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valuations. Adjacent lots, of like character and condition in every 
respect, are valued, the one five, ten or fifteen times more than the 
other, and this simply because one owner has a better moral sense than 
another. Some men deem it commendable to deceive the tax gatherer. 
They do not seem to realize the fact that in doing so they commit per- 
jury and rob the State. So great were the differences in the valuation 
of grounds given in the lists, the Commissioners were compelled to 
perform a great amount of labor before they could approximate toa 
reasonable equalization of values; and in doing this the figures were 
largely increased ; and yet not without great misgiving in many cases 
that the increased valuation was not as high as it ought to be. The 
novelty of the work of making an entire new list without any previous 
list for a guide, and the difficulty experienced in procuring informa- 
tion except from parties directly or indirectly interested, forced the 
Commissioners to place the estimates below, rather than above, the 
true valuation. With the last year’s list as a guide, and the informa- 
tion accumulated during the past year, it is expected that lists will be 
more accurate, and thereby a larger return will be made to the State. 
The plea, so often heard, that the oyster industry of the State is in 
its infancy and should consequently be lightly taxed, is more plausible 
than sound. It is true the industry is in its infancy, but the infant 
has had a gigantic development and growth, and is fully able to bear 
its fair share of public burdens. The pioneers of deep water plant- 
ing have been so long and so conspicuously successful that their 
business must be regarded as established. The many who have more 
recently embarked in the business have doubtless been prompted so to 
do by the reasonable prospect of a like success. In view of the 
cheapness of grounds, and the moderate cost of cultivating, the net 
profits must be considered large. It is admitted that there are risks 
in the business, and that serious losses sometimes arise from storms, 
noxious animals and other causes; but the chances of profit are not 
thereby materially diminished. In the long run the results are quite 
as gratifying as are those of the best mercantile or manufacturing 
industries. This is corroborated by the experience of those who 
have been longest in the business in this State, and also of most of 
the Rhode Island cultivators. The grocer or butcher just starting in 
a business where he has invested his capital, it may be his all, would 
not think of asking any reduction or exemption from tax because his 
business was in its infancy. He knows that whatever property he 
owns is subject to taxation, regardless of the risks attending upon its 
investment. And so it is with the oyster grower: there is no valid 
