Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1903-07-24
STATEDENIES THEM
The Contentious Made by Rail-
roads Against Assessments.
DECLARE AFFIDAVITS UNTRUE
That Were Given by Assessors Sayre
and FreemAn-No Companies Made
Application to Have Debts Deducted
Chance Was Given.

Lansing. Mich, July 2l.-The an
swer of Auditor-General Powers to the
bill OF complaint filed In the United
States court for the western district
OF Michigan by some twenty-three
railroad companies, which has result
ed In tho granting by that court Of an
Injunction restraining the auditor-gen'
sral from proceeding TO collect the
amount Of tax assessed against such
companies In excess OF the amount
they have paid under the specific tax
law. was served upon the various COM
panies Monday.
The auditor-general. in his answer,
denies the allegation OF the railroad
companies that In 1902 and for many
years before the assessments made by
the assessing ofncers OF the state other
than the state board OF assessors, were
and had regularly been much less than
the true cash value OF the property,
and not over so per cent Of such value
While be admits that Assessors Free
man, Dust, Sayre and Mclaughlin, n
their original determination Of the av-
erage rate, determined that the as
sessments made by other assessors
than themselves were much less than
the true cash value Of the property. he
denies that the state assessors had
any authority to make such a deter
mination.
An interesting averment in the au-
ditor-generars answer Is that the
somewhat famous afidavits OF Asses
sors Freeman and sayre. attached to
the bill OF complaint, which state such
undervaluations. are mere conclusions.
do not represent the facts, and are on
their face contradictory and untrue
Sufficient Notice Given.
The auditor-general specifically dc
assessors in making q second deter
mination OF the average rate, etc, az
ter the decision OF the supreme court
In the school board case, was without
sufYlcient notice to the railroad corn
panies, and charges that none OF the
complainants appeared or was repre-
sented in any way At such proceed
ings
Tho answer further asserts that II
Any differentiation Of the property OF
the state subject to ad valorem as
sessmsnt exists, or existed In 1907,
such differentiation "a the sporadic re-
suit OF premeditated. collusivs or
fraudulent action on the part OF the
onceYs making the assessment, nor
the result OF agreement or concurrent
action on the part Of such assessing
ofheers.
II 10 denied that the act Of 1901
would result In the application OF
tax rate TO the assessed valuation OF
the property Of railroad companies.
different from and higher than the tax
rate applied 70 other property OF the
same vAfue, situated In the same place,
subject TO the same political turisdic-
ton and existing under the same cir
cumstaness.
Answering the contention that In as
sessins the railroads the debts Of the
corporations wsre not deducted from
their credits. the auditor-general
shows that although given . full OPP
portunity to be heard before the state
assessors acting as a board OF review
upon the assessment Of railroad prop
erty, none of the companies made ap-
plication TO have It's debts deducted
from It's credits. nor did any company
make any objection TO It's assessment
on the ground that debts were not de-
Quoted from credits.
The answer deals with all the other
numerous contentious Of the railroad
companies In their bills Of complaint,
and concludes by asking that the per.
manent injunction prayed for be de
MED