The Placer herald., 1855-12-22
The Iowa Hill News.

Liz IuWG E1l!l NEWS.
The editors Of this sheet seem TO think we
exhibited bad humor in our remarks in the
Herald of the issue of the 6th inst. A mere
suppostion on Your part eent'emen.--never
in better humor Your diriSion scheme
does not trouble our temper in the least We
have said little about it, but have permitted
the citizens Of the Divide the use Of our col
umns, who, we think, are giving true ac-
counts of the feeling in relation to the
scheme. This move has very few supporters
outside of the sanctum Of the editors of the
Io1ca Hill Ne1os.
Our argument in relation to a division may
he unique" but at the same time very
truthful one, which the citizens Of the Divide
will consider well before they ever favor
division of the county. For the truthfulness
Of cur unique arguments we refer you to the
Sheriff and Clerk Of the county who can
furnish YOU ample evidence.
The Placer Press, Of last week, gave sta
tistcs showing which portion Of the county
furnished the most revenue and those stats
ties were taken from the records Of the Sher-
ifs Office, which shows s5oG,98 90 more
taxable property in the lower portion Of the
county than the upper, and the same eyi-
dence shows that while the lower portion
pays on taxable property sl9oG6 SO, the
proposed new county only pays @l0,70l OF,
and these are facts on record which cannot
be controverted, for they are officially true.
Now then, what are the prospects for the
next twelve months2 Is there any prospect
of the proposed new county increasing in
taxable property in the same ratio as the ol-
der portion Of Placer? There is not Al
ready is the railroad from Sacramento to the
American river within a few weeks Of CON-
letion-and then the company commence
constructing the road from Negro Bar across
Placer county to Bear river, which will ne
cessarily cause an outlay Of nearly million
Of dollars,-al in the lower portion Of the
county-while the increase of taxable prop
erty in the upper portion will not amount to
one hundred thousand dollars. Under these
circumstances, it is, beyond doubt, the in
terest of the citizens of the Divide to remain
as they are The Neacs men, in urging a
division, advocate measure which is not to
the true interests of the whole county, and
if carried into effect would for years prove
oppressive to large portion Of the tax-pay
crs of the Divide.
There is another point in this division
project, which naturally arises if division
takes place, and that is funding the county
debt, which we are opposed to. In a
large and populous county like Placer no
debt ought to be funded without it reaches
over one hundred thousand dollars. Some
weeks since, when the question Of funding
was mooted, we suggested to the people to
hold meetings, and if in favor of funding so
express themselves. But there has been no
expression Of the people, and it is fair to
presume they do not wish the debt funded;
and we are glad Of it.
We hope our members in the coming leg
slature, instead of busyng themselves about
division Of the county, will exert them
selves to lessen the present Foreign Miners
Tax to the old rate Of three or four dollars
per month-have the present Supervisor Act
for Placer county so altered as to reduce the
Board to three members, one to 90 out of
Office annually, thus have two members on
the Board all the time who are somewhat
conversant with the business of the county
and we hope our legislators will earnestly
urge amendments to the Constitution so as
to do away with some Of our unnecessary
Courts; and by useful Legislation of this kind
enable the tax-rdden counties Of the State TO
pay their debts, and tighten the oppressive
taxes which at present Cypress the people
If the editors of the Ne,oS would advocate
the measures we have suggested, they would
benefit the citizens of Placer more than by
urging a scheme Of division; and our county
in a few short years would be entirely re-
lieved Of debt, which is more to be desired
at the present time than any thing else.
Arrangements are being made to put a
boring machine work in Table Mountain.
It. cuts tunnel five feet in diameter, and
advances at the rate Of twenty to thirty feet