The Placer herald., 1856-11-01
THE COUNTY FINANCES.
KNOW-NOTHING REFORM

"The people have declared by their voice that
tina reign of corruption should end; they nave
elected "a Legislature and Executive. whose watch
word was REFORM" and the 1nlhlment OF tna' ~
promise will be demanded. d."-Piaeer Press, jan
18th. 1856.
Fatal word. Yes Reform" was your
watchword, not only in matters of State but
the same cry has brought the present County
administration into power. The fultilment
of that promise is now demanded. Can you
make clean breast of it, and stand before
the people acquitted We shall see. We
have not heretofore gone into an exact com
putation of the state of otif County finances,
but satisfied ourselves by charging in round
numbers, what we believed to be true. You
deny our assertions and appeal to the record.
By the record then be you and your party
judged.
In the canvass of 1854, the then Wing
party, now -nothingized, for the par
pose of carrying their County ticket, and de-
featng the Democracy, charged a rulnous
and extravagant expenditure Of the public
money. As the opponents OF the Demo
cratic party commenced this fight, and
preached "REFORM AND RETRENCH-
MENT,' we propose to take them on their
own ground, and shall prove that with every
advantage in their favor they have failed sig
nalv to come up to their promises, and the
expectations of the people.
On the lst of June, $50, the debt OF the
county is reported by the Supervisors to be
s60.524 81. Subsequently to that time and
after Whiggerv oljos Know Nothingism was
in power. we find from official published re-
ports. that to this debt is added Sl4,903 69
by way of old accounts which had been pre-
sented to the board prior to lst of June, but
had been postponed for acton until the old
officers had retired. We also find added the
cum of s2,5l6 81 interest on debt, making
total of S7S,O25 10. We know that by
going into the figures presented in these re-
ports that we can reduce this amount, for in
the different accounts presented we lind that
in the Treasurer's hands there was %5,662 25
and in the accounts with the Sheriff and As
SCISSOR we ind some several thousand dollars
worth of licenses and receipts charged to
these Officers; and it is reasonable to suppose
as they had been collecting sometime that
they had received good portion OF the
amount of these receipts, and if so, in fair
ness The amount should be credited on the
old debt. This debt, the K. Ms. promised
soon to extinguish, but from the reports
published in the first seven months Of their
term it appears they were adding to instead
Of taking from it. On September Goth,
1855, they report debt of 899,55 II and
en- the lst of January, 1856, they still have
A debt Of sol .564 30-This was decreasing
the debt With a vengeance. Instead of 57S,-
OPS 10 we have $9l, ,564 80, an increase Of
S13,530 II, and we take them too at their
lowest estimate, for they must have tinancier-
ed amazingly to bring it that low, as we will
show that if that low at that time they have
put new spurs on their feet since then, and
have ridden the Horse of State at greater
speed than ever before.
The Board Supervisors of the County report
on the 18th day Of May, 1855, the county debt
In their second report made on the
29th, Sept. 1859. they add to this
debt scrip Issued upon bills for servi-
ees rendered by the old county OIL
GERS. and for other expenses chargea-
ble TO the old administration. the sum
of 1883 6s
And they report the probable inter
est on the old debt to be .......... 25lG 81
Making a total debt of 7S,025 10
Without questioning the motives of
the Supervisors can by their own
figures reduce this debt Their
port of 18th of May, 1855, shows that
there was in the County Treasurers
hands the sum of So, ,662 %. of which
amount 4l50 belonged to the Gene
raj Fund and ready to be applied
to the redemption of the above debt 4l50 90
And after deducting it the debt is 1885 10
This same report shows an account
against the then Sheriff, and upon
which the county now has Judgment
against him. which is good, of 49,. 1890 90
This leaves a debt of 72,iS5 10
There is also another item which is
lust and should be credited upon this
debt il is this: Out of the General
Fund of 1853 and 1854. there was
paid the greater portion OF the cost
Of the present Court House. and in
1850 we find there was collected on
account of the Court House Fund the
sum sum of S3.6G4 co. Now as the
General Fund had paid for the Court
House and thereby increased this debt
it is nothing but right that the Court
House Fund should pay it back this
amount then should 60 to the reduc-
tion of the above debt ...... 3,6Gi 90
Leaving the debt, with interest, at 6s,S2l IL
This same report also shows ac-
counts against the Sheriff of $4,000
worth of Foreign Miners Licenses
and an account against the Assessor
of 446 Poll Tax receipts at 80 each.
We presume that large portion of
these receipts were accounted for by
the old officers in cash; but we will
claim nothing from this source, but
take the debt as it stands abovc and
we defy any person to find a misstate
ment in the account. The above then
being the debt we will now take the
figures Of the 'Placer Press" of last
issue, as far as they go, and our own,
10 nScnrtnin the llrn lpLt