Norwich bulletin., 1914-01-28

 l ed one sixth of the title to the build | ing, or one sixth of s75.000. The other | ind stries of the city have run on re-
 markedly steady time
 He expressed his thanks to the off ! cers and committees of the Board of | Trade and expressed the hope that l there would be a time when there l would be but one civic organization in the city with income enough to hire | man to devote his entire time to such work for the city as might be i attempted
 | The president also advised that the 1 question of suitable tenements ought | to engage the attention of the citizens i and suggested that a holding company
 might be formed to build on a number
 of house lots held by the Norwich In-
 dustrial Improvement corporation.
 Election of Officers.
 The election of officers was the next 1 business, and John J. Corkery gave 1 President Macpherson some warm 1 words of praise for his energetic ad- l reelection. MT. Macpherson was | unanimously reelected and was ap plauded as he accepted the office. N. A. Gibbs renominated Frank J.
 King as first vice president, MT. King
 named Shepard B. Palmer for second ! l.. o. Smith for third vice president, | and all were elected.
 | Secretary Henry w Tibbits was re- i elected upon nomination of F. w. Cary | but Treasurer c. Leslie Hopkins was ! unable to accept the office again, Pres ident Macpherson stated. MT. Hop ] kins was given a rising vote of thanks l for his past services. Charles H. Has ken nominated Dwight l.. Underwood | for treasurer, and he was elected. l The executive committee was re-
 nominated and elected as follows: J. J. 1 Corkery, Grosvenor Ely, James L. | Case and c. H. Haskell.
 l Guy B. Dolbeare and Charles H Phelps were reelected for auditors. State Tax Commissioner William H. | Corbin was the guest of the Board of | Trade, and he was introduced by ] President Macpherson with a pleas 1 ant reference to his recognized ability which had made him one of the few
 republican holdovers in the state gov | ernment.
 Commissioner Corbin approached the subject of taxation with a number of witty stories, although he said that | one good definition of a hypocrite might be a man who could talk taxa tion with a smile on his face. State Getting Into Debt i The finances of the state of Con- necticut, he said. were in a bad shape
 In 1907, when there had been a sur ] plus in the state treasury, there has i been constant shift the other way until now there is a ten million dollar debt. The legislators seem to have the idea of putting everything over
 on to the state to pay. Then if they can go back to the towns and tell their constituents that the state is to pay they think they have done fine thing. ! He commended the advice which Cos 1 tello Lippitt had given when he was state treasurer and said if that had 1 been followed by the legislators con- ! ditions would not be as they are to- l day. State Treasurer Roberts is like wise on the side of economy. 1 There are several ways to increase ! the state revenue without burden upon l the people. These are by taxing the
 gross earnings of telegraph, telephone and express companies and the rail- road companies. Connecticut has tax i ed the gross earnings of the others. | but has left out the railroad compa- nies. It has also never taxed gas or ! electric companies or water power companies or general corporations, as Massachusetts does.
 No Uniformity.
 The trouble in Connecticut is that i there is no uniformity but great va riety in the interpretation of the stat i ute. MT. Corbin advised that the i spring was the best time to have the | lists come in, with the tax to be due 1 in October.
 Facts About Norwich. Making local application of taxa ] ton conditions, he said that since 1900 l the town of Norwich has increased in 1 population nearly Is per cent. During
 the same period the grand list has in ! creased 21.1S per cent. The assessed 1 valuations Of all the towns in New ] London county since 1900 have increas- i ed SOS per cent, and during the same i period in the state at large 7S.0 per cent.
 The. assessed valuation per capita of 1 Norwich, based on the 1912 list, is i $600.69. This is third from the low i est of the towns in the state contain [ ing a city within their limits.
 i The per capita assessment on the 1 1912 list of Windham was s1,0SS.55; of New London, S1,030.S7; of Manchester, 1 $l,3O0.23. Your per capita property tax l Is $12.56. It IS S16.52 in New London | and $1017 in Windham
 | Your tax rate on the list of 1912, he 1 said, which l understand was 10 3-4 mills for the city and II 3-4 for the l town, or a total of 22 1-2 mills is one | of the very largest in the state. In the ] same year there was 16 mill rate in l New London and a 10 mill rate in | Windham.
 l Your total uncollected taxes for the l town and city, as of April 1, 1913, was
 about s29,OOO The percentage of col | lections on the list of 1911 was about 1 94 per cent. It was 91.5 per cent. for | New London county, 97.S for Windham | county, 96.05 for LitchfieId county, and | 93.8 per cent. for the state at large The percentage of total net indebt- edness to the grand list of the city of Norwich, including the water debt, as of October 1st, 1912, was 10.9 per cent or next to the highest of any city in the i state, and your per capita indebted enss of $69.77 is fourth from the high est of the cities of the state. This is in addition to a town indebtedness of 1.2 per cent, which is a per capita in debtedness of $7.94.
 Benefit in Change. There are very few towns in the state whose statistics would indicate so conclusively the desirability of plac- ing the property actually on the stat ntory basis of fair market value On the same expenditures as today, such a course would permit of statistics which would certainly be more inter esting to prospective residents and. capitalists by permitting a material reduction in your tax rate and in the percentage of indebtedness to the grand list.
 Even admitting that your grand list for 1912 is as high as 70 per cent. of the statutory basis of value. an in crease of the grand list to the basis required by the statutes would permit
 the same amount of taxes to be raised as was levied on the 1912 list with a
 rate for town and city combined of probably less than 16 mills. If inequalities were overcome and in nr1 e.,