Bisbee daily review., 1907-01-23

in the future be at least materially modified by close attention by the To- cal officers to their duty in this re spect. &
 The situation presented many difi- culties to be sure. Taking again Co chise county for illustration, 1t had been found that the assessor of that county had quite uniformly assessed all patented mines in his county st so much per acre, irrespective of their actual and relative value. To a linn. ited extent only did he vary the rule. He would assess a remarkably produc- tive claim at a few thousand dollars, but the unproductiye claims of that group would be assessed at so many dollars an acre. And with these few { exceptions all mines looked alike to him. It was obvious then, that an un. productive mining property of only nominal or speculative value, which had been valued by the local assessor on an equality with the great produc- ing mines, would suffer an injustice by this increase-proyided the asses sor had not placed it's valuation ab- surdly low.
 But 1t was determined to order an increase, regardless of the possible in' justice that might be worked incident ally. The existing conditions were intolerable. If the owners of enorm, Ously valuable mines could fix the as sessments of their property by dictat ing to romplaisanU assessors and boards of supervisors, they at once be came more powerful than all the peo pie. more powerful than the Territo rial government, and could mock tEe law itself. It was felt that whatever injustice that might be done to the small mine owner" by the increases ordered would he speedily righted by an aroused public sentiment compell ing the local officers to the proper dis charge of their duties. It was felt that the taxpayers generally, including the small mine owner" would per Ceive that the fault in large measure lay with themselves in permitting such methods of assessment by their local officers.
 A great outcry was raised immedi ately. It was asserted that the action of the Territorial Board would "throt tie" the mining industry. It was as serted that investing capital would be driven from the Territory and would shun Arizona thereafter. Above all it was asserted that the increases or dered-which ranged from fifteen fold in Cochise county to one fold in Yava pal county-would ruin" the small mine owner" Rather curiousIy this outcry did not come from the people nor did it come from the small mine owner" It came, instead, from in terested advocates of the great copper companies in ana out or newspapers, from a few district attorneys who took a remarkably distorted view of their duties to the public, and from the big copper companles-from com panies which found that under this or. der they would have to pay taxes upon possibly per cent valuation of their properties as compared with the yalu. ation on all aother property assessed at 50 per cent or more. And the out cry took definite form in suits brought by some of the largest producers oi copper, aimed at the action of the Ter ritorial Board, to enjoin the enforce ment of the order and in the refusal of the boards of supervisors of Co chise. Yavapai and Graham counties to carry out the orders or the Territorial Board.
 All the questions involved were heard by the Supreme Court of the Territory, and determined in January last It was found that the TerritO' rial Board of Equalization in ordering the increased assessments of patented mines in the several counties had act ed entirely within its 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.
 Last spring the assessors of the sev- eral counties, and later the boards oi supervisors, were called to Phoenix for conference, and at each meeting there was a frank discussion of the problems of assessments. l became convinced then, as I had believed be fore, that the failure of county officers to assess property on a basis Of equal ity was due largely to precedent, to prevailing customs as they had found them, to lack of proper thought, and to other causes rather than to the dis honesty of the officers themselves. ln fact I would impute no dishonesty in the premises. It is easily conceiva ble, however, that a county assessor or a county supervisor, who owes his election to assistance received from mining company or to any other in fiuential single interest may find il easy to believe that suggestions from that mining company or that other iD terest relative to it's assessment should have too favorable considera tion.
 Following these conferences there was the mos, creditable assessment of property ever achieved in the Territo ". At it's meeting in August last the Territorial Board of Equalization found that the assessment rolls, re turned from the several counties, az gregated 5S million dollars as against 4S million in 1905. The Territorial Board found, however, after careful consideration, that the assessed val uation of mines were still so far be low the level of other property that the inequality could not be overlooked It therefore ordered increase amount ing to four fold in Cochise county two fold in Gila county, by one-half in Mohave county, by one-third in Yava pal county, and double the assessment returned in Yuma county. The assessments returned by Graham county and by other mining counties were left ur5isturbed.
 Again, however, we find some of the great mining companies of Cochise and Gila counties refusing to pay the taxes computed on the raised valua tions ordered by the Territorial Board and they are attempting to enjotn by the process of the courts the collec tion of these taxes. It is significant that in none of these suits do these