Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-04-01
COMMUNICATION


Saturday evening there were us
tributed about the city several nun-
dred dodgers which %purported TO give
a true statement OF facts concerning
various acts of members OF the Guy
commission. The facts themselves
we're not especially daaging TO anyone
but the dodger was SO cunningly Word.
ed that serious differences could De
drawn from 1t.
It was directed especially against
Mr.. A. w. Lucas who has been a mem
Der OF the Board of City Commission
ers fof the past our years and VINO IS
now a candidate for the presidency
of the board. 1t states that Mr., Lucas
swore in a statement made 10 the
Dunn and Bradstreet agencies that ms
stock of merchandise on January LIST,
1915, amounted to $~117.0O0!0O. rms
statement is untrue. Mr.. Lucas, in
his statement to these agencies sald
that his stock of goods on hand, MS
accounts on his books, due from ms
customers, store fixtures, farm lands
and city real estate, ETC., amounted 10
Sill, 900. 90. Anyone at all familiar
with retail bushes during the past
three years can well imagine the
amount of accounts outstanding with
such a firm as the A. w. Lucas COM
pany with the tremendous business II
does. Besides this the stock was fg-
ured in at practically it's retail value
and not at. its wholesale value. Who
ever wrote the paper in question Will
have to deduct a great many thous-
ands OF dollars from the amount he
named before he can arrive at the &C.
tual value of the stock on hand, IN
fact, he will have to deduct at least
One-half from the figures he gives.
The assessment of the A. w. Lucas
Company will compare favorably with
that of any merchandise stock in the
city.
AS a member of the City Board OF
Equalization, Mr.. Lucas always insist
ed that his stock be put in at a higher
value, than that of other merchants.
Any member of the board can youcha
for this statement. or
As a matter of, fact there is not a
personal property assessment in the
city which is put in as high as 1t
should be. Real estate. comparative
ly speaking, bear at least fifty per cent
more than it should Of the burden OF
taxation. Look at youself, Mr.. Voter,
did you ever list your silverware, your
watch, your own Of your wife's jewel
ry? Did you ever. tell the assessor
the real truth about the value of your
property?
Mr.. Voter: Do you remember about
three years ago that Henry j., Geier-
man, city commissioner, died? DO
you remember that flags were display
ed at half mast in all parts. Of the
city through the great respect which
citizens bore for Mr.. GeiermanR Do
you remember that Mr.. Geierman was
regarded by practically everyone to be
the best city commissioner Bismarck
ever had? If Mr.. Geierman was such
a splendid man, (and he was a splentl-
id mani ), who should not Mr.. Batty,
who occupies the same position with
the International Harvester Company,
be as good a man for the. same posi-
ton. Is a man to be damned just
because he works. for a corporation?
Does that make a criminal Of him?
Mr.. Batty, by attending. to his own af-
fairs, is not so well known as some OF
u citizens, but those who do know
him admire him and respect him.
AS. to the. auditorium, it is a matter
of record that Mr.. Lucas did save the
taxpayers of Bisarck some $60 $1,000. 90.
Il is not a question as to whether or
not he might have saved the city
$3.50, 900. 90, but he did save the city
100000. 90. Nor was it Mr.. Lucas
fault thatSthe building of the auditor
ium has been delayed Mr.. Lucas is
only one of the five members and the
delay will have to be put on other
shoulders.
AS to the purchase of the site for
the auditorium it is not true that ]. P.
Jackson and F. E. Young had this
property listed with them for $4,000. 90.
II cost the Wachter nray and Trans.
fer Co. s5500.00 in the first place and
just before the city bought it Mr..
tWachter informs IS that he was Oh.
tered $7,500.Ot for the property. 4
The table given by the writer of the
|screed delivered Saturday night states
that it is a terrible thing that our as.
sessed valuation has not been increas-
ed the past few years because there
have been so many additional build.
ings erected here and because there
are so many more people living here
now than formerly. If he knew the
first thing he was talking about he
would realize that this low assessed
valuation had saved the city many
thousands of dollars every year simply
through the fact that if we keep our
valuations down we save on the
amount of tax we have to pay the
county and state, amounting to some
100000 or more on every hundred
thousand dollars of assessed value.
If the assessed valuation of the city
is low, thank your lucky star that you
have people on the board of equaliza-
ton who know this and who try to
save the taxpayers money rather than
to run the valuation away up.
Mr.. -kOffel states that he is going
to reduce your water and electric
light rates.. He cannot reduce your
water rates for the franchise given the
water company states explicitly what
rates they will be allowed to charge.