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


MASS CONVENTION,
It's no pleasure to US, OF the Contrary it
is \ sou: . Of extreme regret, that we arc so
often obliged to refer to tho miserable state
. Of our. county safars; for in making general
and but too truthful charges IS inst the
, derelictions and corruption Of our county If.
ficial., We necessarily inplicate those with
whom We would willingly live in peace
and a,nity; but declaring as we did at the
outset Of our editorial career, that We should
10 on the side Of the taxpayers, first, last
and all the time, and that no personal or
political friendships could in any manner
affect our position on this point, VIC intend
to do our duty at any sacrifice, and to con
tinue this agitation until the cause is re-
moved. II
ri; Two years ago, last fall the county was
not only entirely clear Of debt, but had made
most ofthcmccessary Improvements in roa,ls
and bridges-at all events all that ever have
been made. The administration then
changed hands, ami our affairs have been
grossly misnanaged ever since. Our as
sess,nent rol! has been one Of the largest in
tho State, the subsidies levied upon us op-
pressive and outrageous in the extreme, the
yearly returns bave amounted to an enor-
NOUS SUN, when We take into consideration
the extent Of cur population; no roads have
been opened, no bridges built, absolutely
aothlog accomplished; but the treasury is
empty, and worse than that, in those two
years floating debt Of twenty five thousand
dollars has been contracted, over and above
the Court House Indebtedness; which last
We do not mean to consider at this ti,nc.-
Forty thousand dollars year, has been ex.
pended in transferring tho ordinary business
ofthc 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 the entire period
And this has gone, all gone, as pay and
plumber to our officjals-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 plundering schemes; who
TO give o single instance Of the manner in
which they mako 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, 50 that tho treasurer,
recorder anil publisher &C., might each do
four times the work, and get four times the
pay contemplated by the law. We might
multiply instances Of this kind, We might
refer 70 the unholy scheme now going on
TO make another haul out Of the county, in
order to show that an organization has been
perfected TO reduce corruption to a system,
to plumber us by rule; but it is unnecessary
to do SO, that fact is patent to all.
We are now supporting this extravaganza,
this corruption, with a tax Of something over
two per cent; we are waxing leaner and
loaner, till Pharaoh's kline would he 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 is
this to stop? In what is to end? Surely
this question comes home with tremendous
import to every man whose hopes Of a home
and competency, whose prospects Of success
in life are staked upon the prosperity Of the
county. Shall! We sit, with our fingers in
our mouths, and gaze listlessly at that can
cor. tha. is eating deeper and deeper into
the body polite, and threatening its very
vitals, or shall We apply tho knife; cut it
out, and leave the wound to heal, which it
will do IN time, under proper management?
lsi.not time that We should dislodye the
the leochcs, that have so long sucked, and
still unsatiatcl, arc yet pertinaciously cling
in to the treasury !; to give them little
healthful salt. which may cause them to
dissorse portion Of their i'll gotten filling?
If any reform is to be brought about, the
au+pic:ous moment for commencing the
work, now presents itself The Supervisor
system was powerless to remedy this evil.
Il might now and then thrust back rapa-
cious official who too boldly plunged into
tho public funds, but its machinery was
eumbrous and unwieldy, and the offender
soon found means to return to his design
upon tho treasury, bringing with him seven
other devils, fouler than himself Political
influences were also brought to bear on the
, weaker me,nb rs of the BoaI.l, and it soon
became more vile, than the Augean stables
which it had attempted to clean out. The
Legislature has done away with this system,
and wo elect, at the coming spring election
tive County Commissioners. 1t is ncce>-
sary. absolutely and imperatively necessary,
{ that that Boarl shall consist Ct men OF in.
tegrity, firmness ard c,paciy. !inw ia