Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-10-28
Misleading Circulars Scattered
Over State Purporting to
Give Assessment Figures
THE STATISTICS ARE GARsLED
Plan to Flood the State With These
Documents Containing Misleading
Statements and False Eieures-Facts
Which Refute Their claims-cam-
paign News.
to Characterization.

+ Special 10 Times-Republican.
| Des Moines, Oct. 2S.-The democratlS
state committee is pursuing It's ususl
| tactics. and at the last hour OF the
campaign is circulating false and mis-
Heading circulars relative TO the rail
road assessment They are flooding the
state with these circulars, TO be USED
by their workers just before election
and on election day.
Among the statements the democrats
are circulating is one to the effect tina
the railroads in Iowa will pay about
$l0s.626 or an average of $l,l0S to each
county, less taxes under this year,
assessment than they paid under the
assessment OF one year ago. This state
ment conveys a very wrong impression.
The fact is that the assessed value
of the railroads of the state this year
is S5,233,563 higher than last, but on
account of the reduction or the state
levy from three and one-half mills TO
three mills, the amount the railroads
will pay for general state expenses Will
be about $9.966 less in the aggregate
than 1t was last year. To say they
will pay $1o9,626 less is to assume that
all the local levies in every county will
be reduced in the same proportion as
the state levy was reduced. AS a mat
ter of fact there is no indication that
there will be any appreciable reduc-
ton in any of the local levies.
Therefore the only reduction in the
of Nv he
will be the slight reduction in the
amount they pay on the state levy
1t must be remembered that the taxes
paid on the state levy will be reduced
on all other property as well as upon
the railroads.
The taxable value of all real estate
in Iowa according TO the assessment OF
1903 Is S466. $40. The three mill levy
on this valuation will yield $1.399,79e
for general state revenue. In 1902 the
taxable value of all real estate was
fixed at s410.1S9.7S3. The levy of three
and one-half mills on that assessment
Yields sl,ta5 &C.. tsF state 9ses. A
comparison OF the figures for the two
years shows that Iowa real estate paid
$35,ST2 more taxes for state purposes
on last years assessment than IT Will
on the assessment this year. How
ever, as the, assessment Of railroads
should be compared with 1t two years
the assessment of railroads should be
compared with 1t for the same period
of time. In 1901 the total taxable value
of all real estate in Iowa WAS $780,
SHOTS, and the levy this year for gen
eral state revenue was two and nine
tenths mills which yielded $1,176,069 for
that purpose.
In 1903 the total taxable value of all
real estate was fixed al S466,59I ,316. On
Ii the levy is three mills for state pur-
poses which will yield s1,s99,7a2. or an
increase of s223.735 over 1901.
In 1901, the railroads paid s136.506 for
state purposes under the two and nine
tenths mills levy. This year they Will
pay s169.611 under three mill levy,
or an increase of s33.105.
The democrats state in their circular
that during the past two years the
executive council lowered the assess
ed value of sleeping cars s215,200. This
statement is ridiculous, for if that were
true, the assessmera would have been
lowered more than their actual total
taxable value. The report of the as
SeSSed valuation OF the railroad prop
erty In the state of Iowa for 1903 shows
that the total assessed value OF the
sleeping car lines in the state is s2o4-
III. Instead of there being a redue-
ton of $4,000 there is only very
slight decrease. which Is the result of
the decrease in value OF the cars that
are in constant usage The standard
sleeping cars used in Iowa are assessed
at $4,000 each, which is slightly more
than their appraised value. The tour
list sleeping cars assessed at $500 each
which is about $500 more than their APP
praised value. II will therefore be seen
that the assessment on sleeping cars
is larger in proportion to their actual
value than the assessment of almost
any other form Of property.
These are only a few instances OF
advertisements made by the demo-
Gratis. With this mis- statement they
expect TO deceive the voters and dis
tract attention from the real issues Of
the campaign. The voters of Iowa are
too intelligent to be deceived III this
matter.
MEET IN nee MnlNEc