Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-01-21


Jay the people of Boscobel and Marion are
in state Of Repatriation Of their Town
debt, which they claim is unjust and which
IS said 10 amount TO one or two thousand
dollars; at their late spring election, they
voted to raise no town tax orpaying their
town d, bt, and from what VIC can learn
Tie people Of that town did right because
most Of such dc. was composed Of the fee
bills of pony lawyers and doetcrsss who for
nerly differed the town and charged their
lawyer and doctor bills to the Town of
Marion. Can it be expected that snch
town would faithfully comply with any
pledge TO erect county buildings! Would
iteven be just for them to 20 50, since the
cost would outweigh the profits and since
the several Towns Of DuBay county would
be Ter to erect county Buildings than
Boscobel, town containing but ten sec
tions Of land? Would the patriotism Of
DuBay county allow Bosco5el to erect
public buildings TO be owned by the whole
county Plattevillc, with ten times he
taxable basis OF Boscobel and more right
cous set of men might consent TO erect
public Buildings, but we doubt whether
Platteville would ever be allowed to dd it.
The long and short Of the whole matter is
that this part Of the Petition for division
is a cheat and humbug, and that in event
Of division the people Of such new codd
ties would have to tax themselves for pub
lie buildings.
Again, in this matter Of dimin shing tax
bvdiyision into small counties, and, in event
of dividing Gran tcounty, diminishing the
expenses 10 Third Of the present tax, DC
We here recur to figures which we had
before presented from the official reports
of tie proceedings Of county boards as
found in neighboriaa county papers it has
been represented IN one # tic county di.
vision organs that the taxe1 for support
ing county government are in near pro-
portion to population and territory be-
tween small and large counties. Now let
us compare figures:
Grant is large county and her county
tax this year is three mills; her highest
levy 10 years gone by was four mills.
The ncigh5oring counties Of Crawford,
Richland, Iowa and Lafayette are near
half tae SO Of Grant in population and
territory; Iowa aud Lafayette have near
half the wealth of Grant, but Crawford
and Richland not much over a third
None Of those counties have any cxtraor-
binary expenses for late improvements
Now let US co npare their tax rate for
this year:
Crawford levies 2 mill Co. tax this year
Richland st
Iowa county
La Fayette county rises this year for
county revenue $4,000, but as we DO not
know the exact basis we are unable to give
the number of mills. A gentleman Of
this county went over some days ago to
pay his taxes on property valued atSl 600;
his total tax amounted to $500, so that
over two per cert must be
the total levy; and as all other taxes but
county tax cannot be over mills on the
dollar, La Fayette cotinty must levy at
least IL mills on the dollar, for county tax
alone, or four TIMES as much as Grant lew
les!
So much for Tie difference in taxation
between large and small counties. Add
10 the wide difference the cost Of new
buildings, transcribing records and other
charges for setting up new county house
keeping, and the division men will have
to pay at least Is mills on the dollar for
county revenue, or five times what they pay
while staying in Grant and leaving we'll
enough alorc.
We alludc to one more of tile score of
misrepresentation used to deceive people
and get their names TO division Petitions:
it is suggested that mere abstracts Of titles
10 lands would only have to be obtained
from tho Grant records, the cost of which
would be trihing. The fallacy Of this no
ton may be seen at once: How would
you so about trying matter before the
court involving the title to lands upoh tho
testimony Of a mere abstract! The officer
or clerk who makes an abstrac; is no ia lge
as to whether the title is warranty,
quitclaim, trust deed, nor is he a lawful
Judge as to TIE legal form Of deed or
whether il conveys any title. The whole
record must 60 beiole the court, and moth
! ing short of il. Would any man DESTROYS
Of examining title to land be content with
mere abstract or fiction founded on fact?
Common sense suggests otherwise, and