The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-04-09
The POOR RAILROADS.

To strain at a gnat and swallow a !
camel is human nature. the unfair !
ness of the assessments of mining |
properties, which pay taxes upon |
their net annual proceeds, rather |
than upon their output, is the subject |
of many idle columns in the endeavor
to rake up a popular cause of re
daced taxation. Perhaps the taxes |
would be perceptibly reduced were
other methods of valuation in vogue
for the producing mines, but the
great and formidable railroad octo-
pus is the real subject to attack. |
The railroad companies, with their
lines operating in Montana and which
persistently rob the shipper and pas
senger year in and year out by the
exorbitant rates for carriage, are the
real transgressors. Were those rail
road systems valued for assessment
as they of right ought to be, COM
pared with private holdings in the
state, or even at half value, the bur-
den of taxation would be agreeably
lightened. Think of the Great North
ems value per mile of track in Mon
tana, recognized in the great merger
scheme $4,000 per mile, and then
compare the paltry $500 which the
has valued this property for purposes
of taxation. Surprising the 5000
miles of railroad in the state of Mon
tana all certainly as valuable as the
Great Northern and it's branches,
listed by the assessor at their true
value, or even say 100000 per mile,
and we would have $100,000,000 of
foreign capital paying a just return
for the excessive fees they charge us
and a revenue increased from that
source four-fold.
When one pays a freight bill now
a-days the imposition of the railroad
tariff appeals most forcibly. Take,
for instance, freight charges on ordi-
nary print paper, the first cost is
doubled in Montana by the excessive
charges for getting 1t here. Those
various commodities classed as sta
pies must be sold here for prices
which are appalling to the new
conner, but the merchant must add
his freight and small profit or go
out of business. 1t is only upon
goods which are produced in the i'm
mediate section that reduced tariffs
are given by the railroad. Forum
ately, flour, the staff of life, comes
under this head and, in a measure,
meats. The railroads tax our people
without mercy, why cannot a state
board of equalization be got together
which will do justice to the people
of the state and, by listing railroad
property at a proportionate value
with possessions owned by it's citi-
zens, fairly divide the taxes and in
directly return to the consumers that
awful freight and passenger tariff?
The mines are more or less state
enterprises, their prosperity means
much to the state and they are enti-
tied to protection far and above the
railroads. The solution of the tax
question is embodied in the correct
valuation of the railroads. The trav-
cling auditor and special tax com
missioners of the railroads are clever
fellows and most always make them.
selves solid with the state board OF
: equalization and with the county
assessors also. They spend their
, railroad money free, and verify the
, bread cast upon these currents re.
turns at least once a year. And the
: higher valuation of private property
of Montana citizens let's our railroad
friends down easy in the tax levy
and they pay one mill only to the
; plethoric citizen owners four. A good
thing is that state board of equaliza,
ton, and they and their families al.
, ways ride in the vanished cars.