Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-18

necessity OF facilities for inter-communica-
ton and the Importance Of the railroads to
the general public welfare. He spoke Of tho
attitude assumed by the government toward
railroads and argued that although the rail-
roads were operated by private ourS0sations
they were urGer the cc~S - os the govern
ment and to a great extent public property.
says IL com Public Highway.
A piece of property acquired for railroad
purposes, he said, Immediately ceases to
be property and becomes a part Of the pub
lie highway, and its value does not depend
upon its use for any other purpose or in
any other respect. AS an integral part IT
has no value of its own any more than a
part of a locomotive. Therefore the value
of any part of a railroad depends upon the
value of the whole. This idea, he argued.
should be practically applied and the value
of the whole should be determined and not
the value of its parts.
The policy OF railroad taxation followed
In this state. he said, gives Douglas county
its distributive part Of the taxable value Of
railroad property and IL Douglas county
loses by that plan It is not the railroad
company that is the gamer, but Sarpy
county and the other counties of the state.
He commended that railroad property should
not be treated as the property Of any pri-
vate individual, subject to the condition
and the fluctuations of the market,
At the close Of Mr.. Greene's address the
board overruled the Burlington company's
| protest against its Jurisdiction.
Then on suggestion Of Mr.. Mcintosh the
cases Of the railroads were called each in
turn and as there was no further argument
on the part Of their attorneys the protests
were promptly overruled by the same at
frmative vote of s.
h board then took up the case OF the
Union Pacific railroad, and after hearing
evidence on the value Of the property, de-
cided to let the assessment as fixed by the
Board Of Review stand.
other ProtesIs O~verruled.
When business was resumed after the
noon recess the cases of the Chicago, st.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha and Burling-
ton roads were taken up in turn, on the
protests of George T. Merton. In these
cases the taking of testimony was cut
short by dispensing with the reading of
the records of the printed records of the
federal courts as presented by Mr.. McIn-
tosh. In each case Tax COMMISSIONS
Fleming was questioned as to his informa-
tion regarding the value Of the railroad
property in question and permitted to say
hat he believed the assessment as re-
turned by the Board of Review to be Just
and equitable. In each case the board by
a unanimous vote of the eight members
present found the assessment as returned
by the Board Of Review to be equal and
just.
There was no complaint on the part Of
George 1. Morton against the assessment
Of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley
road and its property was not specially
considered by the board, so it was left as
valued by the Board Of Review.
The Omaha Belt railway came up for
consideration on the protest of the COM
pany, ]. F. Stout appearing as attorney.
Mr.. Stout called c. L. Ransom. civil en-
gineer in the employ of the Fremont, Elk
horn & Missouri Valley road, to state that
the track Of the Belt line could be replaced
for $13, 900 per mile and the road had ten
miles Of track. A. p. Turkey and G. F..
Harrison were called as real estate ex-
perts to state that the land In the right
of-way would average from 1000 to $1,000
per acre. There was some discussion be-
tween Mr.. Stout and Mr.. Mcintosh as to
whether eighteen miles OF switch track
should not be included In the assessable
property at the same rate as the main line
and whether the franchise should not be
assessed. All discussion was cut short by
a motion from Mr.. zimman that the assess
ment OF the Belt line be reduced from
s494, 900 to $500, 900, and the motion pre-
vailed, Mr.. Burnley only voting I'm the
negative.
Railroad Assessments.
Following are the railroad assessments
as they were fixed by the state board and
as they now are:
State Present
Board. Assessment.
Union Pacific .......... $67, 649.40 $14,5S3, 260
f. f. & NJ. V..........,r 12,92i.O $4,000
Omaha & N. P.......U... n,31O.OO
Omaha & s. W.......... l1,6l5.0O 1S63,l4O
c., s. p, NJ. & O........ 20,74s.c0 2,50O.00
Omaha Belt Line...,.... 9S,S7O.OO 4OO,VOO