The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1906-10-05
RAILROAD TAXES.
KANSAS RECEIVES MORE PER MILE
THAN ADJOINING SATTES.
In This as in Other Campaign Issues
Facts Prove Misrepresentation
by Democrats-Extract From
the Records.

property. 1t has been declared by
some of those who are opposing the
Republican ticket in Kansas that the
party is shielding the railroads and
not requiring them to pay their full
share of taxes. Members of the pres
ent board of railroad assessors deny
the truth of this statement and their
figures, taken from the tax records of
the state, seem to bear out their state
ments. L. T. Kelly, state treasurer
and a member of the board of rail
road assessors, has made statement
concerning the assessment of railroad
property and has quoted figures to
show that his statements are correct.
He says:
The illustration, as to how prop
erty is assessed in one county, will be
sufficient to demonstrate that, if rail
road property and other property is to
be assessed on an equal basis, then
the assessment of railroad property
must be reduced.
I'm Douglas county, which is an av-
erage county, land is assessed at SEAS
per acre; horses at S13.09 per head;
cattle 1856; mules $14.60; sheep 81
cents; hogs $2.04. These values are
said to be one-fourth of the real value
of this class of property in that
county.
1T is not likely that the land in
Douglas county can be bought for
| S2592 per acre. 1t is not likely that
horses six months old, or over, can be
bought for $52.36, or cattle for S14.64
This county returned in money for
taxation $52,000.O0. AT the same time
that this assessment was made, the
Comptroller of Currency and the Bank
Commissioner of this state issued
call for statement of the conditions
of banks, to the credit of individuals
in that county, and it developed that
there was on deposit in the banks at
this time $2,5O0,0O0. But per cent
of it was listed for taxation. Douglas
is taken as merely a sample. All 9th
er counties make practically the same
showing.
Discussing the matter relating to the
assessment of Railroad property IN
/ the state of Iowa, Kansas paper re-
Gently had this to say:
| But land is assessed in Iowa on an
| average of $41.00 an acre and rail-
roads at S23,000O0 per mile" Again:
But if lands could be assessed at
their actual selling value, so could
railroad property be assessed at s40,-
900 mile, its estimated value in this
state, Kansas) instead of $1,000, it's
assessed value"
For the purpose of argument, 1 will
admit for the time being that tn s
| statement that railroad property in
Iowa is assessed at $4,000 mile and
that railroad property IN Kansas is as
sessed at $1,000 a mile is true. Had
| the paper been solicitous in it's efforts
| to present the facts in this case, it
would have inquired how much tax
| per mile the railroads of Iowa pay on
! this $4,000 assessed valuation, as
compared with the amount of tax paid
| per mile by the railroads of Kansas.
with its $1,000 assessed valuation
"The Official Report of the Railroad
Assessors of the state of Iowa for 1905
| shows that the railroads of Iowa pay
taxes on their mileage, per mile,
! S213.09; and the same year, it could
have been ascertained that the rail-
roads in Kansas paid taxes per mile
S300.23 in other words, the railroads
4 of Kansas, with one-third of the as
sessed value of the roads in Iowa, pay
$S7.14 more tax per mile than the rail.
Nov as to the valuation, on page
81 of the 34th annual report of the as
sessed value of railroad property in
the state of Iowa, issued July q
1905, is shown that the assessed
value of railroads in that state is
S5937 90 per mile and not $4,000 as
stated. Twenty-three thousand dollars
is understood to be the actual cash
| ua1r re q in 10
the laws of that state, property is rs
sessed at one-fourth of its actual casl
value.
wv. R. Stubbs, who is a railroad con
tractor, in an interview short time
ago, said he could reproduce, or re
build the 5000 miles of railroad Il
Kansas for $4,000 per mile and hav,
millions left for his profit. If the ruiz
applied in Iowa was applied to the as
sessed value of the roads in Kansas
by multiplying the assessed value pc
mile, $1,000, by four, the actual valu,
of these roads would be $29, 10000 pc
mile, or $4,000 per mile more thai
Stubs says they can be built TO
> and $1,000. 90 per mile more than the.
are valued at in Iowa.
Frequent references have bee
maui 10 lie COuSuo lOpOiO vi lJOO oil
the Interstate Commerce Commission
report, as to the value of railroa
property and the taxation of the same
l insist that the question has not bee
fairly presented and IS reflection O.
the Republican Board of Railway A:
SCISSORS.
1T is shown by Official Reports tina
D railroad property is assessed higher i
r the state of Kansas than other classe
f of property and assessed higher tina
e the same class of property in othe
b states. In the 1900 census report
J., is shown that the average tax pal
/ per mile by railroads in the Unite
t States is $237.00. In Kansas last yea
,. the amount of taxes paid per mile b
: the six principal roads of this stat
;. was SCOOPS, or $63.23 more than tn
y average tax paid per mile by the road
d of the United States.
i "In the states that adjoin Kansa