A Little More Salt

Editor or the Courier I have rcad Supervisor PurteU's answcr to a comniunication of mine in a recent number of your paper, and I confess I am disappoiuted. I charged Supervisor Purtell with leaving tliis city unrepresented on his equaliz;ition committee, although she pays cearly onc-sixth of the state and county taxes. I did not expect him to deny this, but I did expect hira to give some rcason why lic did it - but not a word in reply. I charged his committee wiih lowerins six supervisor's districts, and placing every dollar of that reduction on this city, but Supervisor Purtqy makes no answer. I charged his committee with not finding a single dollar of increased valuation in all of Washtenaw outside of this city, although everybody knows that some of the towns have incrcascd in value very much within the last year. ?io answer from Supervisor Purtell. I charged in substancc that the supervisors from the country towns followed the bell wether, like a flock of shcep, and voted solid against the city. Xo answer. But he saya my figures are not quite correct, when I say that the real estáte of Noithfield averages $34.50 per acre. If he will read uiy article again he will fiud that I said about f34.50. Since he called my attention to it I figured it out again and I flnd that I have wronged him one cent per acre, so his average will be $34.51 per acre. I hope the reader will stick a pin here, for I want no more dodging. He seems to be like the Irishman's flea, when he put hisfinger on it, it wasn't there. But Supervisor Purtell has come to the defeuse of his cornniiMee. This is unnecessary. I am willing to concede that his committee are intelligent men, but when he shut out the parties who had assessed the city property, ncither the chairuian of the board nor his committee knew anything moro about the value of the $3,475,270 of real e a mo&ke; kn the Grt'ck iabguage. Bui Supervisor Purtell says that it is a mystery to him why 1 call on Supervisor V herier and Supervisor Burch to explain this matter. Sly dear friend, who 'conimpncud liusüght? You did, of course, when you shoved ofï $45,000 on to this city for me to pay taxes on. But Supervisor Purtell says, " that if I will lind any iarm in Northfield which is not assessed 20 per cent. nearer its true cash value than the agricultural works in the poor fifth ward, he will set up the cicrars. Briur them on supervisor, for I ain credibly informed that the stock of that company will not sell for more than ita assessed valuation. But I thank him for taking back his statement that he had assessed his property at its true cash value, aud now says that he has assessed his property nearer its cash value than tvvo discriptious of real estáte with which he is personally acquainted iu this city. Let me infsrm him that I am personally acquainted with two doscriptions of real estáte which have been sold the present year. One is in the poor flfth ward, and is assessed at $G00 the present year, and has been sold at $450 the present year, and the other was assessed last year at $4,000 and has been sold this year for $2,000. if Supervisor Purtell knows of any such assessments and sales in Northficld let him trot them out. But he says he voted last year agaiust the adoption of the report of the committee on equalization. I know he dki, but if the reader will examine the record of that vote, he will find that the report of the committee was already aclopted when Supervisor Purtell's name was called, and he voted against it to show his contempt for the comniitte wlio had reduced his township $35,000 when he asked a reduction ot $75,000. If he wants auy proof on this point it is not far off. But he seema to be very anxious to get me back to my own record in 1873, when I was chairman of the committee on equalization and fixed the value of Northfield at $75,000 less than it Is this year. Even if this was true, I don't see any wrong I have done hls township, for surely Northfield has increased $75,000 in 11 years, but his his statement is misleading. I equaüzed Northfield in 1873 on the basis of $30,000,000, at 30.02 per acre, which is $1.50 per acre more than he is equalizing it now. But he seems to want me to take into consideration his personal property. j would do anything to accommodate him which I could, but the law does not allow me to meddle with personal property. That is now left with the Board of Review.and when they have once determined the vulue of it, and placed it on the supervisor's roll, the Board of Supervisors have no power óver it except to tax it. In this respect Supervisor Purtell makes me tlunk of a story about a man who sent liis boy to school to study arithmetic, and when he carne home at night he ask hlni the following question : "IIow many legs has our cal f got, calling the tail one!" The brigut little fellow answered and said, "Dad, calling the calf's tail a leg does not make it one, does it? " Now calling supervisor'B personal property real estáte, don't make it real estáte, does it? But Supervisor Purtell says, "if it was not for Northfield where would you get vour whortlebeiries and yourfish?" I look upon that as one of his best hits, for he slyly insinuates that his whole township is eomposed of lakes and huckleberry swamps. But let me say to you that while we are than kf ui to you for lish aud huckleberries, we claim that we have met you half way iu these acts of kindness. If it had not been for Ann Arbor city, where would your constituent have got their beer and whisky as cheap and of as good quality as they have bought it In this city. On this item alone we have saved your eonstituents hundreds of líirs yearly. But Supervisor Purtell says he can find several farms in Northtield at $5 per acre and plenty at $20 per acre. Even if this is true, I caimot see why he lugs iu any of that cheap laúd, for he knows that Northfleld as a township has never p:iid any taxes on it. The supervisors of ISTortlifíeld have for many years been In the habit of reporting nearly three thousand acres of land less than they had there in order to show a high average per acre. Even Supervisor Purtell has confessed that Xorthfield contains nearly 2,000 acres of land more than it has paid taxes on, aud yet, he hiuiself is short nearly 1,000 acres trom the official report of one of his predecessors. Let the reader' not misuiiderstaud me. I do not mean that all the property has not been placed on the tax roll. I sirnply mean to say that it has not been reponed to the Board of Supervisors for purposes of equalization. My dear friend Purtell, it pays to bc honest, even In the supervisor Dusiness. There ia your fellow townsmun, ex-Supervisor Sutlon.who dragged out that 3,000 acres of land from the dark, hidden recesses of Xorthíield, aud placed t on his rolls, has been sent to the legislatura. Then there is ex-Supervisor Walsh, another fellowtownsman, under whose adpinistration as supervisor Xorthrield paid taxes on $15,000 while under your administration Ann Arbor city pays them, and yet, ex-Supervisor Walsh" is sheriff elect of Washtenaw COunty and will get a shilling a meal for boardiug piisoiCïs. I would suggest to the Board of Supervisors that when they re-convene in January, it would be a noble act on their part if they would dónate a barrel of salt to the nevv sheriff to season the meals of his prisoners; of course, the oounty should stipulate by resolution in the strongest language at their connnand, that not an ounce of' that salt shall be used to salt the meals of any prisoners who have been Dut in ja.il for a violatlou of the city ordinances. But, Mr. Editor, the tact remains after all, that tliis city and the city of Ypsilanti are at the mercy of the 20 votes of the country districts.j ï cau'think of but one remedy for this evil. Away down In Pennsylvanla, where I sed to live, there was "a family by the name of Shaw. One day one of the young men of the family went out into a hucUleberry swamp andwas bitten by a rattlesnake' He soon becanie dangerously sick from the bite and sent íor a minister to come and talk with htm and pray for him. The good man promptly respoudH and alter talking with him for a ft t miiiu It by badal ' ¦ ' ' up the lollowiiig prayer: '.'Lord, Thee for all the truubles aud af ' bank Thee for ra! ss, make to bita this man, it iiaü mi'jf him a better ::, we Thee, that Thou wouldst f Jack Shaw, and ¦ t nd a rattlesnake to bite Jim Shaw; and send a rattlesnake4to bite Henry Shawj and send a rattlesnake to bite old man Sliavv; yea, Lord! send a rattlesnake to bite every member of the Shaw family, for Thou knowest they are a terror to thy people here, and nothing short of rattlesnakes will ever lead them to repentance and make them honest men." Let me suggest to the city supervisors next feil, that they sond down aud get half a dozen of oldfashioned Pennsylvania rattlesnakes and let them loose In the rooms of the committee on equalization, and if they have one a little more lively than the rest, they can place it in the seat of the chairman of the board. Ann Aebor City, Dec. 23ü, 1884