The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-07-29
IS
ON, BY CRACKY
Governor Williams NlpS Alleged
Plan to Increase AtOka COun-
ty Salaries
ASSESSMENT DROPPED s2OO,OOO

q ovERNOR Williams ran up the
distress signal this morning when
the assessment Of Atuka county came
mp for review by the state board Of
equalization, showing letter he had
rG-'lyed from friend In that county
asserting that conspiracy was I'm.
der way TO have the assessed yalua.
tion raised to s9OOOOOO 50 that the
county officials would draw larger
salaries That the governor was
scared was evident, and he fought for
reductions all along the line partic.
ularly ns affecting farm lands aud
farm Improvements AZ result re.
ductiOn of S2OOOOO was made by the
state board and the plot II any, was
'nipped + the bud
The governor declared that not more
than one third Of the land In Atokn
county should be classed AS cultiyata.
/ bile John Franklin. the county as.
SCISSOR. said II was not the poor poo
/ pie, hut the large land owners who
were protesting against the aSsess
ments made. lie said that some "
the land that had sold NJ s. an acre
was assessed At S.
/ Dr MclRndon " Coalgate. who at
tended the board session. f. the owner
ot 800 acres of land in That county.
300 acres Of which IS under cultlya
I tlon. When qulz2ed by l.. Lyon.
secretary NJ state, he confessed that
he did not know what his assessment
Is this year nor what II had been In
the past even admitting that he had
not been on all of the lands he owns.
Upon motion ~ State Auditor T..
B Howard the board rcconsidercd It's
action raising the assessment on lands
aud improvements In Rogers county
~ per cent The raise was then made
~ per cent on farm lands not inclusive
" improvements The Inter were left
ns returned by the county excise
board
Says Assessments Illegal
When the Logan county asses smpnt
was mp Tor consideration letter was
rcnd from William D"Dad"l Taylor of
Guthrie asserting that the hoard had
not given him proper recognition aud
asserting that the assessment VI 10.
gan county was false. that no legal
assessment had been made.
Logan county valuations this year
were returned at Sl5.632 800. as
against SldlTS3O4 last year. When
/ various Items IN the assessment had
been raised, against the protest " As.
SCISSOR Enoch Carter and other LOgnn
county citizens present Governor VII.
linms made special Inquiries relntlve
TO the oil mills operating In Guthrie.
saying that the raise could be mnde
ON these corporations and other tax.
payers and not against the farmers.
Fnm lands IN Logan were returned
AZ Sl07+ When raise NJ Z percent
was made, J l.. Lyon and W. l.. Alex
ander voted not The governor ga
/ plalned his aye vote was cast 10 81.
cure % parity of the assessments Of
the particular group of counties Aud
itor Howard said he voted ave hc.
cause the assessment returned by Bo-
gan county last year was S2O5O per
acre, adding Il don't think Oklahoma
has dctrriurutrd this year. aud this
assessment Is fpr two years.
G. g. llururr made u plea against
raising the Qsscssmcut against town
/ lots which were returned nj N1Au Il
lie said, Guthrie Is In worse coH.
dltion than any city In the state" that
the whole town is asscssed NJ more
than Il is actually worth"
State Examiner Fred Parkinson re-
marked that Guthrie has among lis
citizens greater percentage Of home.
owners than any other ,ity In the
state
After the o. '''''.