The Ely miner., 1915-05-28
WELL ATTENDED
Was the Meeting Of the State
Tax Commission Here ON Tuesday

lN UUIllllllSSlUll [lGlG Ull luGSudy
The State Tax Commission wa:
here Tuesday and held session al
the City Hall that afternoon al
which a very large attendance o1
the business men and heavy tax.
payers were present. The entire
commission was here and consisted
of J. G. Armson, Samuel Lord,
and J. T. Hale with Secretary
Rukard Hurd.
The session turned out very un-
satisfactory to those who were oi
the opinion that the taxpayers were
being Disseminated against in
favor of the mining interests. The
commission went on record il
their statement that the mines
were being assessed on their profits
and not on the ad valorum value
of their property. The answers tc
the various questions propounded
by several of those present were
answered by the commission but
who made the mistake of compar-
ing the Mesaba range properties
with those of this range.
The statement that two-thirds oi
the ores produced in the city oi
Ely is of a non-bessemer grade
was received with much skepti.
cism and also that these ores sold
at $3.54 ton and bessemer grades
at $3. "a ton at lower lake ports
A. J. Thomas, Geo. L. Brozict
and Mayor Harri spoke for the
city while Supt. Trezona and
Assistant Supt. McCurdy gave
testimony for the mining side ot
the argument. The method oi
assessing the ores on fiat rate
regardless of the selling value wa:
frowned upon by several of the
speakers and the methods of reach.
ing these valuation was explained
by the commission. The opinion
seemed to be general that iron orr
on the stockpiles at Ely was worth
the market price, less the cost oi
transportation to lower lake ports
and should be assessed on these
figures. Stocks of goods in loca
stores were cited as comparison:
and it was shown t.,4t valuation:
were placed on the cost of the
goods and not on the profits made
Commissioner LORD who acted
as chairman of the, meeting wa
emphatic in his statement that tn,
commission would listen to any
actual figures on the subject anC
invited all present to submit thei
arguments to the commission in
writing at any time and a promp
answer would follow. The subjec
is one requiring deep study anc
considerable statistics, which ar,
hard to get.
Mr.. Brozich's talk before tn,
commission and the day befor'
when several taxpayers met at tn
city hall for an informal talk wa:
to the effect of a more closer under
standing between the people in th'
city and the management of th'
mines. The larger part of th
Mesaba range towns have had al
agreement with the mining inter
ests. These agreements wer
arrived at after several years o
hard fights in which much bitter
ness was engendered. 1t is to b
hoped that Ely will be spared tn
fighting but unless something
different is agreed upon the large
part of the people will not be ad
verse to a good lively scrap.
The feeling is general that tn
small property owner is being dis
crilninated against in favor of tn,
mines and that instead of a paltr,
valuation of three millions w
should at least have a valuation o
six to eight millions. Eveleth
which has the Spruce and Adam
mines, two properties that canno
be compared with the mines of thi
city either in physical value or tn
value of its products, has a valua
tion of approximately $4,000, 900
Buhl, valuation of over So 900,
600; Mountain Iron, $4,000, 200
Virginia, $12, 900, 900; Chisholm
SIC, 900, 900; Hibbirg, S81, 900, 900
| Last year under orders of tn
tax commission the assessor raiset
all property in Ely a certain pc
cent including the mines. Th
assessment was passed by the loca
equalization board and later b,
the county board. The tax com
mission left the city property a
returned and promptly cut dow
the mine assessments to the figure
of the year before. The commits
sion claimed that the valuations OF
the mining properties were raise
a matter of $158,OO0 but it seem
that the assessor had turned il
much unplatted lands, and also tn
Chandler mines which disputes tn
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