Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1906-02-07
ASSESSORS CONFER ON PROPER.
 " VALUES.
From Saturday . Daily.)

ierent counties of the territory was a very successful one, and that much wa, accomplished in the way of reaching an understanding looking towards the eaui. table valuations of all classes of proper. ty in the different counties.
 Eight of the assessors of the tb,r. teen counties were present, and took part in the business of the meeting Those present were.
 C. ]. Houck, Navajo county; Wal. ter Brown, Mohavc county; B. A. Co. mcron, Coconino county; B. !. O'Rcilly. Cochise county; Gus Livingston. Yuma county; Frank Luke, Maricopa coun. ty; D. ]. Sullivan, Yavapai county; l.. W. Wakefield, Pima county.
 It was n matter of sincere regret that MT. Birdno, the assessor of Graham county, and the editor of the Graham County Guardian, was not present, as It is n well known fact that he Is n very energetic and competent officer. and we'll informed on taxation usagcs and laws. Other assessors who were not present had written letters of regret, that business affairs prevented their presence at the conference.
 The assessors, with Auditor Page and Attorney General Clark, got to. gethcr early in the forenoon, and there was no time lost until the close of the conference which was late in the after. noon. Auditor Page presided and At. torney-General Clark was present as an adviser on legal matters. The dis cussions were thorough, in many cases animated, but in no case acrimonious. and the meeting was believed by all to have been one that will result in great good to the entire territory. It was ar. rangd to bring out of the practices in the various counties system of great. CT uniformity to which all could nd. here so that there v,"id be uniform taxation in all counties, ana consist ent valuation be placed on the same class
 
 of property in each county. In the discussion every kind and class of property was considered as it was reached. and all the straw threshed ov. CT, the conference not being called for the discussion of the taxation of any particular class of property.
 One of the most important things de. cided upon was to adhere SO far as practicable to the statutory standard of assessing everything at it's cash va. Tue. There has heretofore existed a plactice of placing n valuation on pro. perty for assessment purposes, smaller than the estimated cash value of the property, it having been the custom rather than any desire to deviate from the statute. It is admitted that the cash value of any property is apt to be lower than the value placed upon it by the owner, and in order not to err against the property owner there has been tendency to rate many kinds of property too low. The result of the new practice of assessing property at its full cash value should result in very greatly increasing the total valua- t'on of the territory. However, it is not necessarily an indication that pro. perty owners wll have to pay more taxes for there is just SO much money to raise each year, and if everything is placed on a uniform basis and closely listed up. the rate will be much smaller and some property will be listed that perhaps is now evading taxation en. | tirely.
 The entire forenoon was devoted to a | discussion of the technical questions the assessors have to deal with, some being points of law and others ques. tions of practice.
 The afternoon session began by . disc ussion of the best ways and means for the securing of uniform assess ment in each county, on the same kind of property, so there would not appear such a startling difference in valua. tion as has occurred sometimes on the some class of proeprty in two adioin- ing counties.
 One rule of conclusion arrived at be- tween the assessors was that in the event any assessor shall or county board of equalization shall return any kind of property at an inadequate va. luation, making it necessary for the territorial board of equalization to raise the valuation as a whole, the re. sponsibility for it shall rest on the local board or assessor of that county. The point is that the territorial board can. not deal with individual property own CTS, and if it shall be manifest that the valuation in certain county should