Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-06
FIGURES ARE IMAGINATIVE
WOrld-H 'rald Editorial Displays IgnOranO,
Of Taxation Question.
RECENT EDITORIAL is RIDICULOUS
Omcial Figures Are Here shown
to Disprove wild State
ments Made on Au-
gust ~.

ISSUED Under Authority Of the Railroads
of Nebraska)
The world-Herald Of August % pub
lished an editorial claiming hat the Hg-
ures presented by the bulletins we're COM
piled with the purpose Of deceiving, and,
assuming to speak for the common peo-
ple," makes the following assertion in re-
gard to Sheridan county:
I'VE shall take Sheridan county, the
home OF Auditor Weston, because he can
not claim to be ignorant as to the condi-
tions in his own county, where he has
lived for fifteen years.
THE taxes paid by the taxpayers, other
than the railroads, in Sheridan county In
1891 was a little more than $32, 900. The
taxes paid in 1901 by the taxpayers, other
than the railroads. was more than S55 900.
Thus the taxes paid in Sheridan county by
the plain taxpayers of that county was
S23, 900 more last year under the present
administration than 1t was ten years ago
under the rotten rule of Benton and his
cohorts.
But the taxes paid by the railroads in
Sheridan county in 1891 was S11 ,9l1.19.
The taxes paid last year, under the rule Of
Weston and his associates in the state ad-
ministration, was 81, 1866. 81.
Hence the amount Of taxes paid by the
railroads last year in Sheridan. county
was s374.ss less than under Ton Benton.
ITO put It plainly, then, the railroad
taxes in the home county of Auditor Wes-
ton were nearly $500 less last year than
in the palmy days of the Bentons."
The writer of the foregoing editorial
must think that his readers are very com
mon people II they can be deceived by such
a statement as this.
Mo- wwAoN 49, a. NzAz --- A.
Sheridan county? This county in 1891 had
a great deal of land that was still pre-
empted as homesteads and not subject to
taxation and returned for the year 1891
but 294,5 acres, at an average value of
$1.59 per acre. Between 1881 and the year
1900 the amount of land returned for taxa
tion increased from year to year until in
1902 they returned 624, 96S acres, but by a
gradual reduction of the value per acre In
1902 they reported their land as being
worth 90 cents per acre.
There has been no increase in railroad
mileage in Sheridan county between 1891
and 1902 and neither of the railroads
which run through this county have paid
any dividends from the business obtained,
either in that county or along the line of
the road that is located there, and II takes
a wide stretch of Imagination to assume
that the railroads we're worth more in
Sheridan county in 1902 than they were in
1891. The owners of the railroads which
pass through that county depend entirely
on the future for their hope OF profits
and are more anxious that Sheridan county
should be prosperous and progress than
any other interest within that common
wealth.
The figures show that while there has
haan m tnaHanaaH --- 81
taxation amounting to $50, 426 acres and an
increase in the number of cattle amounting
to 1928 head, and common sense would
make 1t plain that in case the taxpayers.
other than the railroads, paid $32, 900 in
1891; that It would have been no more
than proper that they should pay nearly
as much in 1902 from the fact that
the acreage returned for taxation had
practically doubled in that term of years
and number of cattle increased fourfold.
but the facts are that this statement OF
the World-Herald is a deliberate false
hood, because in 1891 the total tax levied
In Sheridan county was $55, 114.4 and the
taxpayers other than the railroads were
S43, 073.30, while in 1901 the total
tax levied in that county was S54, 25S. "A.
Of which the taxpayers other than the
were charged $42, 6S7.13. So that
with over twice the land returned for tax
alton and four times as many cattle, the
plain taxpayers that the World-Herald
talks about were charged $386.17 less in
1901 than In 1891. aad as the railroads
paid their tax, while there has been a
clear delinquency on the part Of the other
taxpayers that amounts to $40. 0S6. I6, IL
shows what a ridiculous misstatement was
made in this instance. We do not belieye
that the good people of Sheridan county
are much dissatisfied with the proportion
of taxes that are paid, and this editorial
gratuitous In their behalf.
There has been some talk in editorials
in regard to juggling of figures, but we
leave to the people to decide whether the
foregoing editorial was not an extraordI-
nary juggling OF figures, with the apparent
intent to deceive ignorant or unthinking
people. The editor who wrote this article
must have known Of these facts, or II he
did not know OF them 1t is good evidence
that he writes at times about things that
ne does not know or understand, but on
the principle that a witness once wrong
Is always wrong, his arguments should be
considered with a great deal Of caution.
However, we extend our thanks to him
for calling our attention to this county.
from the fact that 1t discIoses one feature
OF tax values which has not been consid- |
cred fully in the former bulletins.
Misstatements usually retroact. The nR-
ures presented here are oficial.
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