Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-15

on me Dy winch these mercenarleS eX-
pect to divert public attention has the
sanction of President Burt or General
Managers Holdrege and Bidwell seems
to me almost Incredible. These gentle
men certainly must know that while
The Bee under its contract is obligated
to give space to the so-called bulletins,
1 shall not allow this cowardly attempt
to stigmatlze me as a hypocrite and
scoundrel to pass ~unnoticed.
Quoting the legal maxim that he who
seeks equity must come into court with
clean hands, the latest railroad tax bull
letin aims to rivet the eyes of the peo-
pie upon figures compiled to make in
vidious comparisons between the assess
ment of The Bee building and its actual
value and also between the alleged value
of The Bee newspaper plant and it's as
sessment. The assertion is made that
while The Bee building is worth $685., 900,
its assessment for 1900 and 1901 was
only 100000. If the railroad syndicate
in whose name this valuation is placed
upon this property will take the prop
erty at 100000 less than their own fig
ures | will cheerfully transfer the title
and let them rake in the profit.
1t is true The Bee building is assessed
at $4,000 for county and state pur-
poses, which is at the regular proper
ton applied to all other real estate in
Douglas county, but what comparison
does the assessment of the property of
the railroads in Omaha and Douglas
The Union Pacific bridge, which earns
every year a larger net revenue than
the entire cost of The Bee building, is
assessed for county and state taxes at
$1,630. Would the Union Pacific rail
road exchange half of the bridge for
The Bee building?
Is it not significant also that the In
vidiOus comparisons are made on the
county assessment and not on the city
assessment, ON which the taxes are
three-fold those of the county? Keep
these figures before the people: The
| city assessment of The Bee building for
1900 and 1901 was $165,000 and the
amount of city taxes paid for 1901 was
$3.50. The city assessment for 1901
of the Union Pacific depot and depot
grounds, right-of-way, trackage and
terminal facilities, worth from $1,000
600 to $4,000, 900, was 8 ,0S1, or a little
more than one-third that of The Bee
building. The assessment of the Bur
lfnUtnn naGGnnUar and fraiUhf 1nnotSa
depot grounds, right-of-way, trackage
and terminals was $32.621, or less than
one-ifth the assessment of The Bee
building. The total amount of city
taxes paid by all the railroads on all
their properties, including railroad head
quarters, machine shops, machinery,
city lots, depots, depot grounds, track
age, right-of-way and personal property
Of every description, aggregates a frac-
ton over $4,000. These properties,
worth not less than $50 O0, 900, produc-
ing enormous revenues, contributed. less
than five times as much to the city
treasury for the maintenance of city
government than was paid on he Bee
building alone. No amount of personal
abuse and classification can counterfeit
these stubborn facts in the minds of
the people.
The figures relating to the property of
The Bee Publishing company are a It's
sue of guesswork and exaggeration and
the comment thereon permeated with
| contemplate spite work. One-half of
the property is represented as consist
ing of an Associated Press franchise,
valued at $250,O00, and to prove this
ridiculous estimate citation is made of
testimony given by me in a lawsuit in
which l declared that If the World Her
aids United Press franchise was worth
$25, 900, as claimed by its chief pro-
prietor. The Bees franchise was worth
ten times as much. The humOr Of this
citation as proof of press franchise val
ues will be appreciated when it is re-
membered that only a few months after
this statement was made the World
Herald franchise proved to be absolutely
worthless because OF the collapse of the
United Press. There is no such thing
| hON 40 III @AooONA1NtA ANoo AAahNhAoOI
but simply a membership in a national
association of publishers who supply
themselves with news on the cooper
alive plan. The attempt to draw a par
allel between a railroad franchise,
which is a monopoly privilege granted
by the state, carrying with it power of
eminent domain and of levying tribute
on all the products of the country, and
a press franchise, which confers no
privilege except the right to share the
expense of news collection by an asso-
citation that makes no profits and de-
clares no dividends, is far-fetched, in
deed.
The valuations placed by the railroad
tax liars on the plant of The Bee is
on the same scale of malicious z
alton or malicious ignorance. Twelve
Linotype machines. which cost $4,000
eight years ago, are appraised at $4,000
and other articles In about the same pro-
portion.