Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1905-08-30
TWO SUPERVISORS
 WEAR THE COLLAR
Dramatic Scene Follows Attempt To Raise The United Verde
 Assessment

fling. After the chair had officially an nounced the business of the board, Smith requested that the visiting min ing man kindly explain his position as to the value of the plant of the United Verde. Before he had occasion to reply Attorney Pattee asked that the representative of the big mine would please outline his position as to the proposed increase in the taxation. Then followed a dissertation on the value of machinery that had been in use; its selling price in the event of desire to dispose of it, and for something like an hour this subject was discussed pro and con from all quarters. Smith and Pattee were in the talk, and in response to many inquiries, the superintendent of the United Verde replied to such i questions as he could answer without interfering with his view of the in quiry that he had attended. Little of especial interest was developed dur ing this portion of the inquiry, it be- 1 ing shown on the side of the mine own CT that machinery was at all times af- ter its installment property that daily depreciated in value.
 Superintendent Clark made one state ment during this portion of the hearing | that was of importance, referring to the manner in which the tax list of his com pany had been made up, contrary to his better judgment. He explained that his intention was to lower the levy on the plant, and add the amount to the mines, in manner to keep the assess ment at the same figure as last year. The assessor, he said, thought best to place the entire matter just as it stood the year previous, and he (Clark) had in the end agreed to this manner of list ing the levy. He said that had he made the change as contemplated he was certain that the territorial board would have had no reason to adopt the arbitrary action that was finally taken on their part.
 When questioned by Attorney Pattee in manner to require definite answer as to his opinion of the actual justice and equity of the proposed raise, the mining man invariably resorted to the argument that all the United Verde wants is a fair valuation as compared with other patented claims within the territory He referred to the rate his company had paid in the past, as con- pared with other operative mining pro perty within the territory, and urged that at all times his company had been taxed very much higher than other paying mines in other counties. He proved this statement by figures, and to this Supervisor Smith replied that he as 8 member of the board of Va vapai county could not control the acts of the members of the same body in Graham or Cochise counties, insisting all the time that he believed that he was asking nothing unreasonable.
 Much attention was given during this talk to the fact that Montana pro- perties with which the superintendent was familiar have been assessed in manner equitable to those most closely concerned, and Mir. Clark quot 1 ed several instances of various holdings there to illustrate his claim against the board to prevent any increase over the figure the assessor had returned.
 Admits Its Low Valuation.
 While the talk as to the value of | different parts of the big mine were under discussion, Supervisor Smith, who had remained in the background for all of ten minutes, again took a hand. | Upon some statement made by MT. 1 Clark, he said:
 "You know, I know, and the whole | world knows that the United Verde is assessed too low"
 Before he could go any further, MT. Clark responded:
 "Yes, it is low, but not in propor- tion to the assessment of other proper | ties not only the territory, but in the county as well. We are perfectly will ing to stand any raise that may be made, but we will not stand to allow this one property to be chosen as mark, others escaping, especially mines that are great producers in other coun- ties in the territory.
 The visiting superintendent then went into detail to show how the Unit ed Verde had always paid more pro- pOrtiOnately in taxes than any other op- erative properties, telling how when at .1.N. hNIw