The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-06-04
NOT ASLEEP, SAYS MR.. OWAN

Emphatic exception to our last weeks editorial,
entitled asleep At The Switch" has been taken
by W.. F. Cowan, county assessor.
"Gallatin county is not asleep on the Yellow
stone Park taxation matter" he declared. you're
all wrong"
We expressed the proper degree of regret. Mr..
COwan continued:
"T had intended all the time to put that assess
ment on the books. When the state tax commits
siOners were here we went over the whole thing.
We came to the conclusion that property in the
twO-mile strip probably was liable for taxes. But
soon after they left, it rained, making the roads
bad-and haven't had time to do it yet. There's
no hurry about making the assessment. Whatever
property was there on March 1 can be checked
up and assessed at any time"
Mr.. Cowan explained that in his opinion only
the state tax can be collected. "The act ceding
the land to the Park expressly provided that the
state reserved the right to tax individuals and
corporations in the territory relinquished. 1t said
nothing about the county's jurisdiction. 1 doubt
whether Gallatm can collect anything. Neverthe-
less, I have had my deputy make an assessment
of the camp at Riverside, on the west side of the
Park, although it has not yet been put on the
books"
In further justification of his contention that
the matter should not be gone at too hastily, Mr..
COwan produced a letter from J. w. Walker, chair
man of the state board of equalization. It was
written Monday, May "a, as a reply to an inquiry
made by Mr.. Cowan, and says:
"I find your letter of the 18th on my desk in
regard to the assessment of property within the
two-mile limit of Yellowstone Park, and in reply
will say that when we reached Livingston on our
trip, the county officials of Park county, and
particularly the county attorney, had already dis
cussed this matter and felt that there was some
property there that was escaping taxation.
1--WE went over the matter with them quite
thoroughly and as there is some doubt as to which
county it belongs, we thought it safe to have both
counties make the assessment, as the property
owners are bound to fight the case in any event
and if the property is assessable, by having both
counties make the assessment we will be sure tt
get it in either one or the other of the counties
1--WE have already heard from the YellowstOn,
Park company in regard to this assessment
through their attorney, Mr.. Wier, and we ar
taking the matter up through the, attorney gen
eral. Mr.. Wier is quite positive that the propert,
is not assessable, and if you have not as yet mad
the assessment, it might be well to defer it for
short time until Mr.. Wier and the attorney genera
thresh the matter out.
"Tt was not our intention in any way to confus
the matter, but rather to get the tax if possibl
if it is assessable in at least one of the two cour
ties"
Why Mr.. Wier, the Yellowstone Park company
attorney, is quite positive" it's property is nc
assessable is as plain as the tail on a kangaro,
Nevertheless, our humble opinion is that Mr. VIE
is wrong. Furthermore, we believe Gallatin is til
only county that can make good a claim. Perhar
a legal battle will be necessary to establish it, bU
the objective is worth the effort.
We are glad to give proper publicity to M
Cowan's statements. The editorial to which h
takes exception was written from the standpOir
of the best interests of Gallatin county and il
taxpayers-and from that standpoint only.
it has done no more than awaken a lively interel
in this important matter, something has been a
~cOmplished.
The irritating thing about, the back-seat driver is TIL
SO often she's right