Omaha daily bee., 1902-05-08
D As no RllLRoAD AssrssMENr.

akaAANHN my AhkANhHt VI AZ NaAhnNAhAl
Of the properties Of their respective
roads for taxation purposes. In making
these appeals the railroad attorneys are
simply discharging what they believe
to be a duty they owe to their employ
ers In order to earn their salaries.
With the tangible proofs of the
marked improvement of the roadways
and Increased equipment for which the
railroads of Nebraska have within the
past three years expended many mil
lions. no intelligent man could be per
suaded that railroad property In Ne
braska has not materially increased In
value and should be correspondingly
assessed even regardless of the fact that
the roads are more prosperous thar
ever and are earning more for their
owners than they ever have. The only
argument advanced by the railroad rep
resentatives against an increase in the
railroad valuations is that the railroads
are already bearing their full proper
lions Of the burden of taxation as COM
pared with owners of other property.
This argument, however, is not borne
out by the facts.
In the first place, the railroads OF Ne
braska have never borne their full
shares Of the burdens Of local taxation.
Take, for example, their taxation in
Omaha and Douglas county, where their
terminal facilities are worth anywhere
from 100000 to $10,0O0,000, while
their contribution to the maintenance of
local government is a mere bagatelle.
Assuming. however, that no discriml-
nation In their favor had been practiced
by former boards Of equalization, n
comparison of relative changes in prop
erty assessments should convince the
present board that the railroads have
been undervalued and should be raised
as a matter of Justice to other taxpay-
ers and as a matter of self-preservation
for the state at large.
In 1889 the grand assessment roll of
Nebraska aggregated $1S2, 763,53S, of
which 500, POI represented the valua-
ton of railroad property.
In 1897 the grand assessment roll had
shrunk to $165, 1913, 1856, of which $685.
561, 72O represented railroad property.
In 1901 the grand assessment roll ag-
gregated STA, 439. 095, of which $780,
400, 1872 represented railroad property.
1t will be noted that the comparative
~shrinkage in the grand assessment roll
as between the years 1889 and 1897 was
ST. ,SO2. OF this $4,O22,5 sol was the
shrinkage in railroad property and 3d.
547, 301 the s~hrinkage in all other classes
of property; In a word, while the valua-
ton of railroad property was reduced
by nearly 10 per cent, the valuation of
all other property was reduced less than
8 per cent.
Between 1897, which was low water
mark. aud 1901 the grand assessment
roll has been increased by $9,245, $50,
of which 1851 .012 represents the in
crease Of the railroad assessment and
$S,384,347 the increase of the valuation
of all other property. Reduced to per-
c~entages, the railroad assessment has
been increased since 1897 less than 80
per cent, while the assessment of other
property has gone up Z per cent, or
double the per cent Of increase of the
railroad property.
Had the proportions Of increase been
the same the valuation of the railroads
for 1901 would have been $27,2S3, 744,
which would still have been $2,570,477
below the assessed valuation of the rail-
roads for 1900. VIII anyone dare con-
tend that the railroads Of Nebraska are
worth less today than they were in
1890? VIII anyone contend that they
were overassessed in 1902
The most valuable asset Of the rail-
roads is not, however, the roadbed and
rolling stock, depots and machine shops,
but their franchises. The Union Pacific
railroad, for example, could have been
readily duplicated five years ago for
$4,000 a mile, and yet the syndicate
that purchased the road paid more than
100000 a mile. Only three days ago
James j. Hill made the assertion that
the Burlington stock at 200 cents on the
dollar was cheap and the stock rep
rssents less than one-half Of the cap
i~talization. Although the constitution
of Nebraska expressly provides for the
assessment Of franchises, all state
boards have heretofore ignored the
~frarchises in making assessments and
persistently placed railroads on the
same footing as lands, cattle and chat
tel property which enjoys no special
privileges for levying tribute upon the
public.
These facts should be kept in mind by
the state board in reaching its eonclu-
sions. The railroads have their special
pleaders. but the people look to the
members Of the board as their rep
resentatives to see that equity and
justice prevail in conformity with the
letter and spirit Of the constitution.
80