La Junta tribune., 1916-04-08
CAPITOL cOssRlne0xDExcE.


Several deeisious OF mach more
than ordinary importance uere hand
"a down BY the suprsue court MON
day Ons Of them upheld III right Of
The state hoard of equalization U
piacs the final vaiae for taxation
Dnrposes on Ill the property Of the
state. According 70 this decision
county assessors must obey The or
ders Of the state board Of equaiin-
ton and raise Or decrease the valua-
tion Of property according to the de-
msnds Of that board.
The case was brought before the
court By the refusal Of Mr.. Pitcher.
the assessor Of Denver county. to add
sss.0o9. 900 to the valuation Of that
county. The amessor claimed that
the order was arbitrary and unjust
and made without any examination
into actual conditions. He said Il
was unfair in that the additional bur
den would fall entirely on the small
taxpayer. ~ under the order the val
uation on corporation property. and
stocks and bonds were allowed 10
stand as originally appraised. and he
lntimated that the raise was an At
tempt Of the commission. two out Of
three members Of which arc from the
country. to soak" Denver.
The district court. before whom
the case vas first brought. decided in
favor OF Mr.. Pitcher. The supreme
court in reversing them did not pass
upoa the question % to whether the
tax commission had acted wisely or
not. but simply that they had acted
within their powers and that no one
could review their decision excepting
The state board Of equalization. whose
servants the commission were. The
board Of equalization had approved
Of their sction unanimously. and -
Mr.. Stocker and Nr. Mulnix are on
this board. and both Of them are res
idents Of Denver. II certainly does
not seem that they would have sp-
proved Of . measure that was unfair
To the city In which they lived.
The effect Of this decision 10 10 in
crease the amount the city and coua-
y Of Dsaver viii ~ 10 sspport the
state government By ells.sss. bring
ing the total paid By that city for this
purpose 70 the immense sum Of
4s73.sss. which h almost exactly
one-third Of the assessment against
the entire state. Or. II you elimin-
ate the taxes assessed on the steam
railroads from which Denver gets
vcry little benefit. Il means that
Deaver will pay 20 per cent Of the
state eAxes.
Another decision Of eeaeral later
- vas The ess uoholdiag Secretary
Of STATE Ramss u his refusal % &C.
cspt petitions referrias 70 the voters
The change In the civil service laws
made By the last legislature. Ths
court holds that the legislature 10
the sole judge Of whether . law b
for the immediate prsservation Of
the peace. health and safety Of the
people Of the state. and when Il 20
holds and attaches 70 bin what is
known - the "nafety clutch." ref
erendum viii not hold. A. . result
Of this decision the aew civil service
board appointed b. the sovssnor
aone months ago. has its legality e.
tablished. and the governor nay aov
80 ahead and make such changes II
the hesds Of The various aspartnsats
Of the state - he desirss. Thls -
cision viii at once settis The costro-
versy that has prevailed for soas
time over the wsrdeasAip Of shs ~
foTmstosy. asd the offices Of baak
commissioner. boiles laspscess and
dlvisioa easinssss. Il also permits
the governoe to rsnovs NJ. Tynan
from the wardeaship Of the pesitea-
tiasy u hs - dssisss.
Dsaves. April I. 1915.