The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-04-15

Attevefy nieetilg OF the h0afd Tor
assessing PURPOSES. numerous re-
ports are found that are not COM
plete-that the information required
of the corporation to guide the board.
in arriving at proper figure. are
not furnished by the corporation. In.
almost every such case the ineorma-
tion omitted IS the very information!
required to FIX the proper 7aIae. In
recent years the board has sheeomeI
accustomed to such tactics, and fol-
lowing the information seenred from
other sources the valuation IS placed
on the property. sometimes far
greater than what the corporation
thinks the assessed value should be,
Experts in ascertaining the value
of property differ widely some times.
An incident OF this kind was shown
before the board last week. For
many years the representative Of the
Hope Natural Gas Company in.
sisted that his .company's property
was not worth $s,OO0,OeO, but the
board Of public works always dis
agreed with him. This represents
tive would explain in detail how he
arrived at his figures. But the
board had another method OF flg-I
uring. Last year the company'sl
property in this state was assessed
at see, 500, 900, although the com
pany's representative valued 1t at
SO 600, 900. This year the com-l
.pany comes along declaring that its
property is worth no more than nj
was year ago-that is, that It has
mot added to its property and ads
mits, as showed by its method of
figuring "a different method, how
ever, than that used heretofore)
that the company's property was
worth about $40. 900, 900 as against
Sc, 100000 a year ago.
Among those who appeared be-
for the board recently some of whom.
did not ask for a reduction, butt
urged that the valuations be not
further increased, although some
slight increase in holdings had been
made, or as was the case in many,
instances. appearance was simply for
the purpose OF explaining some
points that was feared was nos
clearly covered in the reports re-
quired to be made by public SER
vice corporations to the ta2 COM
missioner, were many prominent
West Virginia as we'll as non-resi7
dents. Not infrequently' 1t isffeunc
that a few questions v,brlng out
many points of vital Importance 20
the assessing body, andithis has been
especially true at the present sitting
which will continue fosqs6me Gays.
Among those who came here were:s
F. D. Tracey, representing the West
Virginia and Maryland Gas Com
pany, West virginia Central Gas.
Company, Northern Natural GAG
compay, Salem Natural Gas Com
pany, West Union Natural Gas Com
pany, and the GlenVllis Natural Gas
Company.
The Manufacturers Light and
Heat Company, the Wheeling Natur-
al Gas Company, Ohio Valley Gas
Company, Tri-state Gas Company,
wetzel Gas Company. and the Man
ufacturers Gas Company was repre-
sented by t. o. Sullivan.
The United States Gas Company
and the Charleston Natural Gas
Company were represented by L. A.
seyfert. q. t. vinson. of Hunting
! ton, represented the Ohio Valley
Electric Railway Company
1 The Hope Natural Gas Company
Twas represented ny John G. Pew
and Christy Payne; Joseph W, Cox.
tine Norfolk and Western Railroad
Company; W. P. Hawley, the Blue
field Telephone Company; Henry
Servers, the Postal Telegraph
Gable Company; w, T. Williamson,
the southern Bell Telephone and
Telegraph company, and the Ameri-
can Telephone and Telegraph Com
Epany.
The Western Union. Telegraph
Company, the pullman Company and
the Kanawha and West Virginia
Railroad Company, we're represented
by William A. MaeCorkle. while his