The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-08-30
RE-VALUING
THE RAIL WAYS
State Has Large Force Of Men
Forming a New Basis for
Their Taxing.
lax BOARDS ARE HELPING

A half dozen men are at work in
this neighborhood taking measure.
ments OF the Lackawanna railroads
property and securing data regarding
the stations, etc. This work is part
|of a work under the direction Of
Charles HanselS for the purpose Of
making reyaluation of the railroads
in the state of New Jersey. There
are 2,365 miles of railways in the state,
owned by 100 different companies.
Mr.. Hansel, who has his Offices in
Elizabeth, has large force Of men
under him conducting the laborious
undertaking which, it is expected,
will be finished in time to make a re-
port to the next legislature. Associ-
ated with Mr.. Hansel is William F..
Keohon, a newspaper man, who is act
ing as special assistant and is travel
| ing through the state securing from
the county boards Of taxation and
other sources the valuation Of prop
erty adjoining that OF the railroads.
Under Lewis Focht, who is connect
| ed with the state board of assessors as
engineer, and who is in charge of the
| field work Of the revaluation depart
ment, are acorps of fifty-four men. This
force is divided into gangs of six each.
each gang being headed by civil en-
gineer. These gangs measure every
foot of railroad track, count the num-
ber of ties, the height of fills and of
cuts, and secure data regarding
bridges, etc, all of which is put down
in field books. These books are for
warded from time to time to the office
in Elizabeth where force of twelve
men make co nputations from the
notes. In all there are seyenJy-eight
men engaged in the work.
Special men are employed to go into
the railroad machine shops and power
houses and report on the value of the
plants, and also an expert on signals is
employed in a similar manner.
Though many of the railroads are
combined in one system each railroad
must be assessed under its charter
name. The law under which the work
is done authorizes the board, the ex-
pert in charge, and the assistants un-
der him at all reasonable hours to enter
upon the property to be appraised and
examine, and the board shall have
power by subpoena to require the at,
tendance in this state of witnesses
and the production Of books and pa
pers pertinent to the investigation
and inquiry necessary to proper per-
formance Of their duties, and to ex-
anime them and such records as they
shall require in relation to any matter
which they shall deem necessary to
the performance of their duties under
this act. Any disobedience to or neg
lect of any subpoena issued or any re-
fusal to testify shall be certified, in
writing, by the president of the board
j to the judge Of the court Of common
pleas of the county in which such dis
obedience occurred, who shall there
upon, by warrant issued to the sher-
iff Of the county, directsthe production
of the body of the person so disobeying
before the court, and upon the produce
tion OF the body of such person said
court shall, in summary way. in
qulre into the cause of such disObedi-
ence. and ifno sufficient cause be shown
shall, by a commitment order the
detention of such person in such
common jail for period of ninety
Edays, or until such person shall purge
himself of such disobedience. Any
person who shall knowingly give false
testimony before the board shall te
guilty Of misdemeanor.