Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-08-05
SpeCiOuS Argument Against Fair Assessments
Urged by Correspondent, Probably In
Spired by the fvading interests
TRUE INTERESTS OF COUNTY ARE ROBBED
The Timber Wealth Should Pay Its Just Share
Toward the Development of the County
by Building Needed Roads, Etc.


the right to cut to others, and in
selling that right it may be relied
upon to get all the buyer can affortf
to pay This timber will be cut just
as rapidly as it can be manufactured
at profit-and no faster regardless
of the fixed charges of maintenance.
including its fair sum for taxes.
The True Interests of Country
We agree perfectly with Farmer,
when he says that, The true inter
ests OF the country demand that its
LEADERS and moulders of public opir-
ion look TO the future as well as tc
the present. In exposing the tay
evasion practiced by this company
the Herald has looked to the future
At present it sees a wonderfully rich
and fertile country. who chief natural
wealth lies in timber. that grew
without the toll Of any man; it sees
the rich valleys and hillsides capable
OF supporting a vast population now
inaccessible for lack of roads; IL
sees this natural wealth leaving the
country without having paid its Just
portion of the sums required to open
up this region for the incoming set
tier, who ever follows the axe where
the soil is rich.
So much for the present. Looking
forward, it sees the forests denuded
and the real work of developing this
rich section began-the hard work
TO clear the lands of the stumps is
a larGe undertaking in ITSELF and the
hardy settlers who perform this SER
vice to posterity should not be re
quired to fight their way through the
brush to set at that work. He Should
at least find roads or trails to it.
Road building here is costly, and this.
work should be done by those here.
now, and no good reason can be ati-
vanced why this holder of vast tim
ber lands should be absolved from
paying it's share toward that devel-
opment of the future. The attitude
of this concern is that of the typical
absentee landlord bent on getting All
he can out of the country and giving
as little as he may back. ard 10.
least the official servants Of the per.
manent residents can do is to re-
quire the payment of their just tax.
rate-nO more, no less
"Untruthful and Unreasonable"
The last paragraph of the Farmers
communication betrays an Obliquity
of mental vision apparently derived
from close communion with the tax
dodgers or their allies. If he will point
to solitary line that has appeared;
in this series of articles that is IN
truthful, or can be construed as All
unreasonable attack" upon this COM
pany, the Herald will apologize in
bold face type. They have been writ
ten with the sole view of securing
a square deal in taxation, something
that has not been accorded the peo-
pie of Chehalis county since the tim
Der interests in it became of value,
and we are pleased to say, that il
those interested in securing justice
in taxation will give the necessary
attention to the meeting of the conn
ty board of equalization this month,
the assessment rolls this year vii.
be the tairest ChehaliS county has
had in fifteen years
In previous articles, the Herald has
established two facts; that the as
SCISSORS Office was accustomed to take
the valuation of Tax Agent Marshal
in assessing holdings of thu
Timber Co. and thai
in two townships alone this practice
had permitted this company to eyaUe
taxes on $9l4,491. 1t has shown thai
the majority of the board of coun-
ty commissioners refused to permit
an Investigation of this fraud thar
might punish the guilty. The mos
dense reader of these articles VIII
apprehend that the other property IL
the county had to make up what tn,
evaded.
Some More Comparisons
The two townships already con-
pared were selected at random, and
the inference is that this concern
has for many years evaded it's j0sf
taxes upon property valued at mi
lions OF dollars. A glance over the
rolls shows other townships in lhe
fix. For instance, Township 15-6 con
tans II sections in Chehalis county
and no valuation has yet been placed
on Section II. Ten sections out u
II, belong to the Weyerhaeuser Tim
Der Co., and in 1911, the eleven sec
tions We're assessed at $64,565. This
year, after the long-resisted cruise
was accomplished, it is assessed az
s169,S96, showing a lodging here in
eleven sections of $105,831.
Township 1871 shows in similar
case. In this township there are 81
sections subject to taxation, two have
been logged off, and Section 81, as
sessed at $500 in 1911, had not beer
valued on the rolls for 1912 at the