Elbert County tribune and Elbert County banner., 1921-03-25
CENTENNIAL STATE ITEMS.

1920 was S647 ,e55, ,992, compared with
S59S, ,429, 1874 last year. The total as
sessed valuation of property this year
is 81 1,590, ,267, ,667, compared with ST.
495,213,659. The figures given above
do not include automobiles, carriages
and other vehicles, furniture and some
other items of farm property. which
can not be accurately segregated. 1t
will be seen that the assessed value of
farm property for 1870 was approx
mately Al per cent of the assessed
value of all property, compared with
about 40 per cent In 1919. If the items
that cannot be included in this calco-
iation could be accurately segregated
1t would be found that the assessed
value of all farm property Is about AZ
per cent of the total assessed valua-
tion. The percentage has been increas-
ing steadily for several years, keeping
pace with the states agricultural de-
velopment. The items included in the
totals given above are farm land, i'm
provements on farm land, livestock,
poultry and bees, equities in state
land, improvements on public lands
and agricultural implements.
Figures compiled by the State Immf.
grafton Department from the records
of the State Tax Commission show
that the people of Colorado paid $35.44
per capita taxes for all municipal, dis
trict, county and state purposes in
1920 The total revenue collected, ac-
cording to these compilations, was
little more than S33,000000. The
largest single item of expense is
schools, approximately 80 per cent of
all taxes collected being used for
school purposes. The highest per capt.
ta taxes are paid by people in Park
county, being S6S.1T, while the lowest
are paid in Baca county. S2l92. The
average levy for all purposes is 22.21
mills. Teller county shows the high
est average levy, 1923 mills, and Chey-
enne county the lowest, 11.4S mills.
The highest average school levy is for
Crowley county, 11.73 mills, and the
lowest is for Jackson county, 1.33 mills.
Five passengers on the Pueblo
sleeper of westbound train No. 115 on
the Denver & Rio Grande railroad
were burned to death near Cuchara,
ten miles northeast of Walsenburg. Ac-
cording to reports, the blaze was
caused by the explosion of tank used
to supply gas to the Pintsch lighting
system, which Is still in use on cars
operating over the Denver-Alamosa
route The explosion tore hole
through the middle of the car and
filled it with gas, rendering most of
the victims unconscious before they
could make move to escape.
Following a two days hearing the
coroner's jury inquiring into the dis
aster in which five persons lost their
lives by the burning of Pullman car
Corona, attached to the Denver & Rio
Grande passenger train No. 155 at
Roof, returned a verdict containing no
finding revealing the cause of the fire,
expressing the opinion that the acci-
dent was an avoidable one In the lack
of rules requiring the Pullman porter
to be on duty.
After divulging the information on
which the defendant was arrested in
California and brought back to Logan
county for trial, John Calvert, pris-
oner in the county jail in Sterling,
failed on the witness stand and as a
result Elmer r. Week, well-to-do farm
er, charged with burning four stacks
of wheat in the east part of the coun-
ty last September, was acquitted by a
jury in the District Court.
Guy Wayne Leibel, prominent Fort
Collins real estate dealer is dead from
peritonitis, following an operation for
appendicitis. He was stricken with an
attack at his cottage at Eoveland
Heights, near Estes Park and was hur-
ried 10 Fort Collins for the operation,
which was performed Immediately.
Fully half of the grain crops in Colo
RADIO last year are still on the farms,
according to official estimates released
by the United States Bureau of Crop
Estimates. Fifty-four per cent of the
corn crop is still in the granaries, as
compared with 35 per cent last year,
and 2S per cent of the wheat crop, as
compared with Is per cent last year.
Senator Phipps has requested the
secretary of the interior and the COM
missioner of the General Land Office to
open Colorado lands Immediately to
settlers under the Carey act and re-
cent departmental order, which opened
the lands, but did not specify a date.
The taxpayers of Fort Collins have
voted unanimously in favor of n $780,,
900 bond issue for the improvements
Of the schools. Additions will be built
to several of the schools, new equip.
ment added and sites for new build,
ings Will be purchased.
The Nucla Chamber of Commerce
at a recent meeting elected officers