The San Francisco call., 1909-09-12

!HE undertaking q the stale
board O. equalization 70 raise
assessments Tor something Ike
: majority Of the counties OF
California marks the conclusion,
80 al least io- the-p present OF an
Gx1 Interesting episode OF state his
tory and politics.
For nearly fifteen yezrs-shzt
iS, from 1888 Until l9O5-tae railroad assessments
n this state were dissrzcefu-ly low From the
date of The present Constitution II 1881 until about
1873 The control o. state politics by the Southern
EAc1hc company was incomplete and the board
# equalization was run by nominees of the work
inguens party which grew out o. Dennis kearnevs
agitation against the Chinese TE.zt party gave
The state some excellent o7czzIS OF whom the late
john + Dunn state controller was Z good
e1anPle- Dunn and his colleagues On The state
bard kept the railroad assessments I'D 70 reason
able figure policy . much resented BIZ The
southern Pacific company that payment of The
taxes resisted BY The corporation N court after
co1Tt until the tribunal d IaSereSort was reached
RAILROAD POLITICS
Al0ng about 1888 the Southern Pacific came into
iuI and absolute control q al branches OF the
stzte government, and that control has continued
since L fully operative today a Il has
been q any. tine II that period The tirst step
after getting control Of The state board was tos
REFUGE The railroad assessments 70 n zInlos-
nominal figure.
Il was Z grzre public scandal but apparently Il
attracted little attention until 1893 when 10 mr.
hand ieH ne work a hanmering the abuse N the
press OF course that made no impression what
ever On the board / Is slow business 10 get
public opinion aroused 70 sense Of injustice But
Z kept a I year after year and when T. O. Tolzrd
oE Nentu-z Was elected zs : minority member o.
the board We. a least, succeeded IN making the
majority exceedingly uncomfortable zs vel zs
wrzthy
The LEAvEN OF INDIGNATION
During those wears the eaven OF indignation was
slowly working among The people and the rail
road politicians began 70 fear revolution that
woaId put { radical administration and hostile
legislature n power. 4 wise ruler knows or
should know Just how fzr tle people can be driven
Along about 1908 the order vas gwen 10 make
moderzte-very m0deTate-increzse of The rasI-
rosd assessments. and year BY year since then
they have been raised until ROW there is not .
much reason Tor complaint. Il the rate OF asses
neut on ether classes Of properly / considered
WITH HERRINS CONSENT
OF course. these advancing assessments Of rail-
rozd property were made with the fulI consent
of Sir HerFIu Taev could r1ot have been made
Otherwise. because every member Of the present
board owes his nomination 10 Mr. He-rin But
l have no doubt that the consent OF The powers
gained by representations from the more
enlightened members OF the board who were IN
touch with public sentiment On the subject
BRIEF HISTORY
The history Of the Central Pacific assessment
for the last ten years viii serve better than any
thing else 70 show the change thar has come over
the spirit of railroad politics The Central Pacific
: about the most valuable piece OF single track
railway II Anersca. Roughly speaking L runs
from Sacramento Ogden and includes the Shasta
r0z1te a. Tar north Delta This road carries an
eno-u0us debt and carries L easily, being bonded
for more than 5000 mile The average bonded
debt OF railways the United States Is somewhere
between $4,000 and $1,000 nile Besides pay-
ing The interest On this vast debt the road aceunu-
lztes surplus. whick goes into the treasury of
the Southern Pacific OF Kentucky and Is divided
among rhe stock holders The solid value OF this
property i shown BY the with which Il paid
OF n few years The 100000 mortgage due
the United States government being the Interest
and principal O the sum voted BIZ congress for
building the road back the sixties Besides paw
ing OF this load Of debt, rather converting il
into other debt N the shape of bonds eagerly sought
by investorS other millions and millions have been
spent N undermining the road
GROSSLY INADEQUATE ASSESSMENT
In 1890 this road on which the mortgage alone
Ts than $4,000 mile assessed for
S1T-406S5 per mile The road IS easily worth