State ex rel. Gottlieb v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

65 S.W. 775, 165 Mo. 502, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 289
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 3, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 65 S.W. 775 (State ex rel. Gottlieb v. Western Union Telegraph Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Gottlieb v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 65 S.W. 775, 165 Mo. 502, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 289 (Mo. 1901).

Opinion

MARSHALL, J.

This is an action at law by the collector of J ackson county to recover $1,027.22 back-taxes for the year 1899.

The answer contains two defenses: First, that the State Board of Equalization intentionally discriminated against defendant in assessing its property at its full value, while other property in the State is only assessed at from thir[511]*511ty-five to forty per cent of its value; and, second, that the assessment as to the item “all other property, $856,400.56,” is an assessment on its franchise, and that the only franchise it- exercises in this State is derived from an act of Congress approved July 14, 1866 (U. S. Stats. at Large, 1865-7, pp. 221-22), which constitutes defendant a governmental agency, and an instrument of foreign and interstate commerce, and that under the Constitution and laws of the United States the board of equalization was without authority to impose that item of taxes.

The record discloses the facts to be that the State Board of Equalization, whose duty it is under the law (sec. 9387, R. S. 1899) to assess all property, real and personal, “including franchises,” of telegraph companies, made the following assessment of defendant’s property on the twenty-fifth of July, 1899:

“State of Missouri, office of State Auditor.
“Be it remembered that heretofore, to-wit, on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1899, the following among other proceedings were had by the State Board of Equalization, viz.:
“The State Board of Equalization having given to the Western Union Telegraph Company opportunity to be heard personally by the board, and having heard the said company through its officers and agents, and having carefully considered the facts set out in the returns and the statements of said company, and all evidences of value, and all matters bearing upon the question of the value of the property of said company, and considering the cost of construction and equipment of said Western Union Telegraph Company, and the location thereof, and its traffic and business, and the market and par value of its stocks and bonds, and the gross receipts and net earnings and franchise owned by said company, and the value thereof, and having received evidence concerning the value of the cost of construction of said telegraph line, and the market value and par value of the stocks and bonds, and of the gross re[512]*512ceipts and net earning power, and the franchise and the value thereof, and having heard evidence upon and considering all other matters ascertainable by said board bearing upon the question of the value of said company, which, in the opinion of the board, would assist in its findings, conclusions and judgment in arriving at the actual cash value of the property of said telegraph company; 'on motion the State Board of Equalization assesses and values for taxes of 1899 the property of said Western Union Telegraph Company at $1,827,-727.45; and it is further ordered by the State Board of Equalization that the assessed value thereof be distributed upon the said classes of property as follows:
6,075.98 miles of poles at $71.50 per mile. .$ 434,432.57
23,767.34 miles of wire at $22.02 per mile. 523,356.82
2,375 instruments at $5.70 each.......... 13,557.50
All other property at.................. 856,400.56
Total...........................$1,827,727.45.”'

Subject to the right of objection on any sufficient ground in law, it was stipulated between counsel, “That the taxbook should be prima facie evidence of the validity of the taxes thereon assessed for the year 1899, against defendant, without proof by plaintiff or any of the steps leading up to its execution and issuance; and that said taxbook was properly certified.”

It was also admitted: Eirst, that defendant, since 1854, has been a corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York; second, that as pleaded in the answer, it accepted the provisions of the act of Congress of July 24, 1866, and that said acceptance has not been withdrawn, and that defendant transmits telegrams for the Government between its departments and officers at rates fixed by the Postmaster-General; third, that defendant is not incorporated under the laws of the State of Missouri, and has never applied for or secured from the State a license authorizing it [513]*513to do business within the State tinder the laws thereof.

Objection was made by plaintiff to the introduction of the admissions second and third, but such objection was overruled and exception taken.

A general objection was also made by plaintiff to the introduction of any evidence by defendant for the reason that the finding and assessment of the State Board of Equalization was final and not subject to attack in this suit. This objection was overruled and an exception noted.

It was shown on the part of the defendant, by the testimony of A. A. Lesueur, Secretary of State,. and as such a member of the State Board of Equalization, that the property, outside of St. Louis, is assessed by the local assessors at what he believes to be about thirty-five to forty per cent of its full value, and in St. Louis at about fifty per cent thereof, although the city assessor and city board of equalization thought it. was seventy per cent thereof.

It was also shown by the testimony of Edward C. Crow, Attorney-General, and as such a member of the State Board of Equalization, that the item of assessment, “All other property at $856,400.36,” was intended to include all the taxable property of the defendant other than that specifically mentioned in the three other items, and also its intangible property, including franchises, but as to how much the franchise value or intangible property was valued at and how much the tangible property other than that specifically enumerated included under the head of “all other property” was valued at, he “could not say.”

The Attorney-General then further testified:

“Q. What do you understand by the meaning of the word ‘franchise/ as used by you in your direct examination ? A. Well, the same sense in which I use it might not be agreed to by lawyers or laymen, without qualification, but I used it in the same sense of representing the class of property owned [514]*514by the Western Union Telegraph Company and controlled by it, such as privileges and rights to erect and maintain their poles and wires, to carry on their traffic in the different portions of the State of Missouri in connection with their rights to so erect, their poles and wires, and carry on their-traffic wherever else their lines extend in this, country and other countries, representing a unity of use in the entire corporate property, making the same thereby much more valuable- than it otherwise would be for use separately and independently in each territory or country.
“Q. And therefore the privilege tó be or to exist does not enter into your idea at all in the matter of values as you have explained by way of franchise? A. Oh, no, as I understand it the Western Union corporation acquires their right to exist as a corporation from an act of the Federal Congress; ■they have this, however, which I did not consider, and that is the right to use the posts of the Federal Government.

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Bluebook (online)
65 S.W. 775, 165 Mo. 502, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-gottlieb-v-western-union-telegraph-co-mo-1901.