The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-03-07

east?"
Malcom-"Yes, all that ! can. !
get most of them"
Trego-"What would you say II !
assert that Ethel Ellsmore Of Gentle
valley is in the habit of sending her
herds over into our county to eat
grass for five months in the year
and return them for the winter and
never pay cent of tax because she Is
not assessed. In the year 1919 she
had S68 head of which fifteen were
registered bulls. She enjoyed the
use of our ranges for the summer, the
stock inspector counted her cattle
and received them, the grazing fee
was fixed from the number he
counted in and accepted, and she was
not assessed for dollar"
Malcom-"Well, don't know
about her"
Trego-"What would say about. w.
H. Larkin from Gentle valley hav-
ing 997 head on our ranges the same
summer of which nineteen were
registered bulls and the stock in
spector counted them, fixed the.
amount that he should pay grazing
fees on, he accepted that amount as
correct and was not assessed for a
dollars worth.
Malcom-"I don't know, they must
be individual cases that l over
looked"
Trego-(Drawing some papers
from his pocket) 81 have here the
names of other stock men, who had
their herds on our summer ranges,
paid the grazing fees and were not
assessed at all. have the names
here of others, in this tabulation,
that were assessed for a small frac-
tional part Of the number they had
on the range and few that were
assessed for about all they had"
Trego continued, holding the
papers as he spoke and speaking from
memory, 1.-THE total of all these cattle
is 1910 head, of which 1870 were
registered bulls and out of all these
cattle you assessed only 246 head
Two hundred forty-six out of 1910.
If our system of assessing and COL
lecting is responsible for this then
am against the system; if this lack of
thoroness is due to the negligence
and inactivity of the assessor, then
am against the assessor and ask for
change. l do not expect any as
SCISSOR to be perfect and get all the
property but do expect him to get
the most of it; when some arrange
ment has been made by which the
assessing shall be thoroly done,
shall be satisfied, and CO not II, an
to infer that you have to satisfy me,
but am merely speaking for the peo-
pie of this county and acting in their
behalf to get the assessments done
right. There is nothing personal in
this matter and when the committee
has checked up on all the matters I
have published the decision will be
up to the committee"
TregO's Authority
Mr.. Trego was speaking from the
records of the forestry department
of the federal government, from the
field notes of the inspector, who goes
on the range and counts the cattle in
connection with the owners so that
the government lease and the
grazing fees can be identified !
as correct and no abuses made
charging more or less than the
books call for, and in check |
ing up the figures given by Mr.. Trego, !
the commission can probably have /
access to the same government |
records, maps and charts that he got .
his information from and from the
OF incnnntnr,c NTH n |
fountain pen at the various places I
on the range where the counting was
done and the record made of the reg
istered bulls.
Duties of the Commission
According to Mr.. Trego's definition
of the duties of the commission as
acquiesced in by the central commit
tee it will be the duty of the commits
sion to commence with that issue OF
the Idaho Republican dated January
10, 1921, to number each statement
made and report as to it's truthful
ness or correctness, yes or no. The
questions on that chapter will be
about as follows:
/. Was Trego's statement correct
when he said that property should be
assessed at it's full value as it was
on the second Monday of January,
of each year? Answer yes or no.
2. Is the statement correct saying
that the county has lien on the
property until the taxes are paid?
Answer yes or no.
3. Are the statements correct in
saying that the full cash value clause
has been disregarded and by custom
most of the assessors assess the prop
erty at half value? Yes or no.
4. Were Trego's statements cor
rect when he listed the exemptions
that are legal?
5. Did the paper state correctly
when it said that application had
been made by the Baptist church of
Blackfoot for exemption on it's par
sonage when its parsonage was being
rented and that the tenants were
paying the rent?
6. Was the definition of real estate
given correctly?
Z. Was the definition of improve
ments given correctly?
8. Did the paper give a correct
definition of actual value of prop
erty?"
9. Did it give correct definition
of migratory stock?