The speaker had the honor of being associated with the Michigan Commission, as a member of the Board of Review. Professor M. E. Cooley was selected by the State of Michigan to take charge of the work of organization, and Mr. Riggs was the engineer who organized the office and field forces. Both these gentlemen were eminently successful in that very difficult work. Mr. Cooley did this Board the honor of saying that there were so many problems coming up in actually carrying out the work (aside from the theories of taxation, rate-making, accounting, and several other things, which could be found more readily in the Auditor's office than in the Engineer's), that he had asked for the appointment of this Board of Review, to sit as a Court, and to pass on the many complex questions arising from day to day; and he had the satisfaction of coming to the Board every day and saying: "Well, now here is a condition, and how will I handle it?" Of course, actually, he knew more about it than the Board, but he was kind enough to say that he would ask for the Board's opinion. That Board adjudicated all these various questions to the best of its ability, and the speaker has the satisfaction of knowing that the valuation has stood in the Federal Courts. The subjects are so fugitive and so illusive that very much depends on the point of view.
The speaker is now engaged in the actual task of trying to place a valuation on some $300,000,000 worth of property in New Jersey, involving the most important terminals in the United States.
The valuation of public service utilities is the most profound question which has ever been before the Society, and it includes a great deal which is outside of strictly engineering questions; in fact, the discussions do not throw much light on the methods which should be followed in making valuations.
The terminology of a subject is very important; in fact, the speaker has found it so important that in his discussions with the Attorney-General of New Jersey, in reference to the Railroad Tax Law, which he has been asked to re-draft, that draft will be accompanied by a glossary, so that the meaning of certain terms used in that particular Act will be clear.
In this New Jersey work some eighty-seven engineers and assistants are employed, and for their guidance the speaker has prepared thirty-five pages of very carefully considered instructions. These instructions are accompanied by blue prints showing exactly how all field notes must be recorded, with diagrams of trusses, culverts, and the like, and all the elements of railroad construction.
The Tax Law of New Jersey states that, first, the true value of the real estate shall be ascertained; second, the true value of the tangible personal property; and the first law of 1884 stated: "and third, the value of the franchise"; but somebody discovered that there was something besides the value of the real estate, the tangible personal property, and the franchise. They did not know what it was, but there was something else; therefore, in the 1888 law they changed the third division of value to read: "the remaining property, including the franchise."
As an example of one of the difficulties of determining classification, attention is directed to the term, Real Estate, which is broadly, but seldom accurately, understood.
The Interstate Commerce Commission is the highest tribunal in the land, in the matter of railroad accounting, but it affords no help in many important elements of value; for instance, under the Interstate Commerce Commission, real estate includes only such real estate (land) as is not required for railroad purposes. All land actually used for railroad purposes is classified under "Right of Way and Station Grounds."
When the engineers on the New Jersey valuation were sent into the field, it was necessary to specify exactly what elements must be described as real estate, and what as tangible personal property. The division line had to be defined accurately for the reason that all personal property is assessed permanently to the State, while, in the case of real estate, the State receives the taxes on a strip not exceeding 100 ft. in width, and the tax on all property used for railroad purposes outside this strip reverts to the taxing district wherein it is found.
The vexatious question as to whether machinery is to be considered as real estate or personal property was settled by the New Jersey Law, which says that tangible personal property shall include all machinery; but it left unsettled the question: what is machinery? After careful consideration, real estate was divided into 74 classes, and all other tangible elements were classified as personal property. Some of the items of real estate are: ash-handling machinery and the like, chimneys, cisterns, conveyors, dams, locks, lock machinery, electric wiring, piping, heating, interlocking, signaling, pavements, reservoirs, shop fittings, tanks, telegraph lines, track, track scales, transfer tables, water-works, etc., etc. Generally speaking, all items of a fixed character were included in the 74 divisions of real estate.