Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-27
MURPHY SUBMITS TO RAISE
Pledges Two Corporations to Stand Doubled
Assessments.
BOARD MAY ADOPT THE FIGURES
Street Railway Company TO he SEIZED
uled al s05O,OOO and the
Gas Company at
s45O,OOO.

Equalization again yesterday afternoon to
present two communications, one Of which
read as follows:
In the Matter Of the 1902 Assessment Of
thhe omaha Street Railway Company-For
the purpose. OF compromising and settling
me ly2 state and county assessment dis
PP1te 6etween the tax committee Of the
Omaha Street Railway company. 1t is
hereby agreed hat the 1902 personal as
sessment of said Omaha Street Railway
company shall be raised to S650'O0O and The
county board Of the county OF Douglas is
hereby authorized and directed to correct
ana equaize said personal assessment by
raising the same TO the said sum ofsS6JO, 900.
BY FRANK Murphy, President.
The other was exactly similar in form
and signed by Mr.. Murphy. but in the place
Of the name OF the Omaha Street Railway
company was that Of the gas company. and
the figure to which it was to be raised was
100000. To the first form there was at
tached, also, a complaint by F.. D.. Wead.
chairman Of the tax committee, against the
assessment Of the company's personal prop
erty, and a resolution drawn up for the
equalization board to adopt. This resolu-
tion In substance made $3.50, 900 the boards
corrected figure.
Provides for Quick Action.
The intent Of all this was to provide a
NN 49, w "A 1 ulSDObG OIL the
matter of the assessment OF the street rail-
way company by accepting a figure salts
factory TO the tax committee. Mr.. Wead
furnished the complaint, which is neces-
sary In correcting such assessments; Mr..
murphy guaranteed for the company thai
II assessed at $3.50, 600 it would not give
any trouble; and Attorney Mcintosh had
drawn up the resolution to save the board
the mental wear and tear of linking I'D
the words for itself.
But again Chairman Ostrom baked on TAX
ing any immediate action. Connolly and Ho-
feldt were still absent, recovering from the
strain OF a fusion convention that found
difficulty in fusing, and until their return
the republican members and O'Keeffe did
not care to proceed. Accordingly the pa
pers were filed and the assessing Of the
street railway and gas companies deferred
until Friday, when the big fellows are
an cited to appear.
Unlike the figures proposed Tuesday for
the packing houses, however, these figures
are fairly satisfactory to the board, Chair
man Ostrom said, because they about tally
with those on the list which the board had
compiled some time ago for it's own use,
and 1t now seems probable that they will
be adopted eventually.
Board Jealous of It's Thunder.
The board is suspected by the committee
OF cherishing a very human antipathy to
anything that will steal its thunder and
detract from the applause It is to receive
from the populace for boosting the assess
ments Of the wealthy. Chairman Ostrom
makes the claim that he has already talked
with representatives OF the street railway
company, the gas company, the electric
light company. the water work and many
OF the Jobbers; that they were all given TO
understand that they would be materially
raised and that each expressed himself as
disinciined to file any protest so long as
they were all to go up together. He said,
too, that he figures on the raise on the
corporations and large firms OF Omaha
amounting to about 500, 900, and that the
raise on the rest Of the county would bring
the total assessed valuation OF the county
up near to $24. 900, 900. He has been using
Tax Commissioner Fleming's figures for the
tobbers and merchants, but says that these
figures are in some instances too low and
that their total Of about 5000, 900 will he
made S25O,OOO or $1,000 900 by the county
board.
Tax Committee Pleased.
The members OF the tax committee. on
the other hand. assert that they are pleased
with the progress they have made in the
matter OF compromises and believe their
efforts will materially benefit the county.
They said last night that they had finally
reached agreements with the stock yards
company and about a half-dozen large
wholesalers, with twenty-five more to be
conferred with today. Including the pack
ing houses. they say they have, by these
compromises, made 1t possible for the
board to raise the total assessment 81, 25O.-
0O0 Withnnk a hfN - AH-Nl- -
parties raised. This figure they deduce
from the fact that they have added, with
the acquiescence Of the owners, 81, 500, 900
TO the roll Of real values of the county.
The compromises that they have arranged
include the stipulation that the parties APP
pear voluntarily before the board and file
schedules which shall total as agreed upon.
They say that all raises they have ar
ranged are in proportion to the raises
agreed upon for local corporations, which
ara as follows: Street railway company.
from assessors return OF $500, 900 to $780,
00G, gas company. from 500. 900 to $3.50, 900.
The return of SAFE. 900 for the water COM
pany is considered high enough and the
exchange committee has not and will not
ask that 1t be raised.
Concerns Only Personal Property.
These statements concern only the per-
sonal assessments, Of course, as It is said
that the assessors returns on the real
estate OF the same parties and firms will
be allowed to stand as near enough correct
In the majority Of cases. Attorney McIn-
tosh has borrowed Commissioner Ostrom's
list Of personal assessment estimates to
compare 1t with the tax committees com
promise figures before the big conference
Of Friday. which is expected to last well
into the night.
The board had hoped hat all complaints
would be in by last night, but the tax
committee says It will file one against
each jobber or other individual or firm that
may refuse 10 com to tRw after today's
conference. So far, the committee has not
filed a single complaint and up to last
night only ninety-hve had been filed with
the board. At this time last year more
than 400 had been filed.
One caller yesterday Informed the board
that he is preparing a complaint against
all the farm land in Douglas county. The
statement rather APPALLED, the hoard men,