Omaha daily bee., 1904-07-28
RAILROAD ASSAULT BEGINS
Tax Commissioner Pslleyu Opens Fire on
State Assessment.
ENCOUNTERS OPPOSITION FROM REED
Douglas County Asaeasor ChailenEea
Figures OF Railroad Nan and
Points ont where He Has
Made Mistakes.
49, q 80 Correspondent.)

(From a Stan Correspondent)
LINCOLN, July I.-(special.) This was
railroad day before the State Board Of
Equalization and Mr.. Polleys Of the allied
corporations came down loaded with sta
tistics, but just the same Douglas county
scored again Mr.. Pollcys, IN speaking OF
the Douglas county land values, made his
.comparison with the assessment made by
City Tax Commissioners Fleming, and this
was his fatal error. BY this comparison
he showed that Douglas county land had
been assessed st 81 per cent Of the land
sales. and It was upon that basis that he
made his argument
AT the concluaion OF his talk County As
SCISSOR Reed filed with the board a state
ment OF some 500 transfers which showed
that his assessment IN Omaha was more
than the selling price OF the same land. He
told the board that Mr.. Polleys argument
was absolutely absurd and that Il should
have no weight insofar as Douglas county
was concerned.
The two became involved In heated ar
gument when Mr.. Reed announced that
Polleys had not taken his figures FOR a
comparison. because they would not suit
HIS purpose. and that had he done 80 he
would have had no argument TO make
against the Douglas county assessment.
PoIIeya Explains Figures.
To nnd what he considered the real value
Of real estate Mr.. Polleya had worked
under the Wisconsin rule and he told the
board Il made no difference whether he
used Fleming's figures or Reeds figures.
He was willing to agree to drop out OF his
calculation d,5Oo,Oo0 worth Of property
which Omaha had not assessed this year
assessment to something like 90 per cent
Of the real value. Mr.. Polleys made his
comparisons on 800 transfers He and Mr.
Reed made comparison OF the selling
price, the Fleming figures and the Reed
figures on sixty transfers. with this result:
Fleming. aggregate valuation. si22 go;
Reed, S4l5,15O: sales, S455,7l7. AZ soon as
this was made Mr. Reed produced evidence
where many Of the transfers that had been
considered had larger price named IN tho
deed than was actually paid for the prop
erty, which latter sum was not as high as
his assessment. These instances he filed
with the board. In all there being some
thing like 500 transfers which showed that
his assessment was higher than the selling
price OF sales made in 1904, aggregating
8. .6f1. .40l50 Mr. Reeds assessment was ST.
Gs,ss5
BY using the Fleming figures for a com
parison and working under the Wisconsin
system, Mr.. Polleys showed that Fleming
had MADE the aggregate land assessment
ss5.s1ilo5, while the true value was sui 1872
100. or an excess OF s1Ae60,s95. II was these
figures that Mr.. Reed tore to pieces.
PoIleys Figures tor state.
During his talk Mr.. Polleys insisted that
the aggregate valuation OF the realty OF
the state should be 100000 ,OOO. when it had
been returned at $3.50 900 He wanted the
land values Increased l76,OOO,OOO In sup
port OF this contention he said that the as
sessment Of the land sold was not more
than IS per cent OF the sale value, and,
therefore the same would prove true on ali
the land In the state. He fled with the
board number OF tables. In which COM
putation he assured the board he had not
taken into consideration any abnormal
sales. He divided the land into three
classes IN order to get around the claim
made that only the most valuable land was
being sold.
While Mr.. Polleys was the star talker OF
the day he did not ger before the board
until o'clock, number OF counties having
gotten ahead Of him. Among those who
we're here and who talked were County At
torney Sunbeam Of Saunders. Judge Bryant.
representing Cedar county; Tom Majors.
Judge stuli. Representative Good, County
Assessor Maxwell OF Nemaha, and repre-
sentatives from johnson, Gage and Paw
nee. who arrived after o'clock, and many
others, Very few OF them had kicks to
make on their assessment. but they wanted
to be let alone or have the other fellow
raised.
On the Wisconsin, Method.
When he began to talk Mr. Polleys as
sured the board that he intended to try to
help get at the true value OF land, and
while he took into his calculations only a
few counties ne wanted It distinctly under
stood that he had no particular grudge
against any Of them. He Advocated the
Wisconsin idea OF getting at the true value
Of land, which, as he filed II with the
board. Is this 'The afithmetlcai and log
icai formula evolved By the wisconsin tax
commission and used BY it for several
years past in determining the true realty
value OF that state. Is In the form OF a
problem IN proportion. and Is AZ follows:
As the total assessed value OF the land
sold In district or county Is to the total
consideration paid for these lands. so is the
total assessed value Of all the lands IA the
district to the actual or market value OF
the lands therein"
Based on that theory ne nIed this state
ment with the board;
The following table shows the approxi-
mate true value Of eli the real estate
(both land and lotE) In each OF the coun-
ties below named, a. determined BY the
ratio process adopted and used BY fhe
Wisconsin Tax c0mmiasiOn; also the ratio
reported to the state board, as compared
with such true value;
8 l Rl aI