The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-06-28
ST. PAUL REALTY
VALUES SUFFER
IN ASSESSMENTS
Complaint Is Made That Land
Is Made to Bear the Brunt of
Taxation While Merchant and
Manufactures Are favored.

To any thoughtful man it must be
conceded that St. Paul real estate is
very much below its true value. and
should in the near future have a
steady and permanent raise in values.
The future of st. Paul never looked
brighter than at this time, with the
immense territory west of US being so
rapidly settled up, and with our great
iron industries in the North becoming
so prosperous il must appeal to every
thoughtful man that St. Paul and Min
neapolis must be the great manufac-
turing and distributing point for this
country.
1 have always looked upon ST Paul
as the proper home for the manufac-
turing Of all kinds of goods to supply
the demands of this great field, and
with the water power at our doors. II
harneSSed, sufficient to produce power
for all purposes. but for some reason
our great wealth had not gone into the
channels necessary to build up great
cities. Our heretofore wealthy men
have not seemed to be possessed of
great foresight in the use of their
means that would as well build up
the city as enhance their own wealth.
There is that scattereth and yet in
creaseth, and there is that withhold
eth yet which tendeth to poverty"
But we trust with the enlightenment
we have had from such minds as our
own j. J. Hill and other wealthy men
of our nation, our present generation
of wealthy men may have a wider vi
sion, so they may see the great future
which cannot only be brought to our
city. but increase their own wealth by
a wise use of means at their COM
mand
One reason for our depressed real
estate market is the fact that our tax
rate is high, even on q valuation of
real estate far in excess of the true
market value. Especially is this true
as regards vacant property. This is
caused by two reasons-One is the
very expensive city and county gov
eminent; the other is the willful mis-
representation of values for taxation
of our personal property owners in
this city, which throws the burden of
taxation on the real estate. Why
should a man who has invested $780,
GOO in real estate pay taxes on $125,
600, while his neighbor. with a like in
vestment in dry goods, should pay
taxes on only $4,000? Until we can
have justice done in our assessors Of
fee, the real estate of St. Paul must
suffer, but even bearing all these bur-
dens, our real estate is abnOrmally
low in comparison with other cities Of
no greater prospects and worth. In
Los Angeles, Cal, property is selling
for improvement at double st. Paul
prices, without any BOOM in Seattle,
/ should think residence property
with improvements in street, was be-
ing sold for three times the prices
asked for such property in st. Paul
One business corner in Seattle sold
the other day-being lis feet front by
1875 feet deep-for $2,OSS per front foot,
and this was not the best corner in
the city, either, by any means. These
properties are being bought for i'm
provements. We think we are building
houses in st. Paul, when either Of
these cities are building double as
many buildings as we are, and we are
not half keeping pace with our present
growth. We should have 1000 houses
built here before Oct. l to meet our le-
ultimate demands.
H. A. Campbell,
Member Of the Real Estate Exchange.