The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-02-21

al is inadequate and accordingly ne
has Instructed the state treasurer to
appeal from the same and the rail-
roads have been notified OF such an
appeal. The board of appeal, consist
ing of Lieut.-Gov. Frank e. Howe,
state Auditor Horace F. Graham, and
Secretary of State Guy w. Bailey,
will decide upon date for hearing
the appeal and tomorrow formal no
tice will be served upon the railroads
This action upon the part of the
state treasurer is taken under author
ity granted him by Sec. III of the
Statutes, which provides that aggriev-
ed parties with regard to tax apprais-
ais may take such an appeal not later
than the 18th day of February. BY
special act at the present session the
time for filing the annual tax apprais-
al was extended and the railroads
will have until February 20 to appeal
from the action taken by the state
treasurer
State Treasurer Deavitt and Attor-
ney General Brown will represent the
state at the hearing on appeal, and
1t is expected that Gov Fletcher will
attend.
The appraisal of railroads, made by
Former Tax Commissioner Cushman,
amounts to $3S,S45,S05; steamboat,
car and transportation companies,
ton lines. s356,O90, making total
appraisal of $39, 1905, 445, This apprais-
al makes tax upon railroads, power
plants and transportation lines of
$3.50, 023.60, and upon steamboat lines,
etc, of $4,O35.5O.
One of the reasons leading Gov.
Fletcher and State Treasurer Deavitt
TO arrive at the conclusion that an APP
peal should be taken from Tax Com
missioner Cushman's figures is the
fact that in the state of New Hamp-
shire the railroad appraisal approx.
mates $4,000 mile, while that of Yer
mont under Commissioner Cushman's
appraisal totals only $4,000 a mile.
The tax rate in New Hampshire on
railroads is $155, while the Vermont
rate is 1925 The fact that the valu-
alton and tax rate are both lower
than in New Hampshire leads Gov.
Fletcher and the state treasurer to
the belief that the present appraisal
is inadequate However, Commission
er Cushman's figures raised the APP
pralsal on railroads $5,000000 above
that of two years ago and increased
the tax on railroads $4,000, an in
| crease of over so per cent
Representative Hapgood of Peru
was the storm center of one-man
| filibuster in the House this afternoon
and his voice broke with emotion as
| he vehemently characterized his as
sociates as thieves If they did not sup
| port resolution which he introduced
to have the attorney general bring an
Injunction against the state treasurer
restraining that official from paying
any of the employees of the House
Assembly or State House any pei
diem sum above that already provid
ed by the statutes. He argued EN-
phatically in favor of its adoption IL
the course of his remarks he uset
the term thieves" for which tn,
chair called him to order, He dc
manded the yeas" and mays" on tn
question. The chair ruled that tn
resolution was not in order, it bein
impossible to carry II into effect
From this decision Mr.. Hapgood az
pealed and demanded the yeas" an
; nays Mr.. Martin of ST. Alban
city appealed to the gentleman fror
Peru in the interests of economy an
the saving of time TO withdraw his al
peal and his demand for the yeas
and nays" but Mr.. Hapgood declil
ed to do so. The decision of the chai
was sustained by vote of 1856 to
Mr.. Bagley of Sudbury and Mr.. Hal
good voted no