The Evansville daily journal., 1853-02-26
IO the Mayor and COunciIm A of TIA G
City OF Evansville.


To the Mayor and CounciImcn of the
city OF Evansviiie.
GESrLEMEN:- That part of Evansville
known as the Lower Enlargement is all
comprised in four blocks and four fractional
lots with their streets and alleys.
II was made part Of the town in the year
1920. 1t has been taxed by you and your
predecessors ever since you had that power,
and steadily, annually, and sometimes speci-
ally taxed ever since 1886 inclusive. During
these IL years Of taxation, never very light
and sometimes very heavy, you perhaps have
formed no estimate of the amount OF taxes
collected from this small portion OF your ju-
risdiction and it may not be impertinent in
me to call attention TO the subject.
The taxable property in the Enlargement
by the assessment books for 1852 amounts to
$99 ,652 (and think have overlooked some
of iC being between one-twentieth and a
twenty first part Of all the taxablss of the
City; and the taxes for 1852 being at the
rate of 75 cents on the 100 dollars. with a
poll taxo 5 | per head, the property tax of
the Enlargement amosnts in round numbers
TO $3.50, and the poll tax to $50, making the
City taxes of the Enlargement amount for
the past year to the SUM of $500 90
From an examination Of the tax rolls OF
the corporation from 1912 to 1851 inclusive,
find the amount of taxes assessed during
that time to be S49,Oll 90. From lS42
back to 1886 could not get the accurate per
annum assessments, bu' taking the asses
ment rolls for 1886 and 1887. find the one
to amountte SlIS6 90, the other to S2265 90.
The taxes for 1888, 1889, 1910, and lS4l
were rather lower than an average of the
years of 1886 and 1897. l have for safety
averaged the whole six years from 1886 to
l84I inciasive at $500 90 per annum,
which would give total result of taxation
for those years of $1,000, making with the
subsequent total taxation of the City up to
1851 Inclusive S56,2ll 90. Allowing for
delinquent lists, will average the Lower En-
largement's taxes collected at one-twenty-
first part of the whole assessment roll, which
will to the present time give total OF taxes
collected from that Enlargement of S5476 40.
Say three tn ,usaad five hundred dollars
Add % this amount the City taxes of the pre-
sent year at the same rate as last year on the
present valu ton of prJperty-So00 90 and
the Lower Enlargement will have paid up to
the end of the present year into the City
Treasury the sum of $4,000 90.
will add that this calculation IS based
upon the suppositon that this Enlargement
has all along borne only the same proportion
oftne whole City assessment, which she now
does, whereas think it will be found that as
she stood still, whilst the city at large has,
been greatly extended, she has on the whole
borne much greater proportion II the taxes
than one-twenty-first part.
We have thus formed some definite idea of
the amount of taxes collected by you, or your
predecessors from this small portion of the
city.
We viii now make some enquiry into the con-
sideration which the taxable polls and prop
erty OF the enlargement has received for this
aggregate Of taxation, or what has been done
by the city government in return fer all the
material aid thus given her by this province
of her dominons!
Some OF you, gentleman, were so happy as
To know Evansville in its days of non inn
provement. It's golden age of csrelessness
and forgetfulness OF gullies, ponds and
swamps, of gymson weeds and dog fennel,
when there were bridges on water street
(across the gulIies) and hills in main stree
and frog ponds every where.
Those OF you, only, who remember those
days can form any correct opinion of the
general almost Except in the lower enIarg-
ment universal improvements made in Ey-
ansville since then at the public expense
There is no other. ssection OF the town
which has been inhabited half as long as this
has, which has not received your attention,
and had large sums from the public purse
expended upon them.
Year after year, one improvement after
another, has been originated or extended,
reaching, beautifying and appreciating all
quarters-except this, whilst if this quarter
had been the site Of a pest house, or lep-
Iosv reeking with contagion and all that is
unclean, our city fathers could not have
more diligently avoided its touch or con-
tact.
Permit me, gentlemen to ask the question,
was ever any public money spent here
Pay, examine your Books, and see if there
was-yes, there was. The same thing has
) been done here which supervisors of roads
do in remote townships just before the
Grand Jury sits for the tall term. The
top of steep hill has been scaIped to make
it possible for drays and wagons, and that is
about all. If anything else has been done,
we should be glad 10 hear of it, and by doing
that, half of the adjacent property was render
edfence!ess and useless unto this day
The combustibles of this enlargement
have never given your city fire engines occu-
patton, and have shown proper spirit to-
wards city government which has shown
tce mnch coldness towards them. In Iact
gentlemen, if instead of beinga part of Ev-
ansville, this enlargment had been annexted to
Perry or Scott or any other township in the
county, she would have been just as much
better off than she is now, as the taxes you
and your predecessors have collected off her
amount to.
And now pardon me gentlemen, for hint
ing to you, that this neglect has lasted long
enough.
IT may have been prudent hitherto to ne
glect expensive or even slight improvement
where they were loudly called for, whilst 81