The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1907-11-30
Mr.. vuILLEMOT
MAKES STATEMENT
REPLIES TO ARTICLE IN ENTER
PRISE-LEADER-TELLS TO
WHOM CREDIT is DUE.
Editor Daily Iberial.


vember l6. 1907, there appears a
article headed. Marrow E.seap
" From Paying On Big Values" Thi
article goes On to state that throug
the hard work of Mr. PoirsOn the as
SCISSOR of Iberia parish. that the Is
sessment Of that parish. or the pay
q duced to about the value of 1857.
S $500. and makes 1t appear that th'
taxes would have been paid on Thu
, amount by the planters of the par
ish OF Iberia. Wishing to make ;
statement to show who is to blame
for the increase of the assessment il
, that parish is my purpose in issuing
this statement.
The State Board of Equalization
fixed the total amount of the assess
ment of the parish of Iberia at Sc,
100. 800 The assessment, as made
by the assessor. for the year 1907
amounts to $6,3i3.4OS. making the
assessor of the parish of Iberia short
on his returns $426.712. and not
1857 .GS5. as stated in The Daily-En-
terprise Leader.
The act creating the state Board
of Equalization made it the duty Of
the assessor in every parish to rem
amount Of assessment on the different
| classes Of property in his parish. and
2 blank form was forwarded to Mr..
POirsOn of Iberia. on which form APP
peared the several objects subject to
taxation by the State of Louisiana
This statement when it reached Baton
Rouge was erroneous: in one case Of
movable property Mr.. Poirson,
through his deputy Mr. w. L. Burke.
made a rendition placing the vahla-
lion on the assessment of mules at
S125.OO per head. This statement
also included on return here 80 900
acres Of land which was classed by
the deputy, Mr.. Burke, as being sugar |
land. When the question of fixing
the values on sugar land in the par
ish of Iberia came up appeared be-
fore the committee on agricultural
lands. and stated to the committee
that there certainly must have been
Z mistake made in making this abb
stract as | was positive that there
vas quite number of acres of land
in IBERIA that should be assessed as
cotton lands and not as sugar lands.
md ] made special engagement
with Mr.. Glynn and Mr.. Martin, at
the 1strOuma Hotel, at which meet
ing | brought to their notice all of
he lands that borders on Lake
'ausse Pointe, and on sea marsh
ands in the LIST, End and 18th Wards
+ the parish Of Iberia l also call
d their attention to the lands in
he 5th Ward, and in the Bird Ward.
where the people in these wards had
oted special tax for the purpose of
raining their lands SO that they
you'd be able to cultivate them, and \
hese two members agreed with me ,
hat these lands should not be assess D
d at $21.OO per acre, as at first /
greed by the entire committee. This 81
then made a report to the y
tate Board OF Equalization asking Il
nat $4,000 acres of land in the par ii
n Of Iberia be placed as cotton e
lnds. and assessed at $500 per e
ere. a,
also called the attention of the en- tt
re State Board OF Equalization to re
Re. fact that in the parish OF Iberia Ib
ere were fully 100, 900 acres of land "a
hich did not appear on the assess re
ent rolls of that parish, and l am Of
ady to state now that there is to- op
~ fully One-half of this land not tic
sessed on the tax rolls of 1907. De-
lerefore the statement made by the It;
lilly Observation-Disclosures that it was Ib
rough the influence or the work of Ba
r. PofrsOn and his friends that the sta
Ople OF the parish of Iberia had col
en- saved from paying taxes on a MI
ry large amount of assessments is wi
correct, as this statement will read hil
show that it was through the neg res
ence of incompetency of someone the
the assessors Office at New Iberia he
1t the State Board of Equalization ing
:ided on the amounts of the assess hat
hts In the parish of Iberia. acc
For the enlightenment of the edi- agr
OF The Daily Enterprise-Le | tar
III to state that l have now in my tiol
session copy of letter written Mr.
Mr.. A. M. Martin, member of the the
te Board Of Equalization, 3rd Dis Eq,
t, to Mr.. Y. J. Poirson, which let ter
was dated September 3, 1907, in tina
lch Mr.. Martin makes this state NAL
1t: I'm the matter of cotton lands par
your parish your abstract fails to ure,
" that you have any cotton lands Secl
hat parish; your rendition showst liza
all lands in your parish were cept
ar lands. l took up this matter T
l VuillemOt, and he showed me purl
in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th pari