIVATE BANKS ON THE RACK
Assessment Raised In Some Cases,
and in Others the Bankers
Are Cited to Appear Be-
fore the board.

Ine lumbermen of Minneapolis and Du-
luth were brought to a realization of the
1act yesterday that the state board of
equalization is latter them"
Answering a citation to appear before
the board, about fifty of the leading lum-
bermen Of the state attended yesterdays
session. Heretofore Minnesota lumber
men have looked with equauinity upon
the perfunctory Investigations annually
made by the state board. Citations were
rare, conferences always resulted salts
factorily-to the lumbermen. Yesterday
1t was different.
The conference was long and trihe
uncomfortable for the representatives of
the lumber interests. Searching questions
were asked, and sometimes the board was
not satisfied with the answers. After
prolonged discussion the matter was re-
ferred to the committee on logs and lum-
Der, and the action of the board will be
decided by the committees report. That
an advance viii be made on the assessed
valuation of Minnesotas lumber is al
most certain; SO 1-3 per cent will probably
| be the amount, but nothing definite will
be known until the committee has thor
oughly considered the reports Of the as
SCISSORS and the showing made by the
lumbermen yesterday.
j. w. Shadwell, special assessor for
Minneapolis, was spokesman for the Mill
/ City men. Mr.. Shadwen averred that
| the books of the lumbe,men We're always
open for official inspection, that lumber
men were the frankest of men when dis
cussing their financial standing, and that
they should conceal anything from the
! clty's assessor was quite an impossible
! ity. Mr.. Shadwell answered a great many
questions and explained a great many
| things before the board of equalization
excused him. Other Minneapolis men,
speaking in behalf of their own interests,
were given respectful attention
WHAT THEY SAID.
As shown by Mr.. Shadwell. the basis
/ of valuation on lumber in Henhepin coun-
/ ty is 81 per thousand on manufactured
! lumber and $3.50 on logs in the river The
method Of assessment is to divide the
total number of feet on hand May 1 by
two, and multiply that by the rate as
! sessed per thousand.
Duluths interests were represented by
! E. ]. Cooley a former member of the
| board of equalization. The valuation In
Duluth averages a trife higher than in
| Hennepin county, and a different method
of taxation issused. The Duluth men Jared
no better than their Minneapolis brethren
in convincing the state board that their as
| sessment was equitable, the sentiment of
| the board being strongly in favor of an
| advance How to reach fair valuation
on lumber was question which was dis
cussed Jointly by both officials and Wis
| itors, but no satisfactory conclusion was
reached.
| Having disposed Of the lumber question,
the board resumed the discussion of
banks, considering state, national and
private banks of each county in the or
! der reported by the local boards Again
the private institutions perplexed the
board, and it was finally decided to cite
the owners of several such banks before
the board, and endeavor In that way to
obtain at least an approximate estimate
Of their assets. The private banks pass
ed upon were advanced In nearly every
Instance, sometimes as high as 500 per
cent In Hennepin county the assessment
of the local official was changed as fol-
! lows: st. Anthony Falls bank, Increased
1876 per cent; Flour City National bank,
5 per cent; First National bank,
71a per cent; National Bank of Commerce,
3 per cent; Swedish American National
bank. 8 per cent: Northwestern National
bank, Is per cent. Ramsey county banks
will probably be reached today.
| Among the private bankers who have
been asked to meet the board Wednesday
are those of Bemidji Rush City, Man
torville. West Concord, Hayfield, Clare
mont, Kasson, Easton, Winnebago City.
LIE Sueur County bank, of LIE Sueur, and
! Hill & Sons, of Minneapolis.
| The discussion OF banks will be contin-
ued today.