The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1862-03-26

We earnestly hope that every voter and
tax payer in the city will read the council
proceedings of Saturday night with
thoughtful attention. Scrutinize the wharf
report. Compare the manner in which tho
enormous debt of $35, 900, bearing 10 per
cent. interest, was decreased in the years
previous to 1859, with that in which it has
diminished since Mayor Baker has had the
management of the city's finances, bearing
in mind that during the year 1861 the re-
ceipts for wharfage were almost, if not en-
tirely, obliterated by the blockade. We
say think of these things as men interested
in the welfare Of the city, and then deter
mine whether It is better to have man
controlling and directing the affairs of the
city, who has proven himself SO faithful
servant, or to cast him aside and put in his
place some individual who has no qualiica-
ton for the position whatever.
1t will be seen, by referring to the reports
mentioned, that the wharf debt steadily in
creased from 1850 up to the year 1854,
when it stood $780, 62. From that time
till the year 1859, JiUe gears, it was dimin-
ished Oaly $S,s32 O5. These were among
the most prosperous years, so Gar as COM
merce on the river is concerned, ever en-
with boats and the ievee crowded with
freight, yet little beneftdOes the city appear
to have derived from the immense traffic.
1t is not unlikely, however that the pro-
ceeds of the wharf were recklessIy squan-
dered in other departments of the city.
Mayor Baker has only had two seasons of
ordinary business prosperity on the river
IN which to operate, and yet during that
t.ms he has decreased the wharf debt si1
thOGednd three hundred and eighty dollars
end sirty-toVo cents, or nearly double the
amount paid during the FIVE years preceding
his administration. Do the people want
any more significant fact than this
Look again Evansville, as her corpc-
rate limits existed previous to the annexa-
ton of Lamasco, issued bonds for 500, 600
to the Evansville s Charlottesville Railroad
Company. A special tax was assessed
against the property Of the city as Il then
stood, to create a sinking fund for the pur-
pose of regularly meeting the interest and
paying off the bonds as they came due
After the annexation of Lamasco this fund
seems, in some way, to have been diverted
from its true true object, and was swallow
ed up in the general vortex in which an
enormous taxation every year disappeared,
to what purpose the people have never been
able to discover. The city at large is now
indebted to this sinking fund over fourteen
thousand dollars, which, added to the
amount already paid on our Railroad
bonds, reduces old Evansville's indebted
ness on that score to $3.50, 600. 81. = rz.s
But this is not all. Glance at the amount
of work done in the city during the last
three years, which is of permanent char
acter. The whole number of feet of sew
ers in the city previous to Mr.. Bakers cleo
ton was 2,24O3 feet, and portion of that
badly constructed. The whole number OF
feet compIeted--and now in excellent con-
dition-during his term of office, is eight
thousand sac hundred and seventy one (s,67D
at q cost of thirg-ts0o thousand tl0O hundred
and ninety-sir dollars and seOsn cents; and
most of this gigantic system of internal inn
provements is already paid for. vaell 2
But these facts are all embodied in the
Mayors reports to the Council, which the
people can read and examine for themselves.
These reports show what has been done,
aud in a future article we will endeavor TO
show what mnst be done in order to pre-
serve the credit of the city, prevent a dis
astrous depreciation in ali kinds of proD-
erty, and a consequent loss of trade and
prosperity. ---5----
RSy~ Indiana has seventeen hatter;es :,