The San Francisco call., 1905-08-04
SUPERVISOR ROWE
ATTACKS ASSESSOR
DeAyeys Impassloned Speech ChaygzmgI
II. p. Dalton With Neglect Of Duly.


Rowe made an open attack upon county
Assessor Henry P. alton at the meeting
Of the County Board Of Equalization this
morning. tho attack being called forth
by the fight that is being waged over the
assessment of the Oakland Traction Com
pany, the Key Route ferry and railroad
service, and the Realty Syndicate.
The attack was startling one, for in
days gone by Supervisor Rowe and AS
SCISSOR Dalton were political friends, but
to-day the Supervisor said things in open
meeting that have set the politicians on
edge, and made people sit up and look
around to see what was coming next.
The Board Of Equaliza ton, however,
did nothing except listen to supervisor
Rowe, adopt a resolution embodying some
of the speechso of Supervisor Rowe against
Assessor Dalton and some of the press.
receive scme petitions and circulars asking
that the assessment Of the corporations
in question be not reduced, and then
adjourn. The corporations in question
have not, as yet, asked for any reduction
in assessment.
SUPERVISOR GROWS WARM.
Supervisor Rowe blazed up just after
the board had got through with some
routine business. number of long
petitions that have been in circulation
throughout the county for several days
were presented opposing any reduction in
the assessments of the Realty Syndicate
and its allied railroad and ferry corpora
tions. Upon this Mr.. Rowe presented the
following resolutions winch were adopted
by the votes of all of the members pres
ent, Supervisor Kelly being absent:
Whereas. 1t has to the notice of the
Board OF Supervisors sitting as Board of
Equalization OF Alameda County, by personal
notices and circulars and also through the pub
lilo press tntimatfng, insinuating and even
charging that this board, or individual MEM
bers thereof, are being bought, bribed or per-
suaded by certain corporation to reduce It's
assessment to the great detriment OF TINS
county; and
Whereas. The County Assessor and the pub
lie press seem to be greatly wrought up for
fear that we are about to commit great IN
justice; and
Whereas, This board wishes once and for
all TO alay all fears on that subject. and TO
save the unnecessary worry and expense or
County Assessor. the press and others,
who are expending their valuable time and
money circularizing the county, and securing
interviews and signatures to letters for pub
lication on matters which have never as yet
been presented for the consideration Of this
board. and which so far as we know, never
may be; now therefore be it
Resolved, That. this board, before taking
final action upon any application presented TO
1t. will diligently inquire into the merits OF
the request and will be governed in its hnal
decision by the evidence Introduced before it,
and not by any outside pressure or effort to
intmidate OF jam; and be it further
Resolved. That this board deeply regrets the
failure of the Assessor Of this county TO deilV-
the time provided by law. that fair op-
portunity might have been given to this board
to fully investigate the assessment OF large
number of corporations and individuals
throughout the county.
While this was before the board Super
visor Rowe made his speech. He read
selections from newspaper articles and
from documents that have been in Cir
culation for some time, and then said
in part:
hofra hos
grossly rnisrepresented Whether an attempt
has been made TO browbeat and hulldoze the
members of the board into taking action upon
assessments before an application FOR re-
ductlon has been filed / will leave others 10
Judge Up to the present time there has been
no application for a reduction filed by any or
the corporations involved, and, far as / am
concerned, I know of no application that Will
bes filed, and yet petitions are being MED
asking US to sustain Dalton's assessments A
San Francisco paper has gone so far as to
intimate that I had visited the Realty Syn
dicate TO ascertain who was going to handle
I have never visited or talked with any one
directly or indirectly connected with the Syn
dicate or any of Its allied corporations upon
the matter Of its assessments. did visit
Wickham Havens, who is not connected with
the Syndicate. when he wanted to talk v'h
me about read through some property. The
road wanted inside of the city limits and
did not mention assessments. 1t has been
said in the papers that | had stated that |
believed that the assessments Of the Realty
Syndicate should be increased. have meyer
made any statement of any kind about assess
! wish that Assessor Dalton were here. to-
day. for 1 have something to say about him.
sent him a note asking him to be present at
the meeting to-day. because ! was going 10
charge him with dereliction in his duty and
I. wanted him present when l said it. / am
now going 10 ask the Clerk for the personal
property assessment roll for the year.
MAKES MORE CHARGES.
County Clerk Cook said that it had not
been turned over to him and Supervisor
Rowe continued:
Here sitting a Board of Equali
zotion trying to pass upon assessments when
We have not got the complete rolls before us.
for would like to know what the personal
sessed for yet Dalton, without life or license.
retains a portion of the assessment rolls which
me like piece Of raw politics in In the hey year
before election. Dalton now asks the board to
sustain him in his actions and / say now
that have been submitting to his actions for
three years until I am disgusted. II Dalton
would do his work like business in
stead of like a faker and would assess the
county of Alameda equally for about go per
cent of it's valuation instead of playing to the
gallery we would have money enough to pay
one third less The conduct of the Assessor
has done more to hurt this county than the
taxes. The Assessor is the man responsible
for the high tax rate in this county
The Assessor in one of his circulars, says
per cent Of its value. If that is true he IA
derelict in his duty as an Assessor. find
here that one Of the banks in this city is
assessed for $4,000 for its property and
building while in its literature It places
the value at $250.00o. Is that fair assess
ment? I would like to examine the personal
property assessment of some of the banks
and corporations but we have not got the
bocks =
Chief Deputy Assessor Robinson ex-
planned that the Assessor has to collect
the personal property tax. and that in
order to do so he must retain the roll.
WED UPON SHORT NOTICE.
BERKELEY, Aug. 3.-With only a
few hours notice. friends of Miss Edith
L. Craw ford transformed her mothers
home at 2435 Piedmont avenue into
suitable place for wedding last
night and the young woman became the
bride of Theodore J. Ludlow The groom
is a mining engineer and was informed
Yesterday that his presence was needed
k1ocI-a nDca He had rlaOped m