Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1912-12-04

store corner at the northwest cor
ner Of Broad and Market streets IL
assessed at s17,S40 per front foot by
the city, while it Is valued at S13, 900
by the Prudential experts and over
$lS,OO0 by the city experts. Similar
divergence IN values is shown In
the other plots.
Also the Prudential claims a dis
| elimination against their property a.
against other property situated on
the east side of Broad street. be-
tween Market and Clinton streets. In
several instances property on the east
side Is assessed at less than half of
the value per foot frontage of the
Prudential holdings on the other side
OF the street.
In opening the arguments Tor the
reduction of the assessments on the
Prudential property Major Lentz said
in part:
Lentz's Argument.
This appeal brings before the
board the real estate, minus the
buildings, of the Prudential Insurance
Company of America from the corner
of Broad and Market streets to the
corner OF Bank and Broad streets.
Il also desire to call the attention
of the board to the fact that the
statute, as we'll as the Supreme Court
and the Court of Errors, have held
in national bank cases that market
value. and not book value, is to be
the criterion of the assessment.
Mr.. Boggs having produced testi-
| fnony on the cross-examinat.on of
Wilbur S. Johnson, comptroller of the
Prudential Insurance Company, as to
the amount of real estate carried on
the books of the company, about $1S,-
100000, it is clear that such testimony
is incompetent and Illegal, for. no
matter what the books of the Pru-
Dental show, it cannot be considered
as legal evidence in this case. II the
book values were permissible under
the law, any insurance company
might bolster their assets by placing
large book value on their real estate
holdings far in excess over market
value, and thus create n fictitious
asset, to the detriment of the policy
holders Of the company.
THE evidence of Mr.. Van Duyne
and Mr.. Osborne shows clearly what
the market value of these properties
is, and in each and every case such
value is higher than these individual
properties are carried on the books
of the Prudential, and 1t must be
considered that the real estate as
sessments appealed from are very
pared with the total holdings Of real
estate by the company.
Market Values Ignored.
so that 1t would be impossible to
determine to what part of the real
estate holdings the difference between
assessed valuation and the book value
belongs. One thing is certain, how
ever. it does not belong to the real
estate values appealed from. Mr..
Carroll, the president of the board
of assessors of the city of Newark,
as well as Mr.. Swain, Mr.. Preston,
Mr.. Reichman and Mr.. Howe, the
other assessors. have sworn that the
real estate assessments on the three
blocks of property on Broad street,
from Mechanic street to, Commerce
street. are assessed at market vafue,
and comparison of these three
blocks with the block between Mar
ket and Bank street Is therefore per-
missible. This shows a difference of
almost 100 per cent. between the mar
ket value of the property on the east
side of Broad street as compared with
that on the west side
Mr.. Lentz then spoke of high
prices paid by the Prudential in buy
ing land on Broad street. He said:
In not q, single one OF these cases
was the price paid and received the
result of a willing purchaser not
compelled to buy and a willing seller
not compelled to sell, and, therefore,
did not represent the market values.
Under such conditions the very
grounds on which City Assessor
Howe says he based his assessment
for the increase falls.
ITO bolster up an assessment made
upon false premises the evidence OF
two experts Is introduced, Mr.. Berry
and Mr.. Fielder. who testify as to
what in their Judgment is the mar
ket value of the Prudentiars prop
critics. They even place larger values
on these properties than the as
SCISSOR, Mr.. Howe, who claims that in
his assessment he took the market
values from the sales of these prop
critics. And for the purpose Of JUS
tifying their valuations these experts
eliminate the lines Of the property
as assessed by the city's assessors,
eliminate the buildings now thereon.
throw the properties together in
large blocks and call upon their inn
agination in erecting twenty-five to
thirty STORY buildings on these imag-
mary enlarged plots Of land.
Majors Biting Sarcasm.
"As the law does not permit the
Prudential to engage in the specula-
tion of real estate and In the erec-
tion oE buildings except for their own
use, the speculative ideas of these
experts are of no value, and they are
absolutely of no value, as the law
commands that the land shall be as
sessed at market value according to
20. 1912. To follow the ideas of these
experts might result In the erection
by the Prudential of a Tower of
Babel, and thus invite the wrath OF
the Lord. 9,
Should the valuations on the Pru-,
Dental properties, as assessed by as
SCISSORS and testified to by the city's
experts, be approved and found to be
market values of these properties
and the same rules applied to all the
other property in the city the real
estate valuations of the city of New
ark would be nearly doubled.
L.