The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1858-09-16
The Civilian ON the. Bridge Question


The Civilian ON the. Bridge Question.
e. The Civilian. in its last issue fur
Their discusses the proposition in refer
ence to the county paying one-third to-
wards the erection Of bridges costing
over $500, and gives series Of reasons
for taking the negative of the question.
lst, it says:
..We believe the county is deeply
enough in debt already"
The editor makes some four or five
assertions, in the short article treating Of
this matter. about the Indebtedness of the
county, evidently with the intention OF
misleading the uniformed into the be-
lief that the county is very greatly in
debt. 1t is part Of its tactics, lately, tol
insinuate what it dare not directly assert;
and for this reason, although it is un-
doubledly anxious that the people should
think the Treasury is in an unnecessarily
exhausted condition, yet it is careful to
make no distinct charge to that effect
That the county treasury is just now
empty, we do net deny. But that the
county can justly be said to be greatly
10 debt, we do deny. The report Of
the Judge. in July last, showed that the
indebtedness beyond the amount then in
the treasury was only $59O,2e, and that
to meet that there was delinquent tax
list Of nearly $4,000. Admitting that
only fifty per cent Of this tax would be
| collected, it would leave to the credit Of
the county something like eight hun
dred dollars. With such assets to meet
such small amount of liability, we
hardly think there is reason for much
complaint npon the score Of county in
debtedness This Indebtedness. has not
been increased since the report, and il.
and all others which is likely to occur
the present fiscal year, will undoubtedly
be paid from the ordinary revenue short
" to be collected. This cannot there
fore, prove very great objection against
the proposition.
81 Secondly, the Civilian says:
We believe it is not the desire of the
inhabitants to have any more taxes added
to those which they are now almost un-
able to pay.
Well, this is precisely the matter
aaRs d "A bssvs ss snf
the people think they will be the bet
ter off for voting tax, they will do it,
We are quite sure if they do not SO be
lieve, they wiH not do it. This reason o
the Civilian, looks to us great dea
like saying: I've think the majority
is on this side, and therefore we shall
advocate it." We believe that it i.
best for the people Of the county to vote
the tax, and SO believing, advocate it
regardless of whether we are with the
majority or minority. We believe tina
it is now time for the county to establish
a policy upon this subject. We know
that the experience of the past year has
demonstrated the want of bridges over
all the larger streams of the county,
-
That, lacking them, business has been,
70 large extent, interrupted, and several
lives sacrificed. AS long as we are
without them, this result is liable, at any
time. to be Reproduced. We believe
that if the county will vote one third
their cost, the people will contribute the
other two-thirds. and that we shall then
have good. substantial structures over
every stream that now endangers life. or
obsiructs communication. We believe
this to be the best time to adopt this poll
i cy. because now every section of the
county is without bridges, and therefore
it will operate equally or as nearly so as
possible) upon the whole people. Some
of them are already engaged in renewing
their bridges /; for instance. the people of
Quasquclon, and those in the vicinity of
Otter Creek. II they are forced to 60
on and build these structures alone now,
and in two or three years the county
adopts different course. end makes
them help to pay for the construction Of
bridge at some other point, it will GER
taialy be gross injustice to them.
The Civilian says il knows Of but
one bridge in the county that was CARR
ed away by the late flood. that at Quas-
queton. IL formerly published the loss
Of one over Pine Creek, and we are very
much mistaken if another over that, and
the one over Buffalo Creek. were not
carried away at the same time. To build
any Of these bridges substantially would
cost $500 and upwards. We know that
these streams have been bridged at less