The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-16

ognized by every one familiar with tel
 It was shown that this year the Western Union had 2.s11 miles or teie. graph lines In the State. Tn repX ~ questions. 1t was stated that the ms l'n and 1t would cost about the same to reproduce it. It was figured out taa. a the company had on an average Hve and half strands of wire on ea9n pSi1 mile on your Alabama propertyr Was asked MT. Rushton and Lloyd after tncy were unable to answer the question cempany eSause 'R was i Jumped on the total prop erty. The company has capital stock on It's entire property of $97,37o,0oV. but 1t had retained in the treasury $ss'' 400. 900.
 To the question what has your stock sold at on Wall street?" l-r. Rushton
 "A few shares have been bought and
 sold at sS7 a share. but these were were any shares actually arnsfeyred In order to help the Board arrive at some idea of the company's Alabama CT sections and of the actual value of the company's property in Alabama Mir. Rushton said that the gross income on the amount invested In Alabama was onlv equal to fifty per cent of the vested in the Eastern States. He said further, that the physical value of the
 properly was sixty ger cent or the The property of the company was re- turned for assessment at S87.5o and the officials stated that the line of the company might be reproduced for $7s.- 30 a mile.
 The officials were questioned to as- certain If there had been any water. ing of the stock of the company. But they declared that in recent years the
 s1ess sresseS s This cIoseS % the case of the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Board went into the considera- ton of the value of the property of the According to the statement of the Postal Telegraph Company the line might be reproduced at $7S mile. It
 was capitalized at seo a mile. No all. It was given in for taxation at $52 a mile.
 The Governor and the members thought that the expenses of the com psny were very heavy and something was said of this amounting to $14o,O0O Assistant Superintendent Duncan ex- plained thas the expense account tnis year was abnormal on account of the excessive expenses of the company dur ing the quick repairs after the Septem- Der gale in South Alabama. Tne company tnODt oayb AesN
 to pay as high as s25 day for a team engaged in the repairs. It developed from the assessment suo- mitted by the officers of the company
 in Alabama. TSe average number of wires strung c. lese poles was high CT than the average number of wires strung on the poles of the Western The company, unlike the Western Union, had only offices in the larger towns and cities of the State.
 The company had given It's instr1 varied in price from q to se or 8
 The Governor said something as to assessing the property of both compa- nies at s2oo mile. but MT. Rushton Der of questions by Mir. Rushton. but he was apparently not familiar with the information that was wanted. He said, however, that the average life of Alabama poles were on average about eleven years old. Mir. Lloyd also ex- plained that the deterioration of the
 wires of a company had to be consid-
 much as an old wire.
 To the Postal and the Western Union officers Governor Conner said:
 der consideration and let you know lat CT in the day what we have done. We will not, however, assess your lines at $2OO mile.
 The case of the American Teieph hone and Telegraph was presented by Maj R. E. Stiener. a stockholder and direc-
 tor. He explained that this was a sep | from the Southern Bell Telephone Com pany. although the two were erron- | eously considered to be under the same control and management. Major Stei- wires of his company higher than that of any other company which made as easements.
 The properety of the American Tel assessment of which Major Steiner sub mitted for assessment, was fixed at $273.o0o. It was an Alabama corpor- alton. Major Steiner explained. The property of the company was assessed this year at $299,987, an increase of nearly s3O.0Oo over the assessment of the previous year. Major Steiner said that a year ago his company had put the assessment of its property at g q pole but the State Board of Equaliza- tion raised 1t to $2.20 pole.
 The company was giving in its poles at $84 a mile and its wires at S22 a mile. This was larger than the assess ment given in by other wire compa- the property of his company was worth more than that of other wire compa- nies for certain reasons.
 For one thing there were more poles 10 tHo Hlll6 IOr the IOnB utStAICo com panies than there were for the tele- graph companies. The telphone com pany, moreover, used more copper wires than the telegraph companies used. The company had in Alabama $50 miles of poles and wires.
 Major Steiner said that the company was capitalized at $25,000. There were no bonds outstanding against the com- pany.
 Have you got any of that stock you want to sell" asked Governor Conner.
 There Is none on the market know Of" replied Major Steiner.
 Governor Conner questioned the rep resen tatlves of the telegraph compa- nies as to raises announced some time ago. He was told that the company had equalized, not raised, rates. More over these equalizations or increases, if they were So called. were all inter- State rates and no rates in Alabama had been raised.
 The Board then took all the infor- nation it had in one lump. and in- formed the interested parties that its action would be made and announced later. An executive session was or dered and all outsiders present filed out of the room while the Board went to work fixing the taxes.
 Program for the Week.
 The Board will devote practically all of the week to passing upon railroad work as made out by the Board is as follows:
 Tuesday, April 16-Alabama Central Railroad; Alabama and Mississippi Railroad; Seaboard Air Line; Atlanta and Birmingham Air Line; Alabama Northern Railroad; Chattahooche Valley Railroad.