The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-10-25
VALUE OF STOCK AND BRANCHES
MUST BE ASSESSED.
SUPREME COURT DECISION
illinois Will Be Richer by Eight Mil
lion When State Board Takes
Proper Acton.

Springfield, ILL.,, Oct. 24.-The SUI
preme court this morning affirmed the
judgment of the circuit court of San
canon county in what is known as
the Teachers Tax case This in effect
awards a writ of mandamus against
the state board of equalization to COM
pei it to assess capital stock, includ-
ing the franchises of twenty Chicago
corporations. Two hundred and thir-
ty-five million dollars is said to be
fair estimate of the cash value of the
capital stock including franchises, ov
er and above the value of the tagible
property of these corporations.
The corporations directly affected
are the Chicago City Railroad COM
pany; West Chicago Street Railway
company; North Chicago Street Rail-
way company; Chicago Union Trac-
tion company; Peoples Gas Light &
Coke company; Chicago Telephone
company; Chicago Edison company;
Chicago Consolidated Traction CON-
pany; Chicago Electric Transit COM
pany; Chicago & Jefferson Urban
Transit company; Evanston Electric
Railway company; Cicero & Proviso
Street Railway company; North Chi
cago Electric Railway company:
North Side Electric Street Railway
company; Ogden Street Railway COM
pany Chicago North Shore Street Rail-
way company, South Chicago City
Railway company; Chicago West Di-
vision Street Railway company; Chi
cago Passenger Railway company and
North Chicago City Railway COM
pany.
This case was Instituted by the
states attorney of Sangamon county at
the instance of the Chicago Teachers
Federation It was for writ ct man
damus to compel the state board of
equalization to assess the foregoing
corporations which it was alleged
had hitherto escpaed taxation by the
board.
The court holds that the board in
assessing corporations does not act as
a board OF review, but as original as
sesor, and that the performance of
| it's duty to assess, the fair cash value
of capital stock including franchises,
over and above the value Of the tang
| ible property, may be enforced by
| mandamus. In stead of making a
proper assessment" the court says,
| "the board arbitrarily and wilfully
failed to follow the proper and legal
| established rule in force in this state,
| by refusing to take. into consideration,
in making such assessments, the bond
ed Indebtedness of said corporations.
They also disregarded all other rules,
for the making of such assessments,
in force5 at the time of the filing of
this petition and for the pupose of
evading their duty sought to pass
| new rules for their government in
making said valuations and assess
ments, and refused to consider the in
formation furnished to them by as
SCISSORS, and assessed the capital stock
and franchises of said corporations
at nominal sum instead of at the fair
cash value thereof.
"While it is true that fraud will
not be presumed and that the discre-
lion of the state board of~equaliza-
ton in fixing the value of corporate
property, for the purpose of taxation,
is quasi judicial in its nature, still
when it is apparent to the court that
every we'll known rule for the valua-
tion of capital stock, including fran
chises has been violated and arbi-
trarily disregarded by the board and
such board has refused to consider
the statements as to values, prepared
by the assessors under the statutes,
for it's use and has refused to consider
information as to the value Of such
corporation property submitted to it
by interested parties and has arbi-
trarily fixed such at grossly made
quate sum under rules passed by it for
the occasion, the court is justified in
holding that fraud in the making Of
such assessments has been established
and that such pretended assessments
may be properly disregarded and
treated as no assessment and such