The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-26

pers, was read before the board yester- day afternoon by George c. Whatley, chairman of the board, and the phases of the statement referring to the board were received with many bursts of laughter.
 The three members, who say they will give every man a fair deal, took the criticisms of the Real Estate exchange good naturedly, and seemed to enjoy the way the exchange went after them.
 DECIDE TO MAKE STATEMENT
 At first the board refused to give out a. statement, stating that it was unnec- essary, and that they did not care to indulge in any arguments. However, on second thought, they concluded to make a brief statement for the benefit of the property owners. The board, de- spite the good humor in which they re- ceived the statement of the exchange, showed their indignation at the way the Real Estate exchange had come at them.
 Tt is either a scheme originated by some lawyers or real estate agencies to
 
 erty owners. through representation, or they do not understand the matter" said George c. Whatley.
 Referring to the matter of fighting the tax increase, the statement of the Real Estate exchange has this to say:
 'It is here that the Birmingham Real Estate exchange has a wonderful oppor- tunity for good work. Tentative plans are being made whereby all taxpayers who are dissatisfied with their raises can pool their interests and fight this outra- geous tax raid with minimum amount of expenses and trouble. It is currently reported that the state will send several lawyers from the attorney generals office to look after the raiders interest, but by cooperating and working together we hope the taxpayers can get in position to make a successful fight
 LOOKS LIKE GRAFT SCHEME "The Real Estate exchange may have the interest of the small property owners at heart but this looks just little like a graft scheme. Whether this be true or not, there is no need for the property owner to employ a lawyer, or a real
 estate agent to look after his interest I We are here to give every man faii | deal, but the impression left by the Real Estate exchange is that we are robbing Jefferson county for the state, and no one has right to complain.
 "The Real Estate exchange seems to have forgotten that the board will con- duct hearing from the third Monday ,f the property owners to present their claims If anyone has a right to kick, let him kick then. We want to give every property owner a fair, square deal, and
 we will. There may be instances where
 mistakes have been made, no doubt there are good many. but we will be open for conviction and if convinced that we have erred in valuing property, we will make it right. That is our sole intention, and every man has right, and shall l have a hearing. He does not need to ally l himself with any real estate agencies, employ any counsel. or even come under the sheltering wing of the Birmingham 1 Real Estate exchange, for a square deal. He can appear in person. make his claim l and get just as much from the board as though he was accompanied by the gov l ernor of the state.
 ALL TREATED ALIKE
 We will make this statement: Every property owner gets like deal. We are
 not playing to politics, and get no con- mission. If we reduce the assessments of one piece of property we will make the same reduction for the entire block Heretofore lots lying side by side have I been assessed some 10 per cent and ! others 50 or even 100 per cent. This as
 sessment will put every man on an equa l footing, as we have no favorites
 "In many instances we have reduced | the assessments on property, while ir l many others it has been found to be right, as in the old assessments. We l can give this assurance to the prop 1 erty owners, however, that they will l have fair and impartial hearing, and l in no instance will any property be assessed more than so per cent.
 ] "As for the state being ready witt 1 several lawyers to look after our (taA l raiders) interest, that is all bosh. We are not looking for such necessities
 In the event the property owners arc :! not satisfied, the cases may be ap. l.pealed. The circuit court then can de, 1 eide the case and it will be up to us 1 to convince a jury that we were right l This can only be done with evidence l While we were expecting a kick 1 in fact, many kicks-we did not .eX l pect such language from the Real Els 1 tate exchange We think their state ment was prematurely made and d. not care to go into a controversy witt | them as that can be attended -fo whel the proper time comes.
 THINK FIGURES EXAGGERATED No one can tell just what the ex | act amount of the increase will be but we had not thought it would 1 amount to as much as the most con | servative estimate or $20,00O,OO0 a; made by The Age-H Herald. It will no reach the figure set by the Real Els ate exchange; in our opinion, or conn anywhere near it..
 The above is the statement issued b, the board immediately after the pub lished statement appeared in the aft 1 ernoon papers. The board as who'll indorsed the statement of it's chair II man and said the exact amount of tn l increase would not be known unti after the final hearings of complaint were over and all mistakes corrected The statement of the Real ~state ex II change did not appear to disturb an
 member of the board. They took tn
 personal references good naturedly an , laughed the subject off.
 ,I It was estimated that several hun dred persons came into the assessor office yesterday and examined the as sessments, most of them being real es tate agents. Some extra force has bee added and the forces divided into da and night shift. This was done in or , der to handle the n~owd and get tn