The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-12-08
METzGAR GIVES. MINES REPLY IN
 TAX ARGUMENT
Complete Text of A. J Letter Read at Coun-
 ell Me eeting


 L. H. Metzgar, General Superin- tendent of the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company, presented his re- ply to the tax exemption question raised by James Wickersham for mer Delegate to Congres from Al aska, at the regular meeting o1 the City Council last night.
 Wickersham, in a letter to the Mayor and City Council dated November 5, protested the ta, agreement made between the City of Juneau and the mine corpora .ion in 1913.
 Complete Text
 The complete text of MT. Metz gar's reply follows:
 This will acknowledge the lettei of November from the Honorable James Wickersham, referring te the matter of tax exemption for certain part of the Alaska Juneau milling plant, which you have re- ferred to me for answer and com ment.
 "The tax agreement of March T 1913, was a mutual agreement by which the City of Juneau stood tc lose nothing and to gain much, anc by which the Alaska Juneau Colo Mining Company effected somt saving by having the mill some what closer to the mine than would have been the case had the mil been built outside the city limits The Mayor and the City Counci were of the opinion that it would be good business for the city te gain the services that the company would be able to give and further that there would be an advantage to the city in having the plan built close in, where all the services to employees could be supplied 5y the several business houses already established in the city.
 Loss to Business
 If the mill had been built farth- CT out, the company would un- doubtedly have established board ing houses, commissaries and dwell ings. When the Alaska Juneau planned the erection of a milling plant it was entirely practicable for them to build this plant on ground already owned outside the city lim- it's. If tax exemption was grant, ed, it was planned to build this mill partly in the city limits. Under the circumstances, the city lost nothing in tax revenue when it made the agreement of March T, 1913.
 Had the tax agreement not been entered into, the mill would have been built outside the city limits and while the services, which were offred by the company and ac- cepted by the city, might have been furnished in any event, it would have been on quite a diff ferent basis. The city gained at no cost to the taxpayers, services worth many times the amount any taxes would have been.
 The two principal direct serv- ices were to furnish water for fire protection, and tailings for filling the streets.
 Fire Aid Given
 "The water service consists of an adequate supply of water for fire fighting purposes at all times. In the summer time this water is furnished from the flow of water held under company water rights on Gold Creek; and in the winter time it is water purchased from the Alaska Electric Light and Pow CT Company and salt water from the pumping plant in the com- pany's power plant. The city fire protection water supply pipe is not connected below and beyond the Alaska Juneau system, but is con- ilCCOCQ QiICSt tO Ilic IldlIi Oll Ar aska Juneau property and is a part of the whole system.
 Tt is true that water is furnish ed for fire fighting purposes only, but in the event of fire all the facilities of the company are avail able to the city, even to the extent of interrupting milling operations to furnish sufficient water. There is at all times an operator on duty at the company's central power plant and his instructions are to give precedence to water for fire fighting purposes and, if necessary, to start the salt water pumps, of which there are two available at all times. Such service as this would be entirely out of the reach of the city if they had to supply an adequate plant and pay for up- keep and operators wages. The measure of value is not what it costs the company to maintain this