The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-08
Say They Are Powerless.

Say They Are Powerless.
 "I called attention of the assessor and other officers to this matter, and they all agree that the valuation Is far too low, but seem to think they are powerless to increase it. l talked freely with the as- sessor, MT. Allen, and tried to impress on his mind that the fault was largely his own. He admitted to me that the value of the property assessed was fixed by the owners themselves, while the law requires him to fix value at it's actual value in money. having due regard for the character of the lands or other property, the value of improvements. its location. etc., and he is also required by law to administer orally the oath to each and every taxpayer before accepting his list of property and fixing the value thereof.
 ''The assessor himself admitted to me that the formality of administering the oath was often omitted. The trouble ap- pears to be that the assessor neglects to perform his plain duty in this respect, and permits the property owners to fix values themselves, and of course they can be relied on to make it low enough in all cases.
 Tt is perfectly plain to my mind that the county needs an assessor with enough firmness and decision of character to do his whole duty regardless of what others may say or think about 1t, and let the tB. am fully persuaded the assessor is a good man, but he is sadly deficient in the qualities mentioned. He Is too much afraid of public opinion to properly discharge the important duties of his office. What is the cause of this lack of firmness, I am unable to say. He has just been reelected for another fall term. and as there Is now no need for him to fail in his duty in or der to secure votes, 1t Is hoped he will proceed to raise values in the county to something like what they ought to be. He has promised to make the effort. It remains to be seen with what success.
 .'There is now no tax commissioner in the county and l am informed 1t is very difficult matter to get a competent per- son to accept it. A good one is badly needed. There are thousands of acres of land in the county assessed at $1 an acre and some at even below that figure. have brought to the attention of the as- sessor and other county officials the fact that the county receives from the state a large amount of money in excess of taxes paid, as more fully appears in the statement below. The school fund and amount paid to pensioners in the county is, in round numbers. $4350 more than the entire state tax received for the past year. hence the county of Lamar is act ually pensioner upon the bounty of the state. Surely this ought not to be- I append statement below. Respectfully submitted. c. r. SEDBERRY, Assistant Examiner of Public Ac-
 counts"
 Statement.
 Amount of school funds paid by the
 state to Lamar county ............3 $500 Amount of pension fund distributed
 in county S.55C
 u7.s5c
 CONTRA
 Total tax received by the state for the county for 1904. 04.............. $13, ,0Ot Books of Covington,
 In the report on the books of Coving- ton county. State Examiner German calls attention to the fact that property val nations are not more than 50 per cent oi the real worth, which seems, by the way to be about the same all over the state However, the assessment for 1905 in Gov ington over 1904 shows an increase oi $619.541, the 1904 figures being 8. 3.720.1S4. The following are the names of tho county officers whose books were looked Into: Probate judge, J. M. Robinson clerk, W. H. Jones; ex-clerk. H. J. Low; sheriff. J. T. Brandshaw; tax assessor, N B. Powell; tax collector. W. w. Taylor; superintendent of education, w. J. Mer- xglJ