Red Wing sentinel. [volume] (Red Wing, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1861, 1860-03-14
MASS CONVENTION,
W. W. PHELPS, Editor.

W. W. cNltOSs
b MASS CONVENTION.
ri It is no pleasure to US, on the Contrary it
Is = sou: . Of extreme regret, that we are so
often ebisedato.refsr 10 the miserable state
. ef our countysaffairs; for in making general
and but too truthful charges ag inst the
derslictions and corruption Of our county Il.
hcials, We necessarily duplicate those with
whom We would willingly live in peace
and a,nity; but declaring as we did at tho
outset Of our editorial career, that We should
b on the side Of the tax payers, first. last
and all the time,, and that no personal or
political friendships could in any manner
affect our position on this point, wo intend
TO do our duty at any sacrifice, and to con-
tinuei this agitation until the cause is re-
moved. 'i',.t -.-7'f ~
nit, Two years ago, last fall the county was
not only entirely clear Of debt, but had made
mast of'tkemccessary improvements in roads
and bridges--at al events all that ever have
been made. The administration then
changed hands, and our affairs have been
grossly inis,nanaged ever since. Our as
sess,nent rol, has been one Of the largest in
the State, the, subsidies levied upon US op-
pressive and outrageous in the extreme, the
yearly returns have amounted to an enor-
NOUS sum, when We take into consideration
The exseat Of cur population; no roads have
been, opened, no bridges built, absolutely
aothiog accomplished; but the treasury is
empty, and worse than that, in those two
years doating debt Of twenty five thousand
dollars has been contracted, over and above
IN Court House Indebtedness; which Last
We do not ,neanto consider at thus time
Forty thousand dollars a year, has been ex
pended III transferring tho ordinary business
ofthe county; in collecting tho taxes. and
keeping the peace Of as moral and law -abid-
ing community as exists on the earth, in
which but one. criminal case has been pu.
on the calender during tho entire period
And this has gone. all gone, as pay and
plumber to our officials-men who have TAX
en- every advantage Of the county, who have
in every instance strained the law to our
disadvantage, and often went beyond il
altogether, in their plunderins schemes; who
TO give single instance Of the manner in
which they make unnecessary work and
unnecessary expense-have every time that
delinquent tax-list has been made out, cut
up the entire quarter sections on the assess
mont roll, into forties, so that tho treasurer,
recorder and publisher &C., might each do
four times the work, and get four times the
psy contemplated by the law. We might
multiply instances Of this kind, we might
refer TO the unholy scheme now going on
70 make another haul out Of the county, in
ortler to show that an organization has been
perfected 70 reduce corruption to a system
TO plumber Us by rule; but it is unnecessary
70 do 50, that fact is patent to all. "
We are now supporting this extravaganza
this corruption, with tax of something over
two per cant; we are waxing leaner and
leaner, till Pharaoh's kline would Re degrad
cd by comparison to US. and, yet, strange
coincidence, our "lordly superiors'' as Bro
sorin would call them, grow fat proportion
ately. Every step we take we 60 deeper in
"a .- day increases our indebted.
ness. principal and interest; and where i;
this to stop ? In what is to end I? Surely
this question comes home with tremendous
import to every man whose hopes Of home
and competency, whose prospects Of success
in life arc staked upon the prosperity Of the
county. Shall We sit, with our fingers il
our mouths, and gaze listlessly at that can
cor. tia. is eating deeper and deeper into
the body polite. and threatening its very
vitals, or shall We apply the knife; cut il
out, and leave the wound to heal, which il
will do IN time, under proper management
Isl. not time that We should dislodge thu
the leoches, that have so long sucked, and
still unsatiated, are yet psrtinaciously cling.
in to the treasury to give them little
healthful salt. which may cause them t
disgorgs portion Of their i'll gotten filling,
II any reform is to be brought about, The
suspicious moment for commencing the
work, now presents itself The Supervise
system was powerless to remedy this evil
Is might now ind then thrust back q rapa
e;ous official who too boldly plunged int
tho public funds, but its machinery wa
eumbrous and unwieldy, and the offendc
soon found means to return to his desig1
upon tho treasury, bringing with him sever
ether DEVILS, onler than himself. Politica
influences were also brought to bear on tn
, weaker me,nb;rs of the BoaIl, and it 500
became more vile, than the Augean stable
which it had attempted 10 clean out. III