Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-01-30

ties, to bc sure. Taking again tochisc county for Illustration. it has been found that the Assessor of thnt county had quite uniformly assessed all pat ented mines in his county at so much per acre. irrespective of their actual and relative values. To a limited cx- tent only did hc vary the rule. He would assess a remarkably productive c,aim nt n few thousand dollars. but the unproductivc claims of that group would bc assessed a' so many dollars an acre. And with thesc few cxccp. tions all mines looked alike to him It was obvious then, that m unproductivc mining property of only nominal ar speculative value. which had been val ned by the local Assessor on an equal. fly with the great producing mines, would suffer nn injustice by this in crease provided the Assessor had not placed it's valuation nbsurdly low.
 IIu' II was determined to order the increase ,rcgar,llcss of the possible in. justice that might hc worked incident ally. The existing conditions were in. tolcrablc. If the owners of enormously valuable mines could hN tho assessments o. their property by dictnting to com plaisant Assessors and Boards of Sup. crvisors, they at once became greater and more powerful than the Territorial government, and could mock the law itself. I' was felt that whatever in. justice that might bc done to the "smoll mine owncr' by the increase ordered would bc speedily righ,cd by an aroused public sentiment compelling the local officers to the proper discharge of their duties. IL was felt that the taxpayers generally. including the "small mine owncr,' would perceive that the fault in a large measure lay with themselves in permitting such methods of assessment by their local officers.
 4 great outcry was raised immediate. ly. lt was asserted that the action of the Territorial Board would "throttlc v the mining industry. It was asserted that investing capital would bc driven from the Territory and would shun Arizona thereafter. Above all it was asserted that the increases ordered which ranged from fifteen fold in Ca. chise county to one fold in Yavapai county would "ruin' inc "small
 
 outcry did not come from the people. nor did ii come from the "small mine owner v lt came, instead, from in- tcrstcd advocates of the great copper companies in and out of newspapers. from n few District Attorneys who took n remarkably distorted view of their duties to the public, and from the big copper companics-f from companic which found that under this order they would have to pay taxes upon possibly n per cent valuation of their proper. ties. ss compared with the valuation of all other property assessed at 90 per cent ar more. And the outcry took definite form in suits brought by some of the largest producers of copper. aim cd at the action of the Territorial Board, to cnjoin the enforcement of the order and in the refusal of tho Boards of Supervisors of Cochisc, Yavapai and Graham counties to carry out the or. dcrs of the Territorial Board.
 All the questions involved were heard by the Supreme Court of the Territory, md determined in January last. IL was found that the Territor ial Board of Equalization, in ordering the increased assessments of patented mines in the several counties had net cd entirely within it's power, but had not proceeded in exactly the proper form in certain matters of detail and the Territory lost for that year the benefit of the increase ordered.
 IL tx easily conceivable that n county Assessor, or county Supervisor, who owes his election to assistance received from mining company or to any other influential single interest may 6nd it easy to believe that suggestions from that mining company ar that other interest relative to its assessment should have too favorable considcra. ton.
 At it's meeting in August last, the Territorial Board of Equalization found that the assessment rolls. returned from the several counties, aggregated &5s,. GOO, ,000 as against $ls,00O,OOO in 1905. The Territorial Board found, however, after careful consideration, that the as. Wsscd valuation of mines was still so far below the level of other property that the inequality could not bc over. looked. It therefore ordered increases amounting to four fold in Cochisc county, two fold in Glla county, by one-half in Mohave county, by one third in Yavapai county, and double the assessment returned in Yuma county.
 Again, however, we find some of the great mining companies of Cochisc and Gila counties refusing to pay the taxes computed on the raised valuations or. dcred by the Territorial Board, and they are attempting to cnjoin by the process of the courts the collection of these taxes.
 Owing to the failure of county As. sessors to assess mines at their proper relative value owing to their custom of assessing all mines practically alike the owners of small and unproductive mines are forced to pay moro than their share of mine taxes. There can he no doubt of that.