_Purpose of a Valuation._—As Mr. Riggs points out, there are four reasons for a valuation: Taxation, rate-making, purchase, and control of the issue of securities, one of which is usually the primary cause for the valuation being made; and he argues that there can be but one "fair value" of the physical property, whichever of these reasons may prompt the appraisal. This is fundamental, for "fair value" is used in the sense of true value, which, to the writer, seems to be a more apt expression. It is rather surprising that it does not appear in the paper. Its use, of course, is old; in the Constitution of New Jersey, 1875, we find: "Property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, according to the true value." Each of the three matters, taxes, rates, and authorized capitalization, are interdependent and, in the long run, cannot be considered separately. This can be emphasized by a _reductio ad absurdum_: Modern civilization is so dependent on transportation by rail that unquestionably all taxes could be raised by assessment on the railroads, if these roads were allowed to fix their rates and were protected in the collection of them; but how would this method differ from that of the Romans, of farming out the collection of taxes? Not materially, and no one advocates a return to that method. This is absurd, but it serves to emphasize the relation between taxes and rates. Taxes can only come from the rates. _Overhead Charges versus Unit Values._—There is much in various parts of this paper concerning overhead charges, but very little about the items considered in determining the unit values or unit prices used; and does not the latter greatly affect the former? For example, in discussing the Michigan appraisal, the author says: "For many items, such as clearing, grubbing, earthwork, masonry, etc., the price was fixed by agreement during the discussion at a figure which represented the fair average cost of this particular item during the 5-year period preceding the appraisal." The "fair average cost" under what conditions? This word "cost" is understood by different men in as many different ways as the word value. Mr. Riggs very clearly gives the items included in "fair value" as finally arrived at by him, but it would seem to be as important to define "fair cost" as used in arriving at the unit prices, for otherwise the chain has a weak link.