Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-23
100 LOW
Changes in Real Estate Assess
ments and Railroad Re-
ports Anticipated
CONDITIONS DURING PAST YEAR
Statement. Filed From Month to Month
by Auditors of Railroad Companies
Show Previous Estimates Concerning
Railroad Property, to Be Too Low
May Change Perjury Law.

Il May Change Perjury Law.
I
Special to Times-Republican. =
Des Moines, Jan. "a quiet inquiry
1being made as to what changes are
ilikely in the real estate and other as
sessments of the state of Iowa this
year, and in the matter of the In
creased price of real estate as indicated
/ by the transfers of the past year, is not
las reassuring to the state officials as
they would like. At the same time 1t
lis reported that the statements being
1tors of the railroad companies will
| show that previous estimates OF the
/ cost and value of railroad property as
lmade to the state assessing board have
been too low. One OF the most convince
4 ing statements presented to the assess
| ing board last year was one IN which
| the Milwaukee company made show
/ ing as to the mileage in Iowa and cost
/ and the percentage of the assessment to
cost as compared with line compari-
son on real estate in the counties thru
(which the road passes. The statement
!! showed that the ratio of assessment OF
i the railroad property to actual cost was
26.72 per cent; While the ratio of real
lestate assessments to actual value OF
] the realty was 1925 per cent. This
4 startling showing. for which actual
4 figures were given, was hard for the
state officials to meet. At the same
| time the Chicago & Northwestern rail-
road present statement like this:
Tons freight carried ! mile
i y whole system. 3,71l,323,lS7
1 Average rate per ton per
4 mile whole system S.O3 mills.
4 Tons freight carried ! mile
in Iowa LII 1,SS2,720
i Average rate per ton per
mile in Iowa 7.25 mills.
4 Rate per ton whole system
exceeds Iowa rate 1.38 mills.
/ Had the whole road rate per mile
fseen received on the fopnage trans
I ported ia the state Notwithstanding
of the company would have been ST.
534,3S9.15 greater.
Had the whole road rate per mile
l been received on the Iowa tonnage the
earnings would have been 10 per cent
greater than the actual earnings.
Some of the state officers are making
a study. of these and similar figures
with a view to seeing what the proceed
ure in assessments is likely to be next
July. Some changes in both real estate
assessments and in railroad reports are
anticipated.
! At the last session OF the legislature
a serious effort was made to change the
law in relation to perjury and to make
perjury only a misdemeanor instead OF
a felony. The claim was made on be-
half of this radical innovation that con-
Ivictions for perjury are rare in Iowa
while it is known that perjury is COM
mon, that the reason Is that juries are
reluctant to convict Of felony while
| they would be more likely to convict OF
a lnisdemeanor, and that by providing
the lesser punishment courts would be
able to do much more in the way of
putting stop to the perjury which
makes 1t so difficult to secure justice in
! the courts. But the lawyers turned it
idown. Two recent decisions of the Iowa
/ perjury law Is quite useful In the
case of the state VS.. q. w. John, from
Muscatine county. the defendant had
been tried for murder and acquitted
chiefly on his own positive sworn testi-
mony that he was not even present
when the fatal fight took place. Then he
was convicted of perjury and sentenced
/ to ten years in the penitentiary. Un-
doubtedly the heavy sentence was
1 based on the belief of the court that
the man was really guilty of the greater
crime, for what was involved in the
perjury case. But without the present
/ perjury law the man could not have
| been punished adequately. a similar
! movement has been made in the Holada
case from Johnson county, where the
woman was acquitted of murder but
4 has been indicted for perjury since her
paramoIr was convicted of the murder
and this involved her guilt. A similar
case came to the supreme court from
/ Sioux City where perjury was proved
after an acquittal had been secured on
the perjured testimony, the original
crime charged being greater Attorneys
/ are pointing out that the present per-
jury law therefore proves itself useful
/ in more ways than one, even tho per-
/ jury is on the increase.
| Farmers who own and keep bees must
hereafter look carefully to the location
of their aviary SO that there shall not
come to innocent persons any harm
! from pesky insects with sharp stings
The Iowa supreme court holds the own
ers of bees responsible when they go out
into the highways and attack other do
Fmestic animals. Over in Warren
county a peddler had hitched his horses
to a post in the road while he went to
1.-THE farm house. 1t was hot day and
the wind blew the odor from the per-
spring horses directly to some bee
hives near by and the angered bees
came out and stung the horses to death.
1.-The court holds the farmer must pay
4 for the horses. Most of the precedents
referred to the keeping of ferocious wild
animals and depredations committed by
IIthem. But bees says the court
/ while generally classed as ferae naturae
Iare so useful and common as to be all
|but domesticated. Keepers of he aviary
|have carefully studied their habits and
instincts and control them almost as
certainly as domestic animals. Serious