THE ASSESSMENT.
It would have been expected that so important a matter as making these assessments would have been guarded and controled by strict and clear regulations. But it is not so. The language of the statute is that "such appraisers shall examine all lands," etc.
Must this examination be by an actual view of the lands, or may it be an inspection of records and maps representing the lands?
The friends of this law, and the companies organized under it, contend that this provision does not contemplate an actual view of the lands, because, owing to the very nature of the lands themselves, being marshy swamps, it would be next to impossible to traverse them, or, in most cases, even to get in sight of them. Whatever may be the true construction of this statute, it is sufficient for my purpose to make the point that it is uncertain, when it ought to be clear, and that, being uncertain, it may be abused.
And indeed, it has been most shamefully abused. I am assured by a number of reliable gentlemen from the Kankakee valley counties that the appraisers of the Kankakee Valley Draining Company did not even pretend to make an actual view of the lands by them appraised. The whole work of the appraisements and assessments was done in an obscure room in one of the remote country towns, near the mouth of the river. Maps and copies of records served to represent the lands, and to assist the appraisers in guessing the assessments up to a figure sufficiently high to satisfy the company who paid them for their work. This is a grave charge, but I have still further proof of it. About a year ago General Geo. W. Cass, of Pittsburgh, Penn., the treasurer of the Kankakee Valley Draining Company, made a speech in the rooms of the Board of Trade at Indianapolis. The speech, after being carefully revised by him, was printed in the Indiapolis Journal. I hold a copy of it in my hand, and read from it the following words:
"Still another reason for delay has been the work of assessment. It is no small matter to assess so large a body of land. Notwithstanding the assertion that the assessment was made in an office, without an inspection of the property, it has taken nearly a year to do the work."
Here was a fair opportunity to have denied the charge if it had been false. He not only does not deny it, but in a carefully prepared and published speech impliedly admits its truth.
But let me call attention to the unlimited and dangerous discretion allowed these appraisers. The language of the statute (section six) is that they shall assess "all lands, the intrinsic or market value of which may be by them supposed to be liable to be affected by the proposed work." The Kankakee Valley Company propose to straighten the whole channel of a river. To what distance from the page: 235[View Page 235]river on either side may the assessments be pushed? Shall they be levied upon a strip of country three miles wide, or five miles wide, or twenty miles wide? The appraisers are the sole judges. What lands are to be assessed? Wet lands only, or dry lands also? "All lands the intrinsic or market value of which may be supposed by them (the appraisers) to be affected by the proposed work." The appraisers are the absolute judges.
What shall be the basis of the estimates? Shall each tract or each acre be assessed according to its value? This is the rule of taxation by the State government and the county and municipal organizations; but not so in this case. The appraisers may levy the assessment according to their own whims "without regard to the value of the lands or the costs of the proposed work." (Sec. 6.)
The value of the lands may be only three dollars per acre, and these appraisers may levy upon it a tax of ten dollars an acre. The cost of the work may be one hundred thousand dollars, but these appraisers may levy assessments to the amount of one million, or five million dollars. In short, their discretion is unrestrained, and their power unlimited. This is indeed, an alarming picture, but it is still short of the truth as I will show by actual facts.
