Evening star., 1915-03-29
BROWNIES WILD GUESS
AT D. C. REALTY VALUES
City Now Valued by Assessor High.
er Than Detroit-Grossly Over
valued by Browne at Twice as
Much as Baltimore.
lstar broadside. Feb. 25. 1a15l

j pertinent and controlling facts are
of record and have already re-
ceived full consideration by Con-
gress, and that a commission is
/ therefore unnecessary.
The essential facts are not of
record. Statements made in good
faith in the recent Senate discus
sion, echoing similar statements
in the House, show conclusively
that grossly misleading allega-
tions are accepted in Congress as
gospel truth to the vital injury of
the capital community.
I. The allegation (without
any assessment by the commit
tee ITSELF of the so-called George
report that in 1912 realty values
for assessment in the District
were S744ooo,ooo, or S414.ooo,ooo
more than the actual assessment
OF that year, is found on the
slightest examination to be gross
Fly and preposterously false; and
the inferences of underassess-
ment and undertaxation derived
from it are untrue, Unjust and in
furious in the extreme to the peo-
pie of the capital.
2. The method OF measuring
the comparative tax burdens of
cities, adopted by the enemies Of
Washington in the House and
treated as sound by some sena-
tors, which accepts as accurate the
census-reported relations of as
sessed to true value, and on this
assumption declares that the
Washingtonian's tax burden is
about one-half that of the resident
of the average American city, is
based on a false premise and leads
to a false conclusion. 1t is dis
credited as unreliable by the CEN
sus authorities, and is reduced
to logical absurdity when the at
tempt is made to apply it practi-
cally.
Yet these two untruths are put
forward as truths, without vigor-
Gus challenge in House or Senate,
and furnish today the strongest
propulsive force to the movement
for the repeal of the half-and-half
law.
An unbiased commission, from
membership i'll which the congress
sional proponents of these chal-
,enged statements should in fair
ness be barred. could render valu-
able service, both to the nation
and to the capital. by carefully
! considering the evidence on these
issues and rendering an impartial
decision. For 1t tie .cot g .he =:
Johnson amendment and the
other assaults. direct and indirect,
upon the half-and-half law is the
assertion that Washington has
taxable values which if fairly as
sessed would provide without ma
tional participation the revenue
necessary for capital maintenance
and development.
False Charge of Underassessment.
The George taxation report of 1912
alleges that "real property in the Dis
trict Of Columbia liz assessed '$414.OOO.-
600 below it's true value; the true value
being &744,OOO.O0O, while the assessment
is only $3.50, ,OOO. .OOO."
1t is to be remembered that the
George committee did not oretend t.
undertake to make an assessment for
itself. and that no local expert was al
| lowed to give testimony before it that
covered any section thoroughly.
The statement, above quoted, is based
solely upon the testimony and argument
| before the subcommittee of Witness H. J.
Browne. Mr. Brownies evidence is not di-
rect expert appraisement of the value Of
Washington realty. but is the deduc
| ton of an ex-tournalist from what
persons questioned by him have said
concerning local values and from what
| he has read and studied in the news
papers, or official reports, or record
books of business men of Washington
on that subject. Generalizing from
the statements, sworn and unsworn, of
individuals in respect to particular
cases in selected spots in the different
sections Of the city. Mr.. Browne de-
yeloped an infallible formula for as
certaining true values in all parts of
Washington. For the large suburban
areas he multiplied the actual assess
ment in every case by five; for the
business and fine residence areas of
assessment in every case by three and
one-third; for middle-class house sites
he multiplied in every case by two.
For small home sites he multiplied in
every case by one and two-thirds.
What could be simpler? What more
foolish?
This valuation of Washington realty
was in its totals so grossly at variance
with the valuations of other far larger
and richer American cities, and was
SO obviously unsound in generalizing
concerning whole sections from condi-
spots. that 1t was promptly and vigor-
ously challenged for Washington in
1912 by the practically unanimous ac-
tion of the Board of Trade, and by
SCISSORS office, which demonstrated the
absurdity of the attempt to fix an ar
bitrary formula of relation of assess
ment to true value applicable to a
whole section. or to all of any one
class of real property.
uutiiated i George biii gave % fuH faith