Albuquerque morning journal., 1921-02-22
HAGERMAN WARNS MINES AGAINST
TRYING PUBLIC'S PATIENCE TOO
FAR in THE MATTER OF TAXATION

properly to appraise the tenn
per of the people should afford
undue encouragement TO hold
ers of dangerous or impractical
theories of government.
I'm this connection, I quote eN'
tracts from a letter l received somt
time ago from a man who has loi
a long time been making a care1u
study of this whole question; MOI
from the standpoint of mere
,heorist or idealist, by any means
On the contrary, he is a thoroughly
experienced and very practica
man whose sympathies are VIII
and whose livelihood depends upon
the mining interests themselves
lie says, among other things:
The Traditional Attitude.
"I am not at all surprised
to learn that the mining in
terests of New Mexico are go
ing to oppose strenuously the
adoption of an ad valorem tax
on mines. l was informed
some time ago through the
American mining congress that
the companies would organize
to defeat your proposal. Th's
is merely the traditional atti-
tude of the mining interests
throughout the west. Speaking
from the viewpoint of the min
ing interests themselves 1t
seems to me that this con-
tinued opposition to what OF
vious,v is nothing more than
n si9Cere attempt TO secure
n square deal for everybody IS
short sighted in the extreme
and I ar. convinced If not
abandoned will be disastrous
in the end to the mines, 1t
is always necessary in deala6
With the public not only to be
right but also to appear to be
right. without undertakinR 10
answer the question of wNeth-
er or not the mining inte Csts
ir the VEST are tight, theI do
not appear to be right to TIE
titizenry and never viii ap'
year to he right until they are
willing that mar taxes Shell pe
measured in the same way and
by the use of the same criterla
as for he n' lders Of othet
property generally. EV"rP
where in tne est there IS an
ineradicabla feeling on the part
of the people that the mining
interests have not been pay
ing their equitable proportion
of the taxes. This continued
opposition to the adoption OF
a method, the only method, by
which equalization of taxes on
all real property may be
brought about, is in my opin-
ion merely adding fuel to the
flames which may in the end
consume the industry itself.
It seems to me that the only
way this suspicion, in some
states amounting to conviction,
can be stilled is through a
thoroughgoing administration
Of the ad valorem tax on
mines as we'll as on other prop
erty. If it were possible TO
abandon the property tax, the
situation would be different,
but so long as states and local
units of government have to
rely on the property tax for
revenue it is incumbent on the
mining interests as we'll as on
the owners of other classes OF
property to cooperate in every
way possible in bringing about
an equalization of the tax
burden under the property tax
system. The only way in the
world that this can be brought
about is through scientific,
careful and painstaking ap-
praisal of all property IN
Guiding mines
Don't Realize Danger.
Large elements of the
mining fraternity in this coun-
try fail utterly to take note of
the rapid spread of the propa-
ganda for the naturalization
of our natural resources. AL
though this will not come in
any short time, If indeed ever,
the governments are bound in
the future to exercise more