The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-09-10
INCREASING
ASSESSMENTS.

| 60
Some one has said, death ant
taxes are Unavoidable. This u
true, at least 80 long as we renal,
in this world; but If we had to die
as much as we are taxed some OF
us would be dead a great deal OF
the time. Death has no board Of
eqnalizers and ii comes with equal
severity to all. LII this respect,
at least, 1t is equitable.
Assessments, upon which taxes
are levied, aGo perhaps never
equitable. Equality of assess
ments" is an ideal Under pres
ent methods we may approach the
ideal by degrees, but it Is safe 70
say the ideal can never lie attain
cd II is hardly probable that
these statements will be seriously
contested In any mind. The bet.
ter are we advised of existing az
sessmets the more glazing do the
inequalities appear Undec the
present system the poorer classes
have always paid the greater pro
portion Of tnr taxes and AZ long
as this system rEdu:es they will
continue to do 80, ,q,tIiz .ion
boards Notwithstanding.
Volumes have been written upon
this subject, bringing bnt a modi
cum Of relief or betterment. II is
not the purpose Of this article IL
attempt what others have failed
at. 1t is intended TO call attcn
ton to- growing evil. one that
promises to be bur,lrnSnme--thc
too rapid increasing Of the assess
ment of this city.
l, is only population which can
give value to land. If there were
but one human being within the
borders Of the State Of Louisiana,
and he were the undispEted owner
IF it all, and there wpro no outsld-
ers who cared to share his posses
sion, this state-Owner could onI,
DO accounted rich in the seasr
that he would have no taxes TO
pay. His vast possessions, beyond
his personal needs, would be with
out value. There would be to him
thousands upon thousands of acres
unknown. Now, let i'm
migration start. Upon the arrival
Of the first settler it is probable
that he would be welcomed 10 a
half.nterest in the whole state for
no other consideration than the
;OmpaDi0nship he would bring.
Land, itself, would not take on
value till the set lers became nu
nerOus enough to cause one party
% want the holding of some othe,. F,
The market must come before val Z
les can be assumed. The market
annot come ahead Of population.
As settlements ar. 70 med and
'illages and townsa4ome into ex
stence land values increase. The
ighest values following the dens. i
at population. By way of illus
ration, 1t may be assumed that q, 4
1t 30 feet front by l5O feet depth,
located upon the
lain thoroughfare OF our little sis
Br town, Loreauville, would have !.
value. The same lot, If located n
o the Main street OF this town. a
'ould be worth several fold more; 9
nd II located on Canal street of Z
Ne Crescent CITY, it's value would = !"
ssume the proportion of a small :,
'rtune. 1t in quite true that Of
rowing populations bring about II
rowing land values And the u
Of this i equally true -,
IL 1899 the population of this
ty was a fraction below GSl5
he figures Of the 1900 census) ne
hen the assessment of this CITY ca
tailed 81 100000. For 1909 the 10
sessment IL given as e2,23O 900 V
IT'D . further increase due for
iS year. It IS clear that the as or
ssment has more than doubled q
the last ten years, while the ;t ~
pulatton has not incr eased more
IN 20 per cent. in the same time.
IL that fair proportion? Have VI
e proper ratios been maintained "a -,
is more than probable that the vi
havQ hnon inc,noooH -,