The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-07-15
ARE SHOWN NO FAvORS
Manufacturing Plants Assessed at More
Than Their Value.
This Is the Complaint of Some of the
Largest of Them.
Liberal Policy Toward Employers Of
Labor Is Favored.
Way to Get Factories Is to Give Them
Fair Treatment.


The work of the board of review on
the assessments has not proved at all
satisfactory to some of the larger man
ufacturers of the city, who feel that the
board has not shown that consideration
for home institutions that it should
have done. Manufacturing plants in
cities of the size of Mankato have many
things to contend with that they do not
have in the larger cities, and for this
reason it is harder to get them locat-
ed in the smaller places. Some towns,
as an inducement for the location of
manufacturers, offer freedom from taxes
or at least reduction in assessments.
A manufacturing plant employs numer-
Gus people who spend their money in the
city, and this money comes from abroad.
A store keeper may employ two clerks
and to that extent helps to give employ
ment, but his money comes from the
city or the immediate section.
w. L. Hixon, president of the Mankato
Mills company, had some suggestions to
offer this morning on the way in which
the assessments should be made on man.
ufacturing plants. He said: "The board
seems to have enlisted in a campaign
against manufacturing plants. There are
too few of. these in the city now, with
out driving out what we have. Not re-
ferring to our own case, as a general
proposition it is poor policy to tax these
plants heavily, for they employ numer-
Gus people, who spend their pay in the
city.
Before this assessment was made, the
knitting mill property was assessed at
twice what the plant cost us six years
ago. We paid $4,000 for it at that
time. This year the board notified us
that it proposed to raise this nearly
ninety per cent, but it finally made a
raise of thirty per cent, so that the as
sessment valuation is now $4,000.
"The way manufacturer handles his
plant is to charge off each year for de-
probation, but instead of that the coun-
Gil adds on. Two years ago we simply
rebuilt what was burned, and the past
year we have made no engagements or
improvements whatever. A manufactur-
ing plant is not worth anything unless it
can be made to pay, as is shown by the
small figures that several plants in this
city sold few years ago.
my plan of making assessments
would be to take the cost at the start
and assess the value at one-half of this,
and each year after that, according to the
amount that is charged off for wear and
tear
"The board should have put the valu
alton of the Standard Brewing COM
pany's plant down instead of showing us
up to equalize the valuation.
"The knitting mill pay roll last year
was $4,000, and l4O persons were CIV
en- steady employment. We employ more
people than any other factory in the
city.
"We have received two offers to move
our plant elsewhere, and as we value
the buildings at very little, we could sell
them cheap and get out of them what
we carry them on the books for. Both of
L. III hoy
Use exemption from taxation, and one
of these even offers to donate plant.
The only privilege we have in Man
kato is to pay taxes. The sale of our
goods here is not drop in the bucket,
so that is no inducement for us to stay.
The people here prefer to patronize out
side houses. We are seriously consider
ing accepting one OF these propositions,
and getting out of Mankato. We took
up the matter again the other day by
correspondence with the parties MAX
ing the offer"
R. D. Hubbard feels that grave in
Justice has been done the Hubbard Mill
ing company, whose assessed valuation
has been placed at 100000. He looks
upon this as outrageously high. This
assessment does not include the ware
house. In speaking of the matter today,
Mr.. Hubbard said: This is the kind of
thing to drive any man out of Mankato
and not permit anybody else to come in.
They don't base the assessment on any
thing that is fair, and do not even have
the courage to give us chance to ap-
pear before them to show that they have
been unjust.
"The city ought to be very liberal
with manufacturing institutions if we
expect to get more of them. They ought
not to be taxed for more than they are
worth, We could not begin to sell our
plant for 100000.