

PENNSYLVANIA. 



619 



Dumber of defendants for a conspiracy in the 

 matter of procuring freight discrimination, in 

 connection with other alleged offenses. Some 

 of the defendants were residents in the State, 

 within the jurisdiction of the court, and caused 

 appearances to be entered for themselves ; 

 others were non-residents. For these demand 

 was made upon the Executive for requisitions. 

 Before a decision was reached, and while the 

 equity suits were resting upon the determina- 

 tion that the Commonwealth should close its 

 testimony against all the defend ants, before any 

 one defendant should be ruled to open its case 

 and go on with its evidence, negotiations were 

 entered upon between the petitioners and the 

 railroad companies to settle by agreement their 

 controversy. In referring to the final result, 

 the Governor, in his message to the Legislature 

 of 1881, says : 



Finding that the highest process of the Common- 

 wealth was being used simply us leverage for and 

 against the parties to these negotiations between con- 

 tending litigants, and that, however entire and perfect 

 had been the good faith in which the criminal pro- 

 ceedings in Clarion County might have been com- 

 menced, they were being regarded and treated as a 

 mere make-weight in the stages of private diplomacy, 

 I deemed it my duty, in the exercise of a sound dis- 

 cretion, to suspend action on the requisitions. It re- 

 sulted that an amicable conclusion between the litigants 

 was reached ; all suits were discontinued at the request 

 of the original petitioners, and the litigation termi- 

 nated without cost to the Commonwealth. It is believed 

 that all the railroads over which the courts of Penn- 

 sylvania have jurisdiction are now prosecuting their 

 business with oil-producers according to the spirit of 

 the Constitution. 



A decision was rendered by the Supreme 

 Court of the State, in June, affecting the ques- 

 tion of the valuation of the capital stock of cor- 

 porations for purposes of taxation. The law 

 provides, in case a corporation does not pay a 

 dividend of six per cent, or more, that the as- 

 sessment shall be ma<le on an appraised value 

 of the stock, which shall not be "less, how- 

 ever, than the average price which said stock 

 sold for during said year." The officers of the 

 corporation submit an appraisement, but the 

 Auditor-General and State Treasurer, if not 

 satisfied with this, may make one of their own. 

 The Pennsylvania Railroad having paid less 

 than six per cent, in dividends during the year 

 ending in November, 1879, its secretary and 

 treasurer reported as the appraised value of its 

 stock capital $51,652,650, the par value be- 

 ing $65,870,200. The appraisement was based 

 on the average market price during the year. 

 The State officers appraised it at $66,804,094, 

 taking as the basis of their valuation the sell- 

 ing prices in the public market from the 1st to 

 the 15th of November. The difference in the 

 amount of tax due on the two valuations was 

 $45,454.32, and suit was brought for its recov- 

 ery. The Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin 

 County gave judgment for the State, and this 

 was sustained by the Supreme Court on appeal. 

 In rendering the final decision, Justice Paxson 

 said: 



The contention on the part of the company is, that 

 the stock should have been appraised at its average 

 Belling value during the vc-.tr for which the tax is laid, 

 and not at its value from the 1st to the lath of Novem- 

 ber succeeding ; in other words, that the stock must be 

 appraised at the average price for which it sold during 

 the year. The act of Assembly does not say BO. It 

 requires an appraisement to be made between the 1st 

 and 15th days of November of the stock of non-divi- 

 dend-paying corporationsj or those paying less than 

 six per cent. Said stock is to be appraised at it 

 value" not less, however, than the average price 

 which said stock sold for during said year." If the 

 Legislature intended to have the stock appraised at its 

 average price during the year, it was very easy to have 

 said so. We find nothing in the act from which such 

 intent can be gathered with any reasonable certainty. 

 On the contrary, the use of the words " not less, how- 

 ever, than the average price which said stock sold for 

 during said year," necessarily implies the power to ap- 

 praise the stock at more than the average price during 

 the year. The construction of the act contended for by 

 the company would expunge the words above quoted, 

 or render them nugatory. It is our duty to give them 

 effect, if consistent witn other portions of the statute. 

 They mean just this : that if the stock of the company 

 is lo\yer when the appraisement is made in November 

 than it was during the previous year, it shall be ap- 

 praised at not less than the average selling price for 

 the year. On the other hand, if it is higher in No- 

 vember, it may be appraised at its increased value. 

 If it be objected to this view that the advantage is all ' 

 on the side of the State, we may safely concede It to be 

 so. The object of the act was to raise revenue, and it 

 appears to have been drawn with care, and in the in- 

 terest of the State. 



We are of opinion that the learned Judge of the 

 Court below rules the law correctly, and his judgment 

 is accordingly affirmed. 



The subject of revising tax laws, which is a 

 trouble to so many States, is of pressing im- 

 portance in Pennsylvania. The Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, in his report to the Legislature of 1881, 

 says: 



That taxes are grossly unequal has been a standing 

 complaint for a generation. As, for instance, the land 

 of the State owned by individuals is exempt from tax- 

 ation for State purposes, together with the product or 

 profit thereof, whether coal, oil, iron, timbcr ? or farm 

 produce. If owned by an association of individuals, 

 combining their capital to promote an enterprise too 

 great for a single-handed endeavor, the money that 

 buys the land viz., the capital must, 1. Pay a bonus 

 tax for a charter. 2. A tax on capital stock, measured 

 by the amount of dividend paid, if equal to six per cent., 

 and, if less, then by the actual value of the stock at a 

 given time m the year. 3. If coal-land, until lately, 

 to a tax of three cents per ton on coal mined, though 

 every ton represents a portion of the capital stock al- 

 ready twice taxed. 4. The land itself, with all the 

 buildino-s, machinery, improvements, bought and paid 

 for by the thrice-taxed capital, is again liable^ to the 

 onerous and excessive demands of local authorities for 

 county, school, poor, road, and special tax. The d- 



, , . 



joining tract, equally valuable, equally prod 

 owned by an 'individual, escapes with the payrr 



uctive 



yment o 



the local tax only, or one of the four paid by an asso- 

 ciation of citizens engaged in the laudable and neces- 

 sary enterprise of developing the resources of the 

 State. The owner of personal property, in a majority 

 of cases, escapes assessment entirely, or, if his per- 

 sonal property be assessed, it is at one fourth its actual 

 value. The owner of money at interest, if he makes 

 an honest return, or if returned by the assessor, pays 

 on the entire value thereof. The owner of a mort- 

 gaged farm pays taxes thereon equally with his unin- 

 cumbered neighbor, and, in addition, the tax on mort- 

 gages, or, if not so stipulated hi the bond, then the 



