Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-05-07
NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL
Des Moines, May /, 1903.

DeS MONIES, may j, 1918.
The greatest musical event in the
history of the state. or in America for
that matter, and one which has al
ready created an extraordinary inter.
est far and near, is the great Nordica.
DE Reszke-Duss concert to be given in
the Auditorium, Des Moines, on the
evening of May 10th. 1t is an event
of unusual Importance when two OF
the worlds greatest singers appear up.
on the same occasion even in the larg.
est cities; but il is the truth when we
say, that never before IN the history
of this country have two such preemi.
nent singers appeared in the same
concert as Nordica and De Reszke
These names are household words in
every great musical center in Europe
and America; honored and decorated
by kings and queens, and idols of the
public everywhere. These great ar.
lists will be accompanied by the great
orchestra of the N. Y Metropolitan
opera house, under the direction of J.
s. Duss, and numbering 60 men. DR..
M. l.. Bartlett, of this city has charge
OF the arrangements. The railroads
make an open excursion rate of fare
and one-third for the round trip, good
TO return on the 18th. There will be a
matinee in the afternoon with famous
soloists.
Manager Hippee of the Des Moines
Street Railway company makes an
nouncement of extensions and i'm
provements for that company this year
that will cost upwards of 100000.
Fully five miles of new road will be
laid in addition to a large amount Of
double tracking, and new bridge will
be built across the ,Des Moines river
to Highland Park.
Assessor Schramm does not con-
ceal the fact that he was disappointed
by the action of the city board of re-
view in cutting down the assessment
on which he had worked SO conscien-
tiously. There were some cases, Of
course in which he himself recon-
mended changes-especially in the
cases of poor people. But the whole.
sale cutting that the board did was
not to his liking, although he care
fully abstained from making any crit.
icisms. 1T is up to you, gentlemen"
he would say with reference to as.
sessments, when asked reasons for as
sessing the properties as he had and
after he had explained these reasons.
THE system is wrong" he said.
II admit that there were some in
equalities In the assessment as made.
Nothing else would be expected when
the work had to be done in three
months time. This is large city,
one of the largest areas in the coun-
try. There are subdivisions of sub
divisions in 1t. There are straight
streets and crooked streets and no
streets at all. If any one imagines
that 1t Is easy to find and value every
description of property however big.
littleor irregular 1t may be, he is badly
mistaken.
''In my opinion there should be a
board OF assessors with power to go
into the field and appraise the value
of property. They should have suffi-
cient time for the work, also. 1t
ought to begin the summer before the
January when the assessment is
made, unless the board were continu
ously in session. We did not have
time to study the real estate of the
city as We should have done to have
made an assessment thai would have
been beyond criticism. Had we had
more time we would have done bet.
ter, but as it was we did fairly well,
l believe"