The true Democrat., 1856-01-01
To the Taxpayers of. the City of
 Little Rock, Ark.

To the Taxpayers of the City of
 Little Rock, Ark.
 Monday next the Eth day of January 1856 being the day fixed by law for you to choose new board of Aldermen, to administer the af- fairs of the citiyof Little Rock for that year 1t behooves every taxpayer in the city, to take an active part and endeavor by every fair means in his power, to place those in office who will arrest, and put down the plan that has been devised by the present incumbents, conjointly with Memphis influences, to impose upon your property, an ill advised, and unne- cessarally onerous tax, professedly to aid in the construction of the proposed Memphis ani Little Rock Railroad." Having as one among the largest taxpayers, given this subject some attention, I beg leave to respectfully submit these remarks, for your impartial consideration, and such action, as you may, in your wisdom see fit to take. Ifyou neg ect to protect your own interests, and defend the character of the city when the opportunity is thus presented the con- sequences will then justly be attributable to your own neglect, and you will thereafter have no just cause to complain. The power of the city and its citizens has been invoked, and used, interpretations nunerously made and wide ly circulated, we'll calculated to mislead the public judgment and thereby entail upon you debt, which you will be unable to discharge in good faith because the consequences certain tc follow from the present plan will diminish the value of your property, immigration to the city and county will cease, and many that are now here will be driven away; therefore every tax payer, should turn out and exert himself to put in power those who will administer the municipal government so as to protect your in- terests, promote the growth prosperity, and welfare of the city.
 It cannot be regarded otherwise than as sin gular, that gentlemen of the large requirements and experience, which some of the present al- dermen possess, should have fallen into such an error.
 It will hardly be denied, that the plan se- cretly concocted, long since gotten up and broug ht down to the present time, to effect this object of taxation, was originated, as perhaps most of you know, by a subtle unscrupu- lous organized combination of swamp land spectators, Real Estate bank league. (the Upas tree of Arkansas) political visionaries and the Memphis clan, their allies, friends and sympa- thizers One of the favorite ideas most pro- minent to foist upon the country the visionary schemes of this singularly wicked combination, for which there Is no reasonable excuse or pail. atve, was to covertly change our city corpora ton laws, and cover up their design in decep- tive language, and place in power for the pre- sent year. a board of aldermen of their own se- lection, issue $1OO,OOO each of city and county bonds, to the " Memphis and Little Rock raiIroad company" payable ill fifteen years with per cent interest semi-anually, making $2OO,oOO: there is evidently system and design in all these movements, as they all point in one di- rection. By some it is pretended, that an ex- ample for these proceedings is to be found in the Little Rock " shin plaster scheme" inflicted upon us some 15 years since. This however is mistake as the amount involved and lost ill that transaction will not much exceed one years interest on these city and county bonds. But this is not all If these bonds are issued, and legalzed by our courts, it will create a valid lien, which can be enforced against the proper ty of every city and county taxpayer seml-an- ually, to the amount of $14,OOO annually, which at the present rate of interest, will amount in that time, including the principal, to $65O,O0O or whereabouts. This you cannot pay, for the reason, if there was none other-a good and substantial railroad upon that route cannot and will not be built and successfully worked, upon any such or like plan, as the one laid before you, and this large sum. forcibly abstracted from the tax-payers, will prove to- tai loss to them, if not result in bankruptcy and repudiaton, shame and dishonor to our city, county, and its citizens, while you will get no road, and nothing to show for your mo- ney, and lost honor, but faithless promises.
 How we ask, has this state of things been brought about? Without attempting to answer in detail, we may very appropriately glance at a few of the means used, which have led to placing our city in its present position before the coun- try.
 For two years or more, these pretended rail. road parties, their associates, and allies have by public speeches, by written, published and verbal representations, many of which have found their way into the newspapers, represent ed to the people, the progress that was making on that road, and the ways and means provided and relied upon to build it. I have seen, read, and heard nearly all that has been made pub lie upon that subject, and if there is single material sentence or paragraph in the whole matter, that is entitled to credit, it has escaped my observation. In this mode the masses have been imposed upon, deceived and mislead in- to the conscious belief that every thing was all right, and that the road would be speedily built. This no candid, we'll informed man be- lieves will be the case, indeed it would be inter- esting ifSwe could separate grain of truth from the mass of extravagant falsehoods which reach us from that quarter.
 Alter the act of Congress was passed grant ing portion of the public lands to ad in the con- struction of railroad from the mouth of the Ohio to the Texas boundary near Fulton, with branches to Fort Smith and the Mississippi ri- yer, these same parties, urged on by sell fish ambition, exerted their every influence to make the people believe that the grant was worthless, and otherwise used every unfair means to prevent its lawful application to the