The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1901-09-27
in RAILROAD FIGHT
Peppery Brief Sent to State
Board Of Railroad Equaliz-
ers by Cleveland At.
torneys.

at the state board of railroad equaliz-
ers yesterday in brief sent to Colum.
bus by Director of Law Beacon and
Assistant Director of Law Babcock,
The former drafted the first part of
the brief, which consisted of dry legal
argument, and Mr.. Babcock followed
up with the fireworks.
I'VE think you are satisfied" said
Babcock to the board, that the denial
by the railroad companies OF power
to increase their assessments is
prompted by selfinterest and not By
an intelligent Interpretation of the
law; that the statute is so plain as to
need no Interpretation; that when it
says; in doing your work you must not
decrease the total an implication
arises that you may increase the total.
that everybody has put this meaning
to the law; that you have done so
yourselves and at one time increased
the total assessment by about 100000;
that in suits attacking similar statutes
in this state no lawyers have ever sr-
gued for an Interpretation other than
the one claimed by us to be the correct
one.
1--WE ask this question, can the board
admit that it has the power to increase
the assessment? That the assessment
is not above 80 per cent of the true
value; that the law requires it to be
placed at the true value; that it has
sworn to obey the law; and in the face
of this refuse to lift the assessments
substantially to the place fixed by the
constitution of the state and the law?
We think it cannot do so and will not
do so. We deny that the vague insin-
uations about political purposes and
w Isconsin professors is an answer to
the question we ask.
LET us turn to calm, dispassionate
compilation of statistical information,
which commands the respect of this
board and of the students of taxation
everywhere in this country. We refer
to the report of the tax commission
of Ohio. There is no higher authority
on this subject than the report of this
commission, which was made to the
late president, then governor of Ohio,
on December 23, 1898. It sums up the
data gathered by high-minded com
mission, holding sessions in three of
the leading cities of the state, ard
with powers to compel the disclosure
of information under oath and by the
authority of statute which provided
for the pains and penalties of perjury
for false swearing. On pages So and
50 of the report are the conclusions
of this commission, which we quote:
1t is submitted from the facts
which have been collected that invest
ments in no other form in Ohio pay in
taxes so small proportion of the
earnings derived from the investments
as do the investments in railway cor
porations. While investments in i'm
proved real estate in Cleveland and
elsewhere pay from 16 to % per cent
of their gross rentals in taxes; while
banks pay 20 per cent or more of their
net income in taxes; while investment
securities are taxed at the ratio of 60
or 70 per cent of their net income in
taxes, investments in railway property
do not pay nearly so much proportion
ately. Few railways Of the state pay
as much as 10 per cent of their net
earnings in taxes, while the great ma
jority pay only from to per cent.
To sum up the conclusions de-
rived from these considerations, 1t Is
found that the railways Of the state
are assessed for taxation at $105, ,000,-
900 and the horses at $47, 1000, 900; that
the railways, SO far as they can be
identified, were assessed upon highec
valuation in 1878 than they are now;
that they only pay from to 10 per cent
of their net earnings in taxes, while cap.
ital invested III other classes of prop
erty pays much larger percentage of
it's earnings; If their appraised valu-
ations be compared with their real
Values, do uStSi iHiihou Ny cdpiIdiiziHB
their net earnings at 6 per cent, 1t is
found that the appraised valuation is
not more than 25 to SO per cant Of
their real values. While 1t is true that
land is appraised at less than its real
value in various parts of the state,
yet in no considerable section is the
percentage Of under valuation nearly
SO low as this
"If the conclusions reached by this
commission, as quoted above. are
sound, equitable taxation, on the score
of uniformity between railroad prop
erty and other property. Is not reached,
unless there has been change in the
assessment of railroad properties since
1888. The truth Is, that since 1898 the