The San Francisco call., 1910-11-22
CROCKERS Fight
INHERITANCE TAX
Heirs Seek to Have the Levy OF
S95,l93 Reduced One
Half

Heirs Of Gearge Crocker, the capi-
taIist, who died in New Jersey last De-
/ cember. leaving an estate appraised at
more than s1l,Ooo 600, made a vigorous
protest in Judge Van Nostrand's court
1 pay S95. 1880 10 California as collat-
eral inheritance tax upon that portion
Of the estate in this state. The valu-
alton placed by Appraiser Fred H.
| Stanle upon the property in California
belonging to the estate-s2, ,657,963-
was excessive, they complained, and
Judge Van Nostrand was asked to re-
1 duce the valuation and with it the
amount OF the tax.
A particularly strong attack was
made by the heirs upon the estimate
Of S2,212,00O (s110.60 a share) placed
! by Stanle upon the 10000 shares of the
/ Croker estate company, a private
family corporation formed IS years
ago TO manage the immense holdings
| of the Crocker family. It was testi-
/ fed by William H. Crocker, the
banker who is president of the estate
company, that the shares are not
worth more than $50 each, and Henry
T. Scott, a director, said a fair value
was from $50 to $50
George Croeker's entire estate has
been appraised at s11.eS2,319.79. This
total is made up of personal property
in California worth S2,657,963.12: per-
sonal property in New York, $780,
956.67; realty in New York, s68l,4O
realty in New Jersey, s6S0,000. In es-
timating the amount OF inheritance
tax Appraiser Stanle found that the
following debts and expenses were to
be debited against the estate: Owing
in New York, $25,040.9q; owing else
where, s11,S3S.96: expenses Of admins
tration. S1l5.363-24; fees of the execu-
tors, Edgar D. Bradley, Nelson G.
Thrall and John Hays Hammond. $780,
| 069.55: funeral expenses, S7,447.27; to-
tai. s519.759. The proportion of these
expenses chargeab bic against the Cali
fornia portion of the estate was $115.-
2S2.54, leaving s2,542, ,6S056 subject to
inheritance tax.
The hears are William H. Crocker.
brother, one-third of the residue of
the estate; Harriet C. Alexander, sister,
one third. and Jennie Adeline and
Charles Templeton Crocker, niece and
nephew, one-sixth each. The inherit
ance tax is payable in like proportions
by the heirs. They hope to reduce the
tax by nearly half
SHARES WORTH $50 NOW
William H Crocker, in his testi-
mony, said that the Crocker estate
company, of which his brother owned
10000 shares, was capitalized at
81, ,O00, 900 upon it's formation 1S years
ago in order that it might be divided
into seven units, the 10000 shares
having a par value of 500 each. This
valuation, Crocker said. was far in
excess Of the real worth of the prop
erty at that time. Today, Crocker
testified. he would not buy the stock
at more than $50 a share. Only one
share had ever been sold and that was
to Henry T. Scott in order to qualify
him to become director as the repre-
sentative of TempIeton and Jennie
Crocker
IF you take each item of the COM
pany's assets separately you might
possibly place a higher value than 500
on the stock said Crocker, but when
you consider that this is private
family corporation. that the assets are
of a character that do not render the
corporation any dividends, that the cor
poration is heavily in debt, that 1t lost
heavily in the fire, and that the ener-
gies of all connected with 1t have been
devoted entirely to rebuilding and re-
storing those properties, 1t looks to
me as If the stock is somewhat or
burden and liability"
Would you be willing to sell your
10000 shares for $50 share?' asked
Attorney Hartley F. Peart, attorney for
City Treasurer McDougald.
Il would not be willing to sell them
at hardly any figure" answered Will
liam Crocker, for the reason that this
is a family corporation. I inherited
the property from my father and
mother, and for sentimental reasons L
would prefer to keep it. 1 would not
sell this stock any more than would
sell the stock of the Crocker national
bank. That stock is not for sale, even
at an exorbitant figure. 1 would not
!, .of iT110 0V1fo al
reasons"
Asked by Peart if he did not con-
slider the Crocker building worth ST.
100000, the witness said he thought
valuation of S1,40O,0 900 excessive. This
building is one Of the properties owned
by the Crocker estate company. AS
to the stock Of the Pacific improve
ment company, a fourth of which is
owned by the Crocker estate company,
the banker said: 81 would not take
Pacific Improvement company stock If
you were to give it to me, because 1T
is nothing but assessments"
DEL MONTE LOSES MONEY
Abraham D. Shepherd, president of
the Pacific improvement company, said
that the Del Monte hotel which it
owned, does not pay expenses. z The
hotel has lost money every year in the
actual cost of operation" Shepherd
testified
Henry T. Scott, a director of the
Croker estate company, testified that
he figured the shares Of the corpora
ton as worth between $50 and $50. 81
think If you paid s4,000,000 for the
properties of the company that would
be all they We're worth, Scott said.
Mr.. Shepherd said the stock of the
Pacific improvement company is worth
$50" said Attorney Brobeck. do you
confirm him in that judgment?"
NO" answered Scott. Il would let
him have them at s25 share and give
him time to pay Railroad interests
in Guatemala owned by the estate
company were valuable as long as Ca
brera remained president, said Scott,
but in the event Of a revolution their
worth would quickly depreciate.
Charles E. Green, secretary of the
estate company, said that $1,313,000 had
been expended in restoring the prop
critics destroyed by the fire. OF this
sum s69O,00O was expended on the
Crocker building. There was only
$4,000 of insurance on that building.
Stanle testified that in vaIuing the
shares at $110.60 each he had taken the
figures of the city and state appraisers