Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-03-09

magnitude.
In the study of the situation it was
found that the act, Chapter POS, Act of
1888, did not appear to be clear and
definite upon a number of questions re-
lating to the classification of railroad
property. Since the taxes from certain
classes of this property are held by
the State treasury for the use of the
State government, while those from
other classes are either collected di-
rectly by the local taxing districts or
returned by the State treasury, to these
districts, and since our valuation must
be 'in form available for use for the
purpose OF taxation under existing
laws" 1t was recognized hat the board
must have a lear understanding of
the terms of these laws in order that
the property appraised might be prop
erly classified. Appeal was therefore
made to the Attorney-General of the
State for his opinion upon many points
Of the law which were not clear to the
board. 1t appears that pom a number
Of these points the courts of the State
have not been called upon for deci-
sions, and that upon others existing
opinions seem to conflict. Our ques-
tons therefore required careful study
and examination before they could be
answered.
1t was also desirable, and in some
matters necessary, that railroad off,
Gals should be communicated with, to
obtain information essential to our
work, and full replies to our requests
often required investigation on the part
Of these railroad officials.
NIT --xJfx.t~a~ ,r -orfr 1aat,Nta1 ,,a9an1
time, and the organization of field
forces for the collection of data on
the ground was thus delayed.
In the organization of the field and
office force the board had to keep in
mind the small appropriation available
and the limited amount Of work that
could be accomplished, n to endeavor
to secure it's assistants at low rates of
compensation. This n the additional
fact thai employment could be assured
for a short term only, made 1t difficult
to secure men properly qualified for the
work. All these things combined to
materially delay the beginning of the
actual work of inventorying.
The preliminary work 1t was thus
necessary for the board to do before the
actual inventory was begun, n the
limited force employed thereafter. have
combined to limit the quantity of work
that could be completed up to this time.
Furthermore, the exhaustion of the APP
preparation and the consequent neces-
sity of dispensing with assistants and
employees has left on our hands a
large quantity of uncompiled inventory
work not available for a report at this
time.
Your board does not consider it to be
necessary, proper or possible atFthis
time to discuss the multifarious PROB
lens attendant upon any theory OF
valuation, for the reason that final
conclusions should not be made until
more complete information relating to
the railroad and canal property OF the
State has been collected and c~onsloereo.
We have. after careful consideration,
adopted the method of cost OF repro
duction modified by depreciation, as the
basis of our appraisal of all property
except land. There seems to be no
doubt that, all things considered. TINS
method comes nearer to establishing
the true and rational value OF the
uhysical property of railroads than any
other. though 1t is not ideal. rms
method of valuation is particularly ap-
pljcable to a~ppraisals made for the
purpose of taxation under the existing
laws of the State.
The construction of a railroad IN
wolves a great variety of work which
NAV be classified under the following
general heads: First, engineering; Sec
ond. right of way and station grounds;
third, real estate Qand); fourth, grad
ing. fifth. terminals; sixth, bridges,
t~restles and culverts; seventh, ties;
eighth, rails; ninth, TRACK ~fastenings;
tenth. frogs and switches; eleventh,
ballast; twelfth, track laying and sur
facing: thirteenth, fencing right of
wav. fourteenth, crossings, cattle
| guards and signs; fifteenth, signaling
and interlocking apparatus; sixteenth,
telegraph and telephone lines; seven
teenth. station buildings and fixtures;
eighteenth, shops, r~oundhouses and
turntables; nineteenth, shop machinery
and machine tools; twentieth. water
stations; twenty-first, fuel stations;
twenty-second grain elevators; TWEEN
ty-third, storage and warehouses; TWEEN
~ty-fourth, docks and piers; t~wenty-ffth,
lighting and power plants; twenty
sixth. miscellaneous structures; TWEEN
ty-S6Ve0IU, lOCUIlIOIiNCo tNOhtS 500
passenger, freight and work equipment;
twenty-ninth, dredges, pile drivers,
steam shovels, etc.: thirtieth, marine or
floating equipment; t~hirty-frst. legal
expenses; thirty-second, interest and
discount; thirty-third, general expenses.
These broad divisions may be sub
divided into a multitude of items: each
of which must be considered in it's
proper relation in arriving at the ag-
gregate cost of constructing or recon-
structing any railroad.
The work Of surveying, inventorying
and computing the value of all the
railroad and canal properties of the
State is a work Of such magnitude and
Importance as to require a large and
we'll organized force of skilled and COM
petent men. trained in the special work
called for in each of the various broad
divisions. 1t would be manifestly i'm
proper and unfair to all concerned to
intrust such important work to I'M
skilled men, especially since it is prob
able that the appraisal will become the
basis of assessment for a considerable
period of years.
1t is important that such a work
should be planned and carried out con-
tinuously and as a whole, n this inn
plies that a sufficient appropriation
should be available, SO that interrupt
tions or suspensions can be avoided.