The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-22
WORK OFi
 EQUAL|z|NG BOARD
Required to Perform Ger tain Duties Heretofore in
 Tax Assessors Hands

Montgomery, October 21.--tSpecial )-Re- plying to an inquiry of the state board of equalization. Attorney General William L. Martin has ruled that the state board, under the new revenue law. will be re- ouired to perform the duties heretofore discharged by the state board of assess ments and many of the duties formerly discharged by the various county tax assessors.
 The principal duties heretofore per- formed by the state board of assess ments which body was abolished by the legislature related to the assessment of the tangible property of railroads. tele- phone and telegraph companies. This property. as Is known. consists of rails. telegraph and telephone poles and wires and the rolling stock of such companies. Under the now law, the board of equali- zation will make tangible assessments against public service corporations Another duty which the new law i'm poses upon the state board relates to the assessment of public service corpora tions in the various counties of the state
 Heretofore, county assessors have per- formed this duty, but the now law makes 1t incumbent upon the state board re- curing it to assess railroad and public | service property in all the counties of | the state.
 The additional duties imposed upon the 1 state board of equalization probably will require considerably more work on the part of the members of that body than
 was formerly required, and may also re- quire additional help. Already the board D r>1 t1<- a-- l-- | ters, and it Is expected that new offices
 will he provided for that body within the near future.
 business which has enabled them to re- l port almost unsurpassed net earnings for
 the third quarter of the year can be traced
 to war orders. A careful analysis of the 1 orders the corporation has received since
 January l. and especially since the sec
 ond quarter of the year began. persuadee | these managers that about 65 per cent
 of the new business represents indirect
 ly at least war orders For from the
 great industries which are engaged in manufacturing arms and munitions of
 war have come heavy orders to the Steel
 corporation. The orders represent com
 modtties that are utilized for the manu- | fracture of arms and munitions of war
 The accepting of orders of this kind does
 not compromise or change the attitude which was taken by the Steel corpora ton when orders for war material began
 to come to the United States from the
 bellfgerent nations. This analysis or trac- in5 of the orders the Steel corporation has | received. which seems to show that 6o l per cent of the new business reflects in- directly war orders. illustrates how great l ly the demand for commodities of this kinc by the belligerent nations is affect ny A m fao ind, ct he Gtao1
 poration receives orders for certain kinds
 of steel and accepts the orders The purpose which lies behind these orders is l something with which the Steel corpora
 ton has nothing to do.
 A Good Deal of Guessing
 A few days ago the quotations for the
 stock of an industry of considerable im- portance began rapidly to appreciate un- til at last they touched figure that was 1 about z0 points above the quotations as reported a few months ago. In explana-
 ton of this rapid appreciation it was reported that the corporation had re- ceived very large war order, and that when the order is executed it would gain
 a handsome profit. The fact Is that the
 corporation did receive inquiries from those who were authorized to place a
 large war order. It's first response to the inquiry was that some computation |
 named This computation was made and
 a price named to those who represented
 another country, and who were seeking
 to place a very large war order. The price was high. and that was due to the
 fact that some of those who are manag-
 ing large corporations are apprehensive that cost of production may be found to
 be larger than the estimate made 1t when the proposition for the sale of the coSn- modity was received. Up to the present
 time the proposition has not been accept ed. nor has 1t been rejected. The indus- try may receive this order or 1t may not. And 1t was because of the report that 1t had accepted the order that there began the rapid appreciation of the mar ket price of the stock. The wonder is whether i\s does not illustrate or ex- plain some of the other rapid apprecia- tions in quotations for the stock of indus
 tries which are presumed to have received large war orders.