THE DETERMINATION OF THE VALUE OF THE RIGHT 
OF WAY OF WISCONSIN RAILROADS AS MADE 
IN THE APPRAISAL OF 1903. 
ERNEST BROWN SKINNER. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In 1903, the Wisconsin legislature passed an act providing 
for the taxation of the franchises and property of railroad com¬ 
panies by the ad valorem method in place of the tax upon gross 
earnings which had been collected during the years immediately 
preceding 1903. For the purpose of administering this law, 
the members of the tax commission, serving as a state board 
of assessment, were required to ascertain and make a formal 
determination of the “true cash value” of such property and 
franchises. As one of the things deemed needful to aid the 
board in arriving at a final result, it was determined to make 
an actual inventory and appraisal of the physical property 
used by each railroad company in operating its road, apart 
from any considerations of earning power or other general fac¬ 
tors affecting the commercial value of the road in its entirety 
as a chartered going concern. 
This appraisal, the second of its kind attempted in this coun¬ 
try, 1 was begun in the early summer of 1903 and completed 
by the end of the year. The work was divided into three 
parts: (1) The appraisal of the right of way; (2) the 
appraisal of the roadbed, ties, rails and structures; (3) the 
iAn appraisal of the physical property of the railroads was made in 
Michigan a few months before the Wisconsin appraisal was undertaken. 
