Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-03-06
He Points Out the Objectionable Features Of the Doran Bill And Submits Sue- eestions For A More Equitable System Of Assessments.
(From Sundays Daily.)

| 'h"he' tHls rue rHiirHllN. For the moment it is not material to say whether the rule proposed by that bill will raise the valuation of mines to a sum above their cash value that is | above that value in the words of our statute "at which the property would be taken in payment of just debt due from a solvent dcbtorn or whether it would reduce it to one.half of or to one-tenth or to ne.fiftieth of that valuc-it does inevitably depart from the rule of cash value: and for this de- par'ure, is good and sufficient req. son advanccdi
 It IS urged that the values of mines cannot bc asccrtaincd. IL is not urged that they have no value. If they have no value then, of course. they would not be taxed. But 1 must insist that they have value. and that value can be reasonably asccriained. am free to admit that it may be very difficult to ascertain the exact value of some mines. If the mine be an undcvelopcd, non-productivc one it may be so difficult to estimate its value that any one would hesitate to say that it was worth as much as $jO.OO-if so, that mine is practically valuclcss. Any property. the value of which cannot be confidently fixed at some sum. is valuclcss of which if cannot be safely said that it is worth at least some sum, has no valuc--and. of course, that property cannot be taxed. But any property of which it can bc safely said that it is worth at least n given sum, is worth certainly not less than that sum.
 l think l may say further, not with the hope of not being con. iradicied, but with complete conf dcncc that II cannot bc successfully contradictcd that value can be fixed on the mines of Arizona at n sum which the shrcwdcst. most conscrva- tive, most capable of men in the United States would buy them as an in. vestment. The mines must be worth at least that much. beyond any cavil. And that sum l will further venture to say-and it is capable of easy dem. onstratiOn-is not less than ten times as much as the valuation of them would be under the provisions of Council Bill No. n. And assuming that property valued for taxation in this Territory at not over 33 l.3 per cent of its value. then the valuation of mines for taxation would he proved as conclusivcly as any fact can bc proved by human evidence to be three times the valuation that would he placed upon them by Council Bill No. i5.
 And this question is easily tested
 it need not rest on my assertion : m instant do precisely with the mines as you do with any other prop crty. Let them be assessed by the same authorities under inc same rules as other property is assessed, and if an excessive valuation is made let the owner of the cattle. of the sheep, of ! the ranch. of the stock of merchant l disc, of the humble home or of the mine, if they ar any of them feel az gricved. go into court and there try out the question. In ease of irrecon' cilablc dispute the courts are always
 the final arbters. and they are al
 ways equipped with infinitely better
 means of ascertaining values ar any other fact than are even the Legisln'
 lures. The mine owner must trust to
 the courts for the protection of his
 rights against all cncroachmcnt- --hc
 can and he does call upon them tc
 defend and preserve his rights why
 not submit this question between th, public and himself likewise to tho
 courts. as our present law now does
 and which Council Bill No. i5 pro
 ventsl
 | do not wish to he misunderstood Council Bill No. ij probably does per
 init an appeal to the courts, hut tie'
 the hands of the court as tO the qucs IA Al. l... ..f tit.tlt to asccrtaining one fifth per cent of
 gross bullion product while as to ever,
 other class of property, the court are to assess the full cash value oi
 the property in question.
 If the court should decide of giycI
 mine that its value is that of one-fiftl
 of its bullion product for the year, tbei
 it will so adiudgc: but 1T II sboul' finland it will not find at all with
 out satisfactory evidence that tha
 value is only one-tenth of its bulliol product for the year, in justice to th
 mine owner it ought and, if permitted will so decide; and if it should b
 shown that the value is one-half Q
 two.thirds of the whole of ore nor than its bullion product for the yea . no one can for moment say that ! ought not so decide.
 [ Council Bin No. a limits tho court . however, to finding the mine to b worth for the purposes of taxation onl, onc.fifth of it's bullion product for th year; or in other words, ns cxprcsse' [ by some of the representatives of in producing mine, the value of the min , is simply its net annual profit. On law is, as to all other property, iha the court shall fix the value at tn
 full cash value, which as you know il most instances is many times the ne annual profits. I am not one of thos . who win consent to the propositio that Arizona's mines have no valu' , or that their value cannot rcasonabl
 be ascertained We advertise daily [