Appeal of Iowa Pipe And Tile Company

• Citation: 70 N.W. 115,101 Iowa 170
• Parties: APPEAL OF THE IOWA PIPE AND TILE COMPANY, From the Action of THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, of the City of Des Moines
• Decision Date: 04 February 1897
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

70 N.W. 115

101 Iowa 170

APPEAL OF THE IOWA PIPE AND TILE COMPANY, From the Action of THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, of the City of Des Moines

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

February 4, 1897

Appeal from Polk District Court.--HON. W. A. SPURRIER, Judge.

APPEAL from the judgment of the district court, upon the appeal of the Iowa Pipe and Tile Company, from the action of the Board of Equalization of the city of Des Moines, in assessing the said company in the sum of ten thousand dollars for capital employed in manufacture.

Affirmed.

J. K Macomber, A. P. Chamberlain, and W. G. Harvison for Board of Equalization, appellant.

Bishop Bowen & Fleming for Iowa Pipe and Tile Co., appellee.

OPINION

DEEMER, J.

The assessor of the city of Des Moines assessed the Iowa Pipe and Tile Company in the sum of ten thousand dollars for capital employed in manufacture. The company appeared before the Board of Equalization and asked that said assessment be canceled. This request was refused, and the company appealed to the district court. The district court found that the petitioner and appellant was liable to assessment in the sum of one thousand and fifty dollars, and no more, and ordered that the original assessment be reduced to that amount. The Board of Equalization appeals.

It appears that the Iowa Pipe and Tile Company is a corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale of sewer pipe and drain tile. Clay, water and salt are the ingredients entering into its manufacture. The clay is taken from the land of the company, near the works, the water is pumped from the Des Moines river by the company, and the salt is purchased from various individuals. The average amount of pipe and tile carried by the appellee during the years 1893 and 1894, at manufacturers' prices, was twenty thousand dollars. The material entering into it, however, was not worth to exceed two thousand and forty dollars. All the balance was represented in the labor necessary for its creation. The court below found that the appellee was engaged in manufacture, and was assessable under section 816 of the Code, the material parts of which are as follows: "Any person who purchases, receives, or holds personal property of any description, for the purpose of adding to the value thereof by any process of manufacture, * * * or by the combination of different materials, with a view of making gain or profit by so doing and by selling the same shall be held to...