Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1901-09-07

does his duty as far ~ the present
Inv will allow him. There o. not
better assessor in the territory.
Now let as see what is the trouble.
After the passage of the Batcman act
the board of county commissioners in
1897 not the present board. found
themselves short They then padded.
hy the advice OF an attorney the a..
rossmont rolls which such matters as
these: Tho Winters Land a Cattle
COMPANY 100000, existing only on
paper, lhc La Joya grant existing
only iu the minds Of the oldest inhab.
itauts. 100000, the Soc0rro grant
only ON paper. 100000 Who has Co
pas taxes ON this2 why. not anyone.
That board OF commissioners ISSUED
$4,000 in bonds. sold them TO the a.
torupy. by whose advice the rolls were
padded. and squared themselves
The board of commissioners who 90.
tired January T. 1901, wiped on all this
mpurnuuus assessment Thus two
million one hundred thousand dollars
were taken from the rolls And a
ErpBt cry went up nc that time about
the falling on of Socorro assessment.
Tho present board found still some
papcr assessments and wiped them on
thuH further reducing the assessment
~ the county Certainly there ia no
use ln assessing a thing that 81 not
tangible
Now ! want h. tell you where thor,
DO a real falling on 10 the Socorro as
easements. 1896 600 to 10000 head OF
cattle have loft sucorro county. thus
reducing her taxable property one mil
lion to one and a half million dollars.
Why. because they were driven out by
the herds ~ sheep belouEing 90 m,n
who liv" in other parts of the terri.
tory. aud who pay 20 taxes ON their
sheep in the county and very little
anywhere else 10 We take the census
returns aud the assessment rolls of
the territory as a criterion. thc con.
fus returns showing some seven and
half million sheep iu tho territory
and th" assessment rolls showing one
end uuuualf million returns for the
purpose ui taxation
a. th, last meeting uf the lcgislB.
turc your humble servant introduced
and tried 90 pass "a bin Ia tax shpup
/ iu the counties whore thgy craze. but
I Do, was Immediately and thoroughly
| sguDlchpd hy the push This sin
/ would nave enabled Socnrro county
| Co have taxed 25u unN sheep which are
now eating up her resources without
| paying anything in return Now BE-
| has hren suggested that commission
/ Doe appointed 90 draft good clean
| taN aud assessment law aud push ia
/ through tho next Legislature That is
| good But n I may bee allowed 10 sug.
g,st the present tax dodgers should
/ not hc appointed ON the commission.
And again why should Socorro county
| hD held up and haunted before the
] n#ff.|U ID Hf u
| simply because board Of county
/ commissioners ana an assessor have
] rut down Co q business basis Has
/ not Sucurrn county always paid her
] interest ca her bonded udchtodntHs7
/ lins she not always had her portion "
/ thn tHNH Was SoCorro county not thH
/ FIRST county Co refund her bonds at
/ "a lower rate az interest under the new
I rounding law And has she not ro.
/ ducod iu the last year under the now
/ board OF commissioners. her bonded
/ d,ht7
While ! am Tor statehood. yet t.
/ does seem 90 nae ~ we would attend
f. CO. setting of our own house to order a
/ little moro and got good tax or
| gssr ssmvnt law $50 that an tho prop.
. ortY could Doe assessed Rnd reduction
/ of our ratio of taxation We will be-
much surcr uf success IN our work for
I statehood and there are n number
of different ways that the territory
/ can bp benefited We must have a
law under which tho assessor can as.
arss and tho collector collect and
that am the property win pay its Just
/ proportion ut the taxes; and until We
get such O. law the county commits.
s,uunra and assessors and collectors
Will have tho snmp trpubin they hnye