The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-11-08
:s9:!!!!:.!!g7E;R ESTATE
TWENTY MILLIONS
Newspapers of Late Publish
er Will Form Less Than
Third of Property.

St. Louis. Nov. s.-The official ap-
praisal Of the estate of Joseph Pulit-
zer. who died on Oct. 20, 1911, is
nearing completion. according to ad-
wees here today. The appraisal will
NIX a total value of MIR. Pulitzers es-
tate between s1s.00O.OOO and $2O.-
100000 This is s10.O00,000 less than
the figures annunced at the time his
will was made public.
Mr.. Pulitzer's newspaper proerty,
The New York World, The Evening
World. and The st. Louis Post Dis
patch. represent somewhat less than
one-third of the total in the figures re-
ceived here.
Local advices from an authentic
source indicate that the official ap-
raisal has not yet been able to fix the
value of the properties. and is waiting
for further expert evidence. which
may be supplied this week. before fix.
ing final figure. Some difficulty has
been experienced in getting newspa-
er owners and managers to qualify as
experts in this valuation.
Melville E. Stone. General Manager
of The Associated Press, has been the
principal witness on the question of
determining just method of estimat-
Ing the goodwill of newspaper. lie
is understood to have testified that
years. capitalized at Is per cent, fur
nfsh fair basis for assessing the
goodwill of an established newspaper.
Mr.. Pulitzer held in New York state
the stock of the Pulitzer Publishing
company Of this city, which owns The
Post-Dispatch. and the value of that
paper will figure in the appraisal.
Outside of the Pulitzer building in
New York and his home. he held little
at Bar Harbor and Jekyl Island are
not taxable in New York state.
Listed in the estate for appraisa |
are great number of stocks and
bonds held by Mr.. Pulitzer for invest
ment purposes. Although their
amount is not known here. it is stated
that they aggregate an Unexpectedly
large part Of his estate.
Causes Of Delay in Appraisal.
One OF the interesting questions
which is known to be cause for de-
lay in filing the appraisal is whether
or not Mr.. Pulitzer's yacht. the Liber-
ty, aboard which he died. is taxable in
New York state as part of his estate,
Attorneys for the estate have contend
ed that the yacht is tangible proper.
ty outside the state" and hence not
taxable. Present indications are that
the yacht will he taxed.
erests here have forwarded to New
York certified transcripts from the
books of The Post st-Despatch for use in
hearings before the official appraiser,
and it is known that similar trans
cripts were required from The World.
These figures are not to be made
public until the appraisal is officially
entered in the probate court, but It is
known that they show an unprofita BILE
year In 1905. and that the year fol-
lowing Mr.. Pulitzer's death brought
his newspapers their largest gross re-
ceipts. That the increase of the year
has been counterbalanced by the in
creased cost of white paper is one of
the contentious made by the estate.
Other questions delaying the COM
pletion of the appraisal are whether or
not the bequest Of $4,000 for statue
and memorial to Thomas Jefferson
and $4,000 for fountain in Central
Park are taxable. The official apprais-
or is reported to he inclined to allow
these items to he untaxed. because of
their public nature. although represen-
tatives of the state tax department in
sist that they are not included under
any head Of exemption in the inheri-
tance tax law.