Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1902-11-20


| districts contiguous which showed an unusuail,
small amount OF that kind Of property e
record
( The assessor of the city OF Mineral Point
seemed TO be very lenient towards the mort
gage holders, accepting without much investi-
CATION the statements OF the mortgages In 70
gard 10 the amount due on mortgages. 80 that
the relative value of the assessme ats of the diff
ferent districts on this class OF property 10
manifestly unjust In some instances. cannot
demonstrate the correctness of my valua ton.
nor exhibit the evidence which has led me to
the valuation | have put upon this class OF
property in the different districts, but believe
II to be very much nearer the true value and
the true relative va lne than the assessments.
| nave increased the valuations on these items In
the towns of Dodgeville Linden. Mineral Point,
Waldwick and the city of Mineral Point, and
have lowered the assessors figures in the town
ing in total Of = @ ssy wh q, qs SsHs misrped
| IN red figures in the column on table No. ..
something certainly should be done to eQualixs
this class of property, so that a zealous. or
possibly over Jealous, assessor should not bring
penalty on his town in the shape OF unjust
proportion of taxes, nor on the other hand
should an INDECENT; negligent or incompetent
assessor be allowed to reduce the amount OF
state and county taxes which his district should
pay.
The very low salary paid assessors defeats tbs
very object of an assessment, as no man, how
ever willing he may be, can properly assess
some OF our large districts for the money ~
ceived. He resorts to the neglect OF some
In my estimate, then, of this class OF prop
erty, have only followed vague evidence which
is equally accessible to the county board. In
most districts | have assumed that the a..
SCISSOR has been diligent and has got all that
could be got. In others have assumed that he
mas been busy on other classes OF property and
mas not made thorough listing, or that the
banks nsar by hold the mortgages and they
have the deposits,
MERoHANTs AND MANUFACTURER STOCK.
Former assessments OF this class OF property,
assessment was made of other property, were
very unequal, indeed This resulted from tho
Ignorance OF most assessors OF the cash value Of
was equally ignorant, at the commencement
OF my term Of otiice-in fact, was incompetent
to make an estimate that would approach the
lapp ntsd Capt. J. X. Martin my deputy, TO
estimate stocks OF merchandise. He WAS the
best man available that could got. He had
had eighteen years experience as q msrcha ant OF
an assorted stock OF goods. lie had been en-
pioyed since his retirement from business many
times, to invoice and take Inventories Of stocka
mated during March and April before the assess.
ment begun. all the stocks of goods In the
county From his estimates as a guide, aud my
own inspection as learned to value goods,
have made up my values on table g.:
Amount merchants and manufacturers stock
M raIa, ooSx
ass'ssou last year WdyIs
LOGS, TIMBER, LUMBER, ETC
The assessment OF this class of property seems
to nave included ore and ice in some towns, and
to have omitted wood in others. 1t 10 very In
complete, but 1t is small item in this county,
! have not spent much time on IL.
Whole amount assessed ,..,.....,...,...... >667l
My valuation, including articles taken from
other columns .,,,....-... .UlUe4
ALL OTHER PERSONAL PROPERTY.
Under this head ID included every article OF
personal property having any value whatever
not previously enumerated and not expressly
n Y "A krsVv In sh<,st
sand and one articles going TO make up this
class OF property, assessors select those articles
OF most value ~ custom may be, and give TO the
aiuerent articles as many different valuations
1t Is manifestly impossible for the Asssssor to
view and value this class OF property.
unequally assessed. No class OF property has
given me SO much trouble to arrive at true
or relative value.
After trying several plans to arrive At some
thing like a rational conclusion IN to ITS value,
l finally adopted the following plan: lsslsctsc
from the assessment roll OF each town . list o.
average farmers and the amount assessed oI
this item for each one and calculated the aver.
age valuation for each farmer OF the list for
that town. Selecting what appeared to me, from
my knowledge and some actual inspection, tha
approached my idea, calculated per cent TO
apply to all the towns in the county.
then took the per capita valuation OF that
culated 1t for each town, and found that the
two results resembled each other. then CAL
culated the per capita assessment for each town
classified the towns Of Arena, Clyde, High.
land, Pulaski and Ridgeway together and
multiplied the population by the per capita ~
sessment OF mlshlsnd which appeared to me
Brigham. Dodgeyllle, Eden, Linden, MOSCOW.
Mineral Point Mihlin, Waldwick and Wyoming
and applied tho per capita assessment for
Moscow as standard.