The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1906-03-30

stalements on the Railroad
Tax Question.
EDITOR HERALD ADVANCE:
You will possibly think me, a
common farmer, presumptious
in addressing you this com mum
ication, but | received circular
letter some time ago from Hur-
on, | think, such as was received
by some other residents of this
county, making comparisons OF
taxes paid by railroads Of this
and other states, and later hav-
ing read the following in the
Grant County Review after an
nouncing the coming of a GER
tain political speaker: ''He will
tell why the farmers aud mer-
chants pay such high taxes, and
why the railroads pay the least
taxes in South Dakota of any
state in the Union" And again
reading in your last issue the
statement that the railroad as
sessment had been increased
800 per mile in South Dakota in
the last year I deem it my
duty, as a resident of this state,
to correct some OF the state
ments and imputations above
referred to.
lam sure that you we're mis-
informed and did not publish
the statement with the intention
of misleading the good people of
this county, and will give space
for a correction which you will
find below.
In explanation l wish to say
that the figures herein con tanned
are taken from the state audi
tors reports for North and
South Dakota tor 1905, and any
one wishing to examine the re-
ports to prove the correctness
of my statements, are at liberty
to do so. Let US be honest, let
us not be misled by incorrect
statements or imputations, let
US investigate for ourselves.
Referring to the above men
toned circular letter, and l am
infor med that the speaker refer
red to made the same state
ments and comparisons in his
speech, which would lead one to
believe that they infer that
Everybody works but father"
in South Dakota, but that father
does most all in North Dakota
when it comes to paying taxes.
but / think [ can show you that
the whole family works in North
Dakota as well as in South d.
kota.
The circular said, if l remem
ber correctly, that the railroads
of North Dakota paid $21O taxes
per mile and South Dakota only
$96, which is comparatively cor.
rect, and would without further
explanation lead you to believe
that under the same conditions
North Dakota paid S114 per mile
more than South Dakota, or over
twice as much. But I was
taught when l went to school
that there were three elements
in computing taxes, viz: Assess
ment, rate of levy, and tax, any
two of which being given the
third could be found.
Now take your pencil find
in referring to page IS of audi
tors report that the assessment
of North Dakota was 1854, 800.
O57,-taxes levied, $4,000, 417.77
winch gives an average rate
of 36 mills.
Page 298 of auditors report
for South Dakota gives the as
sessment 1918, 554. 492 and taxes
levied $5, ,O2O, 846. 80 giving a rate
of 23.5 mills.
Now the average assessm ent
in North Dakota per mile on
railroads is IS, 1O6 and in South
Dakota it is 81, ,829. making a
difference of $1,277 per mile
which at the South Dakota rate
makes the actual difference
per mile $1,000 instead of $114
as they would have you believe.
am not expires sing an
opinion as to the assessments
of railroads in either state,
whether thew are comparatively
too high or too low, but in com
pairing conditions, mention the
facts that the work of the rail
roads of South Dakota consists
OF taking out what we produce,
and bringing in what we con-
sumo, while the railroads OF
North Dakota in addition to this,
carry traffic across the state to
and from the states west to the
coast and Canada. In other