Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-18

any legislative enactment in pursuance Of
the constitutional mandate fxing a rule for
ssoertaining the value Of the franchises OF
railroads, 1t Is all now In a chaotic con.
dillon. But, for the purposes OF this argu-
ment, l viii assume that some place. some
whore or somehow In the different statutes
Of the state Of Nebraska the board has the
right to assess the franchises OF the rail-
roads, or rather to take the franchises into
consideration in determining the value Of
railroads. We must keep clearly in mind
the mode Of ascertaining the value Of the
property and the mode Of assessing tina
property. There are two distinct PROPOSE
lions. Az the time Of the passage Of sec
ton 80, In 1879, II was then a very doubtful
question as to whether franchises in any
way separately and apart could be taken
into consid GRAFTON with the assessment OF
properties. so 1t was very clear that the
Legislature never intended section 80 to
apply to railroad corporations or corpora
tions organized outside of this state. Fur
Their, section 1, I think IL Is. Of the revenue
act relates to capital stock Of corporations
incorporated under the laws Of the state.
In section 80 1t enumerates all OF the cor
porations, steamboats,, express companies,
street railways, etc, but there Is no men
tion Of railroads at all. The inclusion Of
one is the exclusion Of all others" BY
this process of elimination the railroads
are excluded, and section 80 itself says
corporations Incorporated under the laws
OF this state. So that wherever there Is a
reference to the capital stock Of q corpora
tion for the purpose OF assessment in any
Of the statutes OF Nebraska, It refers to
corporations organized under the laws Of
the state Of Nebraska and not corporations
49, - -AIN.
Is this fact when we get to section 80.
where the legislature used the peculiar
phrase and language including corpora
lions incorporated in other states, whether
incorporated under the laws of this state
or not" desiring evidently to give peculiar
significance and emphasis to that phrase,
because in section SO It is whether in
corporated under the laws OF this state or
not"
So that II there is any rule or any
statute for the assessment of the fran
chises Of railroads 1t must necessarily be
by sections SO and 40, and we say for the
purpose Of this argument that the board,
being an assessor, assessed all OF the prop
critics Of the railroads. We say, II the con-
tention Is that the assessment is made
under sections 80 and 40-because that
power is given to the board, there is where
the power lies and is lodged. Well, how
is that to be exercised? How are they
to assess the capital stock? There is no
rule. We have in section 80 a proceeding
somewhat explicit and definite. but in refer
ence to railroads, there is no rule at all.
The legislature then, at least having a
doubt as to the power and ability or au-
thority to assess franchises, left the power
of assessment to the board to fix in It's
o-,. 49,, ~, NJ awad ~ arAlNraHv rula II
is left with the board for assessment In
its own peculiar way, by no rule.
To recapitulate my proposition, I say
under section 80 it is applicable to cor
porations organized in the state Of Ne
braska. 1t was not meant to apply to rail-
road corporations, because they are not
mentioned, and because confined to cor
porations incorporated in this state. While
again section. 80 particularly refers to cor
porations whether incorporated In this state
or not. II 1t Is under section 40 1t is LETT
to the sound discretion Of the board and the
board has told this court that 1t took these
things into consideration; that 1t exercised
It's best Judgment and made the assessment
accordingly.
We GENE next to the particularly impor-
tant cry and the charges are rung upon IT.,
Don't you know the Union Pacific was a
bankrupt corporation? Don't you know 1t
wasn't earning anything? Don't you know
its franchise was taken away from lit Now
1t is a new corporation, with a right OF
franchise, the right to collect tolls and
make charges" The Union Pacific never
lost it's franchise. 1t has always collected
tolls, freight and passengers. There is no
difference now. 1t went along just the same.
They say, Look at its, improvements.
Look at. its betterments and its earnings
and the assessments are the same now
as ten years ago-no increase" and that is
taken up In every varied form that can be
imagined and it is poured down from the
lips of counsel as II In a lava torrent OF
fever frenzy. He was so agitated about It
he could not control his conduct in assail-
ing good and upright mel who have borne
good names in the communities In which
they have lived. Who have never before
been accused of wrong doing and who have
discharged all the duties Of their station
to the best Of their ability for the last
twenty-five years. / will show in a few
minutes why It has not been increased. Be-
cause there has been such a marked in
crease of all the properties of this great
and growing state OF Nebraska; that there
has been and had to be to conform to the
dominating maxim Of uniformity n reduo-
ton in the assessment and consequently In
the taxation. But in that reduction, II
your honors please, the railroads have
not had their fair share and proportion.
These gentlemen absolutely seem to ex-
clude from their reasoning that element
In their arguments. They fail to think Of
II when they refer to the condition of the
properties in this state.
These figures are from the auditors re-
port and from the Interstate Commerce
commission; they are In evidence, every
item OF them, and prove conclusively that
there is nothing whatever In their COM
plant. The decrease in the last eight years
in the assessment Of all kinds Of property
other than railroads has been 1875 per cent.
II you have 1000 farms in 1898 and have
5000 farms in 1901, you have more prop
erty to assess. consequently you can re-
duce your levy. 1t was reduced 1875 per
cent on all property other than railroads.
Railroads in this time were only reduced
7.5 per cent In their valuation. Now. on
the other hand. the increase An lands
assessed in the state OF Nebraska was 12.s
per cent; cattle, 30 per cent; sheep. 14o
per cent; hogs, 80 per cent, and the I'm
crease in railroad property, 81 per cent.
So, while there has been a decrease In the
assessed valuation Of ali property other
than railroads OF las per cent. there has
been q decrease in assessed valuation OF
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