The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-03-15
A FLASH in THE PAN
Such Was the Evidence Presented By
Lawyers for Complainants Regard
ing Over-Assessment of Mining
Properties Before Commission

As per schedule, the State Tax
Commission met here Monday for the
purpose of hearing complaints which
had been made to them, by some of
the mining companies, claiming that
Assessor Lawrence o. Wells, of st.
Francois county, had assessed their
property for the present year for
more than it was worth. The entire
Commission was present, composed of
Chairman Cornelius Roach of Car
thage, James Y. Player of st. Louis,
]. H. Galeener of Sikeston, and their
clerk. The evidence that was submit
ted was taken down by two stenog-
raphers.
In opening the hearing, Chairman
Roach clearly ard concisely stated
what was the purpose of the Board in
having this hearing here, as well as
outlining the character of the evil
dence that would be heard. He stat
ed that evidence in regard to compar-
ative values of property was not de-
sired, and would not be heard. All
that the Commission desired was ev-
idence as to the real value of the
property complained of; that they
were not Board of Equalization, be-
fore which such evidence could be
submitted at the proper time and
place; that urgent business at their
head offices in jefferson City made il
most imperative that they should fin
ish the hearing here that day.
Immediately one of the attorneys
for the complainants strenuously OBJ
jected to such ruling, and apparent
" made up his mind that it should not
stand, and throughout the morning
session he used every effort at his
command to crowd in evidence Of
comparative values solely, resulting il
practically all of his questions being
thrown out as "immaterial and having
no bearing on the case that was be,
ing heard" At the afternoon hearing
the same tactics were continued, not
withstanding the fact that such law
yer was frequently told that he was
wasting the time of the Commission
Finally, apparently becoming ex
hausted from his excessive" labors
he seemed to realize that his "work'
was getting him nowhere, and he il
a measure subsided, though through
out the hearing Of the St. Joe am
Doe Run Lead Cos. his overbearini
tactics and insulting language wa
constantly in evidence.
Assessor Wells was the first wit
ness called for by the attorneys fol
the complainants, and though one o,
the complainant's attorneys had re
Gently told the Assessor that he pro
posed to "make Wells his own wors
Witness" the facts that were devel
oped failed utterly to make good
such threat. The Assessors evidence
showed conclusively that even at tn,
increased assessment of the propert!
owned by this company, which wa
four times the amount of the last pre-
vious assessment, the present Assess
or's returns had such property listet
at but little more. than half of it
present actual cash value. E. A. Ro
zier then took the stand and attempted
to show Irregularities in the assess
ment. But in this he failed absolute
ly.
This finished the evidence in tn
first case-or hearing-as attorney
for complainants never even ap
preached "case". While no decision
was announced by the State Tax Com
mission, and none is expected unit
all the evidence can be CAREFUL
threshed out by them, it is foregon