The Placer herald., 1856-10-25
THE COUNTY FINANCES.
KMOW-NOTHING REFORM

tha reign of corruption should end; they have
elected a Legislature and Executive. whose watch
word was Reform" and the fulhlment OF that
promise will be demanded. - Placer 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 ful6lment
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 our County finances,
but satisfied ourselves Ivy 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 know -nothngzed, for the pur-
pose of carrying their County ticket, and de-
feating the Democracy, charged rrlnous
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
naIy to come up to their promises, and the
exrectations Of the people.
On the lst of June, 1853, the debt OF the
county is reported by the Supervisors to be
$G0,524 81. Subsequently TO that time and
after Wheo-ry elias Know Nothjngisn was
in power, we fnd from official published re-
ports. that to this debt is added 5l4,983 GS
by way Of Ola accounts which had been pre-
sented to tAe board prior to Ist of June, but
had been postponed for ac ion until the old
officers had retired. We also find added the
sum Of $2,5l6 81 interest on. debt, making
a total Of s78.025 10. We know that by
going into the figures presented III these re-
norts that We can reduce this amount. for in
the different accounts presented we find that
in the Treasurer's hands there was $500 25
and in the accounts with the Sheriff and As
SCISSOR we find sone several thousand dollars
worth Of licenses and ipt, charged to
these differs; and it is reasonable to suppose
as they had been collecting sometime that
they had received a 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 eXtingush. but from the reports
published in the first seven months Of their
term i appears they were adding to instead
Of taking from it, On September 29b,
1853. they report a debt Of 39Q,552 II and
en- the lst of January, 1856, they still have
- e.D = L
the debt with vengeance Instead of S79,
OPS - we have SOL ,5Gi so IN increase Of
Gl3.539 ii, and we take them too at their
lowest estimate, for they must have tjnancier-
Ell amazingly to bring it that low. as We will
show that if that .ow 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 Boarl Supervisors of the County report
on the 18th day Of May, 1870, the county debt
TO be .....................S6 S60,524 81
In their second report made on the
29th. Sept. 1855. they add to this
debt scrip Issued upon bills for servi-
cas rendered hy the old county Off
GERS and Tor other expenses charged
-of ' ...'........................... y 1898 66
and they report Inc probable inter
est On the old debt to be ........... 2.5lG o.
Making a total debt Of 7S,025 10
Without questioning the motives of
the Supervisors we can by their own
figures reduce this debt Their re-
port Of 18th Of May. 1855. shows that
there was in the County Preasurers
hands the sum of S5,662 Is. of which
amount 81 l50 peon red to the Gene.
raj Fund and was ready to be applied
to the redemption of the above debt 4-l50 90
And after ledncting 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 .. 1890 90
This leaves debt of PASS 10
There is also another item which is
lust and should be credited upon this
debt, it is this: Out Of the General
Fund of 1858 and 1854, there was
paid the greater portion OF the cost
OF the present Court House, and III
1850 we find there collected on
account Of the Court House Fund the
sum sum of $3GGf 90. Now as the
General Fund had paid for the Court
House and thereby increased this debt
it is nothing bat right that the Court
House Fund should pay 1t buck this
amount then should go to the reduo-
,on or the above debt ...,..... s.G64 90
Leaving the debt. with interest, at GS,52l ~
This same report also shows ac-
counts against the Sheriff Of $4,000
worth Of Foreign Miners Licenses.
AMI an account against the Assessor
OF 40 Poll Tax receipts at S. 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 above; ana
we defy any person TO find misstate
ment in tne account The above then
being the debt we " Ill now take the
figures Of the placer Press of last
issue, far as they go, aud our own,
to ascertain the present debt.