Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-20

~ "
justice.
In our cities the railroads say. mo. you
cannot assess our property" although the
constitution and law say II shall be, by
city assessors. We must have that state
board down there in Lincoln assess this
property and you must take your assess
ment from that boards assessment. Hence
1874 per cent Is the county and city as
sessment for railroads (or less than that
for general purposes, while the citizens Of
Omaha for this year anG Of Lincoln and
South Omaha must pay on q basis Of 100
per cent; that is the program now in
Omaha this year, meaning IS for the citl-
zen where they pay 81. AS to the Union
Pacific bridge (Which earns half q million
dollars every year, half Of II is assessed
at $500. and my piece Of vacant ground,
worth $4,000, Is assessed at 4S per cent
and pays more taxes than that bridget Is
that uniformity II not, why not? Why
not wipe those two lines out Of the city
charter, lines inserted there by the rail-
roads3 WHY not do as you did with the
other section ~(section S2) when, for the
hrst time after thirty years, the assessors
knew how to assess local corporations and
for the nrst time they will know how to
assess railroad property! Your honors
should say that those two lines are uncon-
stitutional. Give US justice all over the
state; clean the platter; FIRST give It to
the state at large; deny it to us II you
must. but II you can, and I think you
ought. give US similar relief
l am going 10 give q few figures on the
question Of interest. l want to expound a
little bit the mysteries Of interest. l have
been looking into the matter. All over
this country interest is low. There was
--- At,.. a. haa n0nflnuaH for
years and the prospect Is It will continue
in the future. Whose property is that
, great lowness7 Is that lowness a property
Of these railroad oompanies7 It Is the
property Of $4,000, 900 Of people! Where do
the people get anything but small rates Of
interest upon their savings1
Let us see how these railroads are
proftinR by the refunding process. The
New York Central will, this year, save
i 800, 900, and from this time on, each
year. Just by simply refunding high-rate
bonds for low-rate bonds. That makes
their property so much more valuable.
That amount could be laid aside by the
New York Central. 1t will pay interest on
SAC, 900, 900 of securities at 4 per cent. They
can put that $45, 900, 900 Of assets into their
treasury. The Northwestern will save. IN
the same way, $780, 900, equal to s1b. ooo.o 900.
I C~AplLalLGQ IN IudI way AhO ohhAAAeNOA
has already retired some Of theirs and
next year $22, OOo. 900 bearing 2 per cent
| mature, and they can be reduced, I take It,
to 3h per cent bonds, because the Bur-
linRton has got out, as the statistics show,
Sh per cent bonds on the Illinois division,
| maturing in 1919, in the sum Of over $685.
o00, 900 quoted above par. So much for
what money Is worth, so much for what
it's use Is worth. What will the railroads
do? Will these railroad companies cut the
rates? Will they reduce the rates1 Will
they pay more taxes upon their assets?
II not, why not? What will they do to do
justice to the people?
Now about the rand alleged. I will
speak of the two principal companies.
Fraud is alleged. The relator alleges
actual knowledge. They did so wrong a
thing as to refuse to consider 500. 900, 900
or 5000, 600, 600 worth of property, when the
people Of this state. by their volunteer
representatives. urged them to consider 1t.
and after this court had substantially said
It is your duty to do It! The board could
not escape by reading the law literally any
more! Past boards have been mistaken,
but you have no excuse now to be mistaken
as to your duties! These protests were
there, Mr.. Harrington and Mr.. simeral
were there. Your decision was there, and
] the information was all there! Why didn't
they use the information unless they were
willfully blind and lame and halt-unless
they had, your honors, been ~hypnotized, un-
less they had asked to be chloroformed also,
how could they escape Il? What is fraud,
in Gods name, II that is not fraud7 Who
has q photograph of It II that is not one?
I have already mentioned that dark Ian
tern meeting in executive session between
the board and railroads, the railroads being
there, Just as though they were members
Of the board. and having more influence
than members Of the board. The whole
thing was cut and dried then, / have no
doubt. What difference did 1t make to them
that the Burlington railroad hadn't made
any report or that half a dozen railroads
hadn't made any report? What do we
want Of reports; what do we want Of the
annual reports Of the Q road. they must
have said1 The reports should have been
filed In January and April, as the constitu-
tion and law require. What do we want
Of the tax lists or revenue returns called
for by the revenue law? Why, we DOM
need them. They are not here. but We
haven't missed them at all" They were not
asked for; they were not even missed.
Then these delinquent railroads, two or
three Of them, hustled around and sent
down their annual reports which should
have been there in January. and they
hustled together a list for assessment, IS
they called them, OF the B~urlington'G fifteen
companies, mere skeleton companies, mere
skeletons, showing fifteen skeletons. not
even cadavers, for their flesh had rotted on.
They were lined up there in a row after
the assessment was madei
I can finish all / have to say about that
c.. B. & Q. road and their methods and on
that fraud question in the short time al
lowed me. I make the startling statement
that the c., B. & Q. railroad, which oper-
ates more railroad in this state than any
other company, Is not assessed for one
penny in the state of Nebraskal It's name
is not in the list, it has returned no list,
but its auditor, under instructions, has put
in fifteen skeletons, not even cadavers or
stins. with no resemblance to q living
thing. II Is shown here that the Q road
should be assessed on many millions Of
dollars. as I shall show presently, and yet
1t is not assessed for one cent? Is that
fraud or isn't II fraud7
We got a valuable bit OF Information, or,
at least, IL is picturesquely brought out in
the Union Pacific argumen by Mr.. Baldwin,
which will serve for an illustration I can
use IL for my purpose. He speaks Of the
Burlington's so-called main line" to Kear-
ney. II were the railroad and mad TO pay