M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1857-05-21
The school Tax Defeated

friend Of education, to the mortitca-
ton of all who have at heart the fair
fame of Macarthur, and to the discour-
agement and utter %prostration ofthose
anxious to secure the continued pros
perity OF the town, the proposition to
levy eight mills on the dollar of the
taxable property ofthis school district,
for school house purposes, was defeat
ed on Saturday last by six votOs
Having voted almost unanimously,
for a school house, only one month
ago, at which time the directors had
tho right to levy as much tax as they
thought proper for educational purpo-
ses, without a vote Of the people; hay
ing carried the question in the afir-
NATIVE, after a four-years' struggle
having acknowledged that a comfort
able school building was sadly needed
here,-what wonder hat we should
be surprised, mortified, discouraged
and even indignant at the result on
Saturday
We are the more astonished at such a
result at this particular time, when the
completion ofour railroad, the prospect
ofwhichh has kept property upto its full
value, has now become a matter of
some doubt when a powerful corpo-
ration in our own neighborhoOd, is
holding out fair inducements for the
settlement Of new corners in its en-
bryo city and determined to crush
other places if necessary to cur tue
success of its own-when the evident
design of that corporation is to re-
move the county seat the moment it
can be done,-at MiS time, to refuse,
even at some sacrifice, the only pres
emit remedy for the dangers that beset
US, ia an act s~macking so strongly Of
suicide that We can find no other
word which will properly name it.
According to all men the perfect
right Of voting as they choose upon
every question, there are times when
mere personal considerations become
subordinate, and when it is the plain
duty of one and all to bestow theil
suffrages for the general good, for the
progress and happiness ofhumanity
and the vital interests of the commu-
nifty in which they live. When the
interests of education are at stake.
such a question must he decided
Such a question was decided on Sat.
urday.
The fiat ofthe people mas gone forth.
which defers for an indefinite period
the construction ola respectable schoo.
house compelS the use for years lon
ger of miserable novels, in which the
poor children suffer from heat in sum
mer, from cold in winter, and in
health at all seasons; drives away
from the town good citizens and pre-.
vents others from settling in it who
have any regard forthe welfare oftheil
children and their own regulations
and which evidences an unmitigated
Rip Vanwinkle fogyism, that moi
even a switch from the fiery tail O
the expected comet would disturb.
We speak warmly upon this sub
iect because we feel that the result Of
Saturdays vote is a blot upon the fail
name of Macarthur and injurious tt
its material prosperity. A year hence
another vote will be had, probably
upon the same question, and while
we hope the stigma may be removed
wo have no confidence that any future
act of our citizens can replace all tina
has been lost by the specimen of i'm
maculate selfishness and d~isgracefu
fogeyism which they gave to the worl'
on Saturday evening.
To attempt to explain that aiail
in a manner consistent with the liber
atty, public spirit and intelligence o
the maj, is too bootless a jobto be IN
dertaken by anybody. We shall NO
make ourselves ridiculous, at any rate
by such o trial. We have a histor
of the name in which voters wer
imposed upon that may be publishe'
at some future time. For the presen
tmay afford consolation to the be
fooled to know that some Of thei
friends have confessed that the
duped them by arguments which wei