Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1906-08-22

producing 4o,00o,O0o dollars worth of bullion and copper, were assessed at a littlc over 10 per cent. of the value of that product, and a valuation for the whole property 25 per cent less than the dividends paid in their opera. tion, and at not much, if any, over in the aggregate, two or three per cent of their real value.
 The sbccpmcn were paying upon about 70 per cent of the value of their property, and the ranchcrs, the small grocer. the blacksmith. and the day laborcr and the men trying to build homes and educate their chil- dren were paying from 30 to 75 per cent of the value of their property.
 l found that the cattlemnn was pay ing approximately as much as 9 times as much as the mihc owner and the rancher, 20 times as much as the mine owner and 6 or : times as much as the railroads.
 l found the total assessed value the valuation fixed for Arizona--of all the mines in the territory to be less than *l,500,00o, while the commercial value of part only of them, as disclosed by market quotations, and otherwise, was found to be more than sl50,O0O,O0O. l mean that less than ten of all the mines in Arizona would aggregate in value on the street, in the market, would sell, and their stock was selling, for more than $i5O,OOO, ,OOO. And yet all, including those ten, were assessed for the purpose of taxa. ton at about ! per cent of only n part of the whole. The producing mines were paying largely less than the non. producing mines, in proportion. But l need not enlarge upon the disgrace ful story.
 Believing that something ought to be done toward rcmedying these gross evils, the board of equalization at tempted to raise the value of the grossly undervalued property. The step taken was not radical. The values of the mines were raised to sum about twice the amount of the known annual dividends from them-to about $lI,000,000, being not over per cent of their market value. The dividends pai', by them were about $6,5OO,OO0.
 Nine owners and some newspapers lesient to them instantly denounced the action as arbitrary and unjust. l Io not think comment necessary. Every governor of this territory, ] think without exception, for twenty years, has begged the legislature to remedy this evil. Every one of them lrns decried the evil in every report he has made to the secretary of the inter. fer. The appeals to the legislature have been without avail. Last year a inliion tax law was prepared which met the npprovs; of Governor Brodie -s law by which the producing mine owner would have paid not over half or encthrd of the taxes proportisnatc ly as did the rsncher, the storekceper the eattleman or the sheepmnn, or even the producing mine owner-but i, was more than the mine owner had been paying. The bill landed in th' pocket of n subservient committeeman and there died. And that was not tho frst instance. Now, however, some of the large mine owners are insisting upon bullion tax law; and they sing ularly are of those who opposed th' bill in the last session. It is thei, avowed purpose to abolish the board oi equalization or 50 deprive it of iti powers as to make it a useless thing. ] In commenting upon bullion ia, law al the last session of the legisla ture, one large mine owner said to an other who favored such law, "Well m favor bullion tnx law that vii make my taxes less than ncw.'
 Why should the board Of equaliza ton be abolished only offence wa to raise the values of mines from les than 2 to less than 8 per cent of thei value.
 It is speeiously argued by the min owners that the powers of the boar are too great, and may be unjustl. used. But the board did not us them unjustly ss against the mines The board raised the values of th mines to only one-sixth of the averag of other property, and 1t was this fac that lost us our case in the suprem court. The power to regulate the mat |