Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-12-12
RAILROADS AND TAX Sinking.

wahoo Wasp; The Union Pacific and
burlington railroads in refusing TO pay
their taxes in the various counties in Ne
braska are doing themselves and the peo-
pie OF the state an injustice. The people
Of Butler county In condemniug those
corporations for refusing to pay their
taxes. the same as others are doing, Is
simply voicing feeling that is wide
spread over the state. The Northwestern
has paid its taxes in full and thereby has
shown that II is disposed to do the right
thing
Beatrice Express: 1t is reported that
Bob Clancy came down to Lincoln the
other day with the svowed purpose Of
having a conference with Attorney Gem
eral Brown on the railroad tax matter.
Such a mission should have been useless
What we need is fewer conferences and
more convictions. The duty of Mr.. Brown
is to go ahead and prosecute that suit,
and do 1t hard. The duty OF Mr. Clancy
is to pound some sense into his employers
so that they will walk up and pay their
taxes. Give us fewer compromises and
defective papers, and more results
Kearney Democrat: If Norris Brown
will stop and read the motto inscribed
upon the face of the great seal of the
state Of Nebraska he will find these words
thcrcupon engraved: Equality Before
the Law" Now, IL Norris will investl-
gate the coal rate schedules he will dis
cover the grossest inequality in spite OF
the law, and that Omaha continues TO
have its coal hauled right through Kear-
ney at rate of dollar or two less a
ton than Kearney is compelled to pay.
Is this the kind of equality meant by
4
why not give us the genuine brandt
Crawford Tribune Considerable sur
prise has been created by the action OF
two of the county officers - the county
treasurer and clerk-in going to Omaha
to testify for the railroads in the tax
suit cases. The officials admit that they
were not subpoenaed, but went on request
of the railroad managers. Their test-
mony was not damaging, as they told
of two or three farms that had been
undervalued, and admitted that they were
not posted about general conditions in the
county. While the action has done no
harm 1t has aroused sentiment against
the method. and is likely to lead to some
concerted movement by the people of
Gage county.
Beatrice Express: In the tax cases now
being tried wherein the railroads seek to
avoid a part of their taxes on the plea
that farms are not taxed high enough,
some curious questions arise And in the
arguments made in court and out of court
by railroad agents there are some things
that will make the average farmer sit up
and listen. For instance, the argul. ent
that lands are taxed too low is based on
few samples taken from each county,
where farms nave changed hands at prices
greatly in excess OF the taxable valua-
tons 1t is an argument that will work
both ways. Two years and three years
ago the stocks of the Union Pacific were
selling on the market as low as IS. This
week Dun's review quotes the same
stocks at 1874 to 1873. So they have almost
doubled. The men who own them are
that much richer than they were two
years ago. The stock represents the road
When a railroad is bought or sold II is
the stock that sells. Therefore. IL for
some reason some farms have increased
in selling prices and should be taxed
more, some railroads have also increased
in selling price, and should be taxed more
Is it logic or is 1t not? The Burlington
stock moro than doubled in one day.
Should that DE the basis OF the taxable
value?