Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-15

crushed to earth by so doing, we must
have dividends.
And therefore say that for dividend
purposes the Union Pacific railroad is
worth at the very lowest and most conser-
vatlve estimate 800, 900 a mile, but for
taxation purposes 1t is worth, according to
them. only $45. 900.
Let us now take up the B. & M. brief OF
General Henderson or Mr.. Kelby. BY their
united efforts they have produced some re-
markable results. In the first place, on
page Al will read this for the benefit of
Mr.. Kelby as we'll as the court-and In
the light Of the testimony given by Mr..
Weston yesterday:
Correlated to or supplementing sections
80 and 40 are other provisions OF the law
and constitution, one of the apparent OBJ
jects Of which Is to AFFORD the board a
liable Information" relative to railroads as
a basis for ndmeasuring values. These pro-
visions are recited in full In REALTORS brief,
for which reason II Is unnecessary to copy
them here. We have said that one OF the
mination Of the value OF railroad proper
not IL iThmnterial, If the railroads COM
piled with these provisions this informa-
ton was accessible to the board. That the
railroads did return to and file with the
auditor Information of the character pre-
serib pee by these provisions Tba Tr, Is not sn Sn1 f tSst
a printed copy. of the annual report of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
| Of the board, filed with the auditor and re-
mains a pert of the public records or the
state.
Here ia a report filed before this board
on the 23d day Of May. 1902. And yet they
made the assessment on the 10th. They
did not have this at all at the time they
made the assessment. That is the first
point that I have to make with regard to
General Manderson's brief. l have already
| referred TO that statement Of Mr.. Pollard
of the Chicago. Burlington & Quincy.
Now on page s of General Manderson's
brief he says:
II were idle to claim, and we do not
claim that the assessment fixed by the
6Sospd represents tbs actual value OF the
| railroad property. What we DO claim Is
that the assessment OF raltrosn rI ptiSpe or as.
sessment TO actual or cash value ana "a NNe ee
braska of actual value does not exceed 10
per cent. In other words, property OF an
kinds other than railroad property within
Sasr az we PROPOSE TO show herein, as.
sessed at less than one-tenth OF is actuai
or true value.
Where he gets that l don't know. Prob
ably though he obtains It from the census
report. Well, If l remember right, the
| census report tnOWSu bhoh Ahe
600 In 1890, but we did not. That Is all
there is to 1t. They were not there-count-
ing lead men and everything else, they
were not there-and the report for 1900
| shows Il. So when they begin to talk
about census reports, they must remember
that when a census enumerator goes TO
one for the purpose OF obtaining the value
OF his property, he is not going to report
on less than he has.
1t is a very different proposition, the CEN
sus proposition, as to values, than mat OF
the return Of the assessors, and 1t Is the
returns OF the assessors that We must look
TO. And what do they show with regard
to Nebraska? The auditor testified that
he had returns from the county clerks OF
this entire state which showed that the
assessed valuation all over this state was
from one-hfth to one-sixth Of the cash
value Of the property. or from 16 2-S per
cent to 20 per cent. We have alleged in our
writ that the property Of other property
owners In this state was assessed at 20
per cent Of its actual value. TIL consti-
tuition and the laws OF this state provide
that property shall be assessed at its true
cash value and this court cannot presume
that all the assessors throughout the entire
state have failed to do their duty, where
there Is nothing before this court directly
showing that they have failed. We are
here to impeach the action OF this board
Of assessors with regard to railroad
property and they come in and say
"Why here are all the assessors Of all this
state that we propose to impeaeh." BY
what? BY the census report; by the sales
that have taken place of property through
; out the state. What were the sales that
these gentlemen were looking for. WhC
t compiled these sales? Why. We know thai
) they were compiled by the railroads. Thu
, railroads were not there for the purposl
I Of showing that the sales were very mucl
{ below; they waited to put the sales a.
5 high as possible and. OF course. TO put tn
! taxes down as low as possible. So, wheI
the counsel make an argument that thi
exhibit here was before the board, showin
d q great number OF sales In a number o
! counties throughout the state and that Ian
was assessed there for IS an acre and sol
: for $50 on acre. you must re
member II comes from the railroads
4 But here we have something that tn
board had to obtain and we have here th
statements OF the improved lands an
unimproved lands for the counties through
out the state, as to the value OF assessment
! the assessors agreed upon in their meetin
a in March. and what is II? As l said. It
between one-siIth and one-hfth. That
what II shows. But what has been III
assessed valuation OF the railroads? Fro
ons-tenth 20 one-hfteenth.
ID General Henderson In his brief has con
e mented upon the funded debt Of the C.. ]
4 Q. railroad. Let US see what that /