THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL', PORTLAND, ; SUNDAY MORNING, JULY .13; 1913.
a :
IRE TO RISE IN
NEXT FEW WEEKS
Permits Taken Out During the
Past. Week Include Number
.of Manufacturing Plants as
' Well as Residences.
The Ford Motor Car company has be
gun the erection of an assembling auto
v plant on the block at East Division
street, between East Tenth and Cast
Eleventh streets.. It Is to be a three
story fireproof structure of reinforced
concrete, covering bait a block, and will
cost 1160,000, ,
The Portland Bronxe & Crucible com
pany baa plana for a new building to be
erected at th corner or .wenty-secona
and Tork street, North Portland. As
" designed, tha structure will be fireproof,
and will, have ground dimensions of 64x
80 feet, and will cost approximately
1 10,000. : Tha plana and specifications
' have been filed with the, building In
soection bureau and a permit Issued.
A permit was taken out last Tuesday
' by the Investors' Building a Trust com.
pan y for m -story residence to ba
built on tha Alameda, near Wisteria
-avenue. In Beaumont, at a cost of 1700 J,
On tha sunt data Miss Edith Valk
took a permit for a $4000 two-story
frame dwelling, to be erected on East
Thirty-third street, betweenhaver and
Failing.;''' '.V ."'... '
Permits were issued last week to
builder of dwellings to cost $J000 or
'lass as follows:
E. W. Boeder, 114-story cottage. East
Forty-fourth street, between Clay and
Harrison. IZSOO.
- I". - W. Peterson. 1 U -story, cottage.
Colonial street, ' between Mason and
gktdmore, $2600, -
Mike Steres, one-story cottage, Buf
falo street, near East Sixth. 11360.
Mrs.K Oirard, one-story bungalow,
East Sixty-second street, near tha Ala
meda. 11650. '
Mrs, Maude M. Gorman, one-atory
cottage, East Sixty-second street South
east near Fiftieth avenue, iieoo.
C. W. Davis, 1 -story cottage. East
" eighty-third street, near East uiisaa,
:. i2oao. . .j
v A. C. Curnow, one-story cottage, Forty-eighth
avenue Southeast, near East
urty-secona street, iieuw.
J. M. Fletcher, ltt -story bungalow,
East Forty-sixth street, hear Hawthorne
avenue, $2600. '
Mrs. Alice Rahenaon, 1H -story dwell
lag, East Seventy-first street Southeast,
near Fifty-fifth avenue, izooo. -
E. F. Smith, one-story cottage. Bast
Forty-sixth street, near Klickitat, 1 1000.
' Joseph Campbell, one-story cottage,
East Eightieth street, between Oregon
and Holladay, $1000.
H. Beach, one-atory 'cottage. Gay
street, between Ains worth and Holman,
$1250. '"ry '.',..' I -
Albert Dobner, one-story cottage, East
Twenty-eighth street, between Wygant
and Going, (1109 - , .
Eugene F. Cucu, one-story cottage,
Russet street, near Delaware avenue,
$2000. r
C. F. Kash, 1H -story cottage. East,
Salmon street, near East Fiftieth, $8000.
J. R, Wood, two-story residence, Eaat
Davis, near East Sixty-eighth, $2000.
Mrs. E. Xk Meyers, one-story cottage,
East Twenty-third etTeet, between Go
ing and Prescott, $2000. '
E. Carson, 1H atory cottar, Boise
street, near. East Thirty-ninth, $1200.
v Mrs. Bessie Long, one-story cottage,
Vinant street, near Morgan, I1L
M. E. Williams, 1 H-story bungalow,
Eaat 8ixty-nlnth street, near Fifty-fifth
avenue Southeast, $2000.
.. J. A. Vonado, one-story bungalow,
Eaat Ninth street, between Holman and
Highland. $1800.
' J. K. Elmer, one-story cottage. East
Fourteenth street, between Henry and
Duke, $1500.
A. A. Toung, one-story frame laundry
building, Denver avenue, near A Ins
worth street, $1600.
NEW SALES REPORTED
BY REALTY COMPANY
The Smith-Wagoner Realty company
reports the following property sales for
the week:
To W. H. Breisel, of Pocatello, Idaho,
residence at 1324 East Madiaon street.
$2850,
To Mrs. Edith Taylor, for F. 8. Hal
lock, a residence located at Flrtand for
$1050, and one located in same addition
to C. A Parkins for $1000. Also two
lots, located in-Lenta, belonging to N.
W. Leadbetter, to, Oscar Reynolds, of
Fairbanks, Alaska, for $1000.
This firm has recently removed Its
offices to the new Stock Exchange
building. Third and Yamhill streets.
A $500,000 office building will be
erected in the downtown district of
BU Louis by the Order of Railroad Te
legraphers to take the place of their
present inadequate quarters. The plans
for the building have already been ap
proved. MILLION
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V'Frt Bteet; oMtrlctlont orthweetero Kctionat Bank bulldlnr. Morrison,
POINTS OUT TAX REMEDY I :l
' '"i.i.'.,! ni - 'm, i,, ri,;, mini ,v
e .(..-. : v..
W. A, Somers, who invented Sbmers jialt 'wstein. of realty valuation.
(This Is tha first of a series of ar
ticles by Walter W. Pollock of Cleve
land, Ohio, describing the faulta In pres
ent methods of appraising real estate
for purposes of taxation and pointing
out tha remedy, This article tells how
W. A. Somers discovered and first ap
plied In St. Paul his sclentlfio system
for measuring land, values. Future ar
ticles will show how It Is possible for
any community to be equitably assessed
by ascertaining community judgment
and applying such judgment mathemat
ically to each ownership of real aetata)
Tha American people have been long-
suffering In tha matter of the appraisal
of their real property for tax purposes.
Th funotion or governmental activ
ity that is called tha assessment has
always called forth tha bitter criticisms
and often the vituperation of the peo
ple. The people have been helpless be
fore a complete lack of system and con
sequent lack of equity between the tax
payers.
And notwithstanding all this, assess
ments of real property In nearly every
city In the united States and In
very village and country dis
trict are being made today in the man
ner they were made 50 years ago. Only
one man in all that time has developed
the inventive genius, together with the
inclination and opportunity for Its nse,
to bring Into existence a system by
which tha bitter criticisms and th vl
tUDeratioas of the people would be made
superfluous and without meaning.
That man i v. a. somers, formerly
of St. Paul, Minn., and now of New York
city.
ltsks nos 0tody -
In the early '90's Mr. Somers was city
engineer of the city of Bt. PauL For
more than 10 years he bad been con
nected with tha engineer's department
of that city, first as assistant engineer
and then as chief engineer. Before that
he had been in the real eatate bualneas,
and during his office-holding years he
kept In close touch with tha real es
tate activities of the city. His es-,
pedal work In the engineer's . depart
ment waa consideration . of special as
sessments for local improvements,
which caused him to study, In a crude
way as compared with his later inves
tigations, the effect of Improvements
and the extent of their financial effect
upon land area.
While - chief engineer of St. PauL a
lawyer friend of Mr. Somers accepted
the post of assessor of real property' on
the condition imposed by the assessor
that ha would turn tha lob over to En
gineer Somers.
St Paul at that time waa recovering
from a recent land boom. Prices as
compared with values had been very
much inflated. The reaction had set in
and prleea were very much lower than
the assessment figures. While Inequal
ities existed as between property values,
the asaessment as a whole was too high,
which added to the general confualon
that always exists In assessments made
without rhyme or reason, produced an
Intolerable situation. It was this sit
uation that led to th selection of the
lawyer to be assessor; and It was his
own firm belief that he waa not equal
to the task that led him, by permission
to turn the whole work over to Mr.
Sottiers.
Old Figures Investigated.
When Mr. Somers took hold of the
assessment work of St. Paul he direct
ed his attention first to the old assess
ment figures. An examination of those
figures disclosed a woeful lack of uni
DOLLAR STRUCTURE FAST TAKING SHAPE
II J
formity of judgment of value, not only
as between property on different streets,
but also on properties upon tha sasqa
street and close together. There was
everv evidence of th lack of any sys
tematic method of obtaining opinions of
value or of using opinions that were
obtained or arbitrarily arrived at
Being of a mathematical turn of
mind.' and bis whole habit of thought
and action running in the direction of
systematic . methods. Mr. Somers first
began to analyse. It oocurred to him
that it would be well to learn the dif
ference in opinlona of value between
lota at corners and Inside lota ' He mad
some diagrams Illustrating corner and
inside lots and sent them out to the
real estate operators of tb city. For
tunately for this aort of an investigation,
which was at best but a "fishing ex
cursion," as tha lawyers might term it,
th lots of St. Paul were for th most
part of a uniform depth of 100 feet and
there were many corner lots 50 by 100
In else.
Tha big thing that this request for
help upon a methodical basis resulted
In, was to make it clear to Mr, Somers
mind that there waa in the minds of
th citizens a tremendous amount of
Information and opinion about th use
of the streets of the city of Set Paul.
"Conunnnlty Opinion" Soaghi,
It developed that many people, real
estate men and others as well, knew
a great deal about the relative useful
ness of the streets of that city. It was
to use this informalon to develop what
he called "community opinion" that Mr.
Somers bent bis energies. The discus
sion concerning the relative' value of
corner and Inside property, tha differ
ences in the values of the front half
and tha rear half of a 100 foot lot, was
tabulated and analysed and applied.
Mr. , Somera undertook to reduce the
method of comparing tb values of cor
ner and near-cornew lots with inside
lots to a mathematical basis. He un
derstood, though at that time this idea
had not been expressed in words, that
there was a mathematical relation be
tween the values of any two lots af
fected by the same street Influences,
and he proceeded to place upon paper
some quick method that would result in
uniformity of expression as to Just what
that relation was. He finally produced
what he termed his "scales," which con.
slsted of diagrams, from which the
relative values of regular 60x100 foot
lots, second lots and Inside lots could
be compared. While these scales were
clumsy In their operation, they were
found to analyse accurately and mathe
matically the differences in most of the
regular alies and shapes of lots found
in St. Paul that year. So accurate have
these scales been found to "weigh" these
differences, that they have never had
to be changed, and the Somers System
of Realty Valuation as used today for
assessing land values In a dosen or more
cities is built upon thoae scales.
Found Too Clnmsy.
After St. Paul waa reassessed by
Mr. Somers by the use of his scales,
he removed to Chicago, and was con
nected with the assessing depart
ment of that city. It was there that
Mr. Somera found that the scales
were too clumsy to use for practical
work, and he began turning the scales,
or rather what they stood for, Into ma
thematical tables. This was tha work
of several years. After a year in Chi-
-from Sixth to Broadway?' 1
LARGE BUILDING SITE
ON EAST
O. F. Darling, president of the Invest
ors Building & Trust Co, has purchased
a large building sits at the intersection
ox itast Blxty-tu-sfr j street, wisteria
avenue and the JHameda,' in Rose City
Park, whlch he plans to improv at
ones with a $10,000 residence -
RV, W, W. Younger, of the Roe City
Park Methodist church, Is preparing to
ouna -new noma on East Bixiy-nrsi
street, near Sandy boulevard.
nr. way or preparation for a large
amount of hard surfacing, tha streets of
Rose City Park are badly torn up by
contractors, who are building sewers
and putting, down gas.and water mains.
It Is expected that within a tyear every
street in the addition will have a brand
new coat of pavement. -
cage, duMng which stline the Chicago
assessing department did not have fore
sight enough to understand the practical
value of Mr. Somers" work, he removed
to New York, where for over three years
ne was connected with the department
of taxes of that city. He' was a special
expert, but at no time was his System
usea . in that city for assessment pur
poses, i His special function at' that
time was : to investigate complaints , of
assessments, and make special report
to the president thereon; upon which th
department could decide as to the valid
ity of such complaints.
It was while connected with th New
xoric department that Mr. Somera was
invited to Cleveland by the late Tom
u Johnson, who was at that time fin
ismng . sis . career as mayor. It was
Just at this time that Mr. Somers had
completed his mathematical tables for
the .quick computation of corner and
near-corner: lots. These tables Were
used in' Cleveland and In Columbus,
unio, lor the first time for tax assess
ment purposes. V - j
Sxample-Zs Followed.
These two cities had hot been assessed
for ten years previous to 110. While
for that -reason th assessments were
very low as compared with present
opinions of true values, the inequalities
as between Individual property owners
were no more apparent nor no more
numerous than in" the assessments of
other cities, Including Chicago and New
York, where Mr. Somers had had ex
perience in a limited way. How, three
years after the assessment in these two
Ohio cities, real estate prices have been
so standardised that no loan or sale
Is completed without first securing ref
erence to, and knowledge of, the as
sessment of that property, which had
never before happened In either city.
since that time the Somers system
as Invented In St Paul and perfected
in Chicago and Cleveland, has been used
for assessment purposes in Springfield.
Eaat St Louis and Jollet lit; Denver,
Colo.; Lancaster, Wis.; Houston, Beau
mont, Waco and Galveston, Texas; Aug
usta, Ga.; Des Moines, Iowa., and Wes
ton, Canada. No asaessment made in
any one of these cities has ever been
overturned by court procedure. In
deed, none has ever been disputed In
legal action.. More than a billion, one
hundred minions worth or land and
buildings has been assessed for tax
purposes under the Somers system
methods, over half of which is land
value.
All of which came about because a
lawyer was elected assessor of St Paul
number of years ago, who knew that
he did not know bow to perform the
task of assessing.
No other system or method except
SIDE BOUGH
THE TENTH RESIDENTIAL
THE FR
Toeay
- Five years ago we were offering our if irst subdivi
sion in this 'district. We predicted that this property
would double In value In Ave years. Our predictions
came true, and many of our customers have refold their
property for much more than 100 profit.
The future of BEDFORD PARK is far better as-
is today only three blocks from the Rose City Park car.
line, while paving is being rapidly, extended Jrithjsidi
rection. Scores of . beautiful new homes .have Qeen
jbuilt and areTiirider construction in the .immediate :y-
cinity.
i,'y
No Interest No
vwiiic w ui-wi viu ivuoy wm raow yuur iuu iiio
Tnko Row City Park car get of f at Seventy-eighth ttreet, wher
'. Largest Realty Operators
v revised; assessment methods needed. ;
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C;OOOvAii faSOOvAt.;
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Plat ghowlnr the 1H Mseaunent
In th blocks shown today there bave
been few changes in ownership during
the past half dosen years, except as to
block "8," which was. acquired by con
demnation proceedings by the govern
ment two years ago, as a site for the
projected new postofflce building; also
the Quarter block at the southwest cor
ner of Sixth and Hoyt streets, whloh
the rule-of-thumbs method has ever
been used an rw here In America for th
actual assessment of so many pieces of
property nor property or so muon gross
value, as has the system devised by Mr.
Somers. One of the . reasons for the
general satisfaction of these communi
ties arising out of the use of th Som
ers system i that It is the first real
effort ver mad in any of th cities
where U has been installed to supplant
chaotic lack of method with system. No
small part of the satisfaction is due
: ' ' , " "
SUBDIVISION IN THE SANDY
THE MARKET BY
ED
A. JACOBS
WILL BE OFFERED FOR SALE FOR THE FIRST TIME
Ml
0
Taxes -
money ieiurneqorr
'X'.'.-.i,,
irae.,iown;-Ma'W
on tKe Pacific Coast
0 t
-HOYT
r
of MoaV',-",- and'4.
; .; new postof flee bolldlng-.
was purchased three yeais ago by Miss
Edith F. Good, and on which she ha
since built a six-story hotel building.
Block "8" was assessed- in ltll.for
$126,800. In the condemnation suit In
stituted by th United States District
Attorney the Jury returned a Jerdlct fix
ing the value of the block at $340,000.
A peculiar feature of the history of the
acquirement of this block by th gov
to th fact that the people have the op
portunity to participate in the actual
work of asaessment to tell what they
know Of land values in public, and to
learn the opinion of their neighbors la
public One of the fault of previous
asaessment methode has been the futile
effort- to equalize the Inaocuraclas and
inconsistencies of the assessor's valua
tions by boards of equalisation! Under
Somers method It 1 possible to equal
ise th valuations before they are made.
The next article wUI discuss ' the
BOULEVARD
Joly I SItE
v-TV"- . r-.v i-.y. -.'.: ' '- .
:.y-:y 'y,':,:i. . .' '
sured than -was the future . of our earlier Sandy Boule
vard properties. . v -:-yM'
Five years ago streetcars and paved streets were un
known in this localityeven one year ago there was no
pavingj and in spite of these handicaps the Sandy Bou
levard district has developed into the most modern and
beautiful residence section in Portland.-.
PARK
X," Our prices of$400, $450 and $500 for,5o-foot lots1
''are the. same that-we sold adjoining properties for five
.' , ' i l 1. -:. - i! -V..i ". v, ' . . . y-, l-yL,yy'-: n.'
lv-Afvth'i-inrtreel-t1r1 '.with
.FOjU) PARK will show , a much .greater increase in val- .";
ucs than any other Sandv Boulevard addition. -v--?:: ? v;
e a Month
iuppiv it iimuciuma inQ aemana wiu n jai V7
269 WASHINGTON STREET4, CORNER FOURTH
l l,;ooo
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v n,: '.' "s, ' 46"" 1 ' T"
Jf? PACCCVStB5Cp
SBssBasBSBMSSBSssseSBMersjsj ?2S, OOP VAA..
Block
.
S" Is the Bite of the propos
ernment is the fact that the owns i
were awarded $15,000 more than the sou
the owners had agreed to take for it
In the 1112 assessment . Sixth str. t
frontage In blocks "R and. 48 was va
ned higher than Broadway fronts'"
Since the 1812 assesment was made JT
Broadway bridge has. ' been complef :1
which fact has materially inert!-
Broadway value. -
4-
fundamental .basis xor sua valuation
U land, and will show how; it i pos
sible' for the people to use jtor tax ' as
sessment purposes their own knowledge
Of, the usefulness or uieir, own streets.
-.Coaf miners are already preparing for
the Joint conference next, year to man
la new wage scale tor me, comyeuuve
Iratates. Ohio miners have declared for
payment on the mine-run system, for a ,
six-hour day and a ; working . week of i
five day,..:
DISTRICT PUT ON
'th '-,Ti!tnrA;'acc.tirYri RFFl.
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