The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-08-02
City Finances.
less day,

at last, among all parties interested, for
) completely retiring city money from the
, market, es the first indispensable step
J toward a healthy condition of the finances.
The existence of. this money works great
harm in various ways. AS long as it is
extant, contractors will base their calcula-
lions and bids upon the supposition of be-
ing forced to take it or nothing for pay
ments. The city persists in taking it for
dues, in fact, the courts have compelled
her to do so, therefore it is impossible for
her to receive anything else, OF to have
anything else to pay out.
Again, great uneasiness exists in the
public mind as to the actual amount of this
indeterminate Indebtedness No one can
possibly form any calculation on the sub
ject, except from the ,vaguest conjecture.
This in itself is very damaging to the city
credit. People want to know the worst at
| once.
But the worst effect of this paper cur
rency is the total bankruptcy it produces
in the city treasury. Nothing else will
be paid in as long as it exists on it's pres
ent footing, and as it cannot be paid out
again, the treasury is left literally without
one dollar to meet current expenses. The
effect of this on teachers, the police and
other employees, who depend on their
salaries for the support of their families,
is most disastrous. The city cannot pos
sibly borrow anything, for she will have
nothing hut city money with which to pay
Oft even the interest accruing on her bonds.
| %l,o% ~, hos To-
to a dead lock, through the honesty of Mr..
Mount, who will not violate the law and
pay ont city money. at the risk of running
his bondsmen, the public begins to see its
folly in insisting upon the treasurer's get
ting nothing but city money. The very
parties who were loudest in asserting that
| refusal to receive it for taxes would be
reputation, can now see very clearly that
1t is not reputation. Because a man is
unable to settle his account at the moment,
and gives his obligation for future pay
ment, is it reputation No one pretends
SO. The city is really unable at the mo-
ment, though amply able in future, to pay
her debts, and those bills called city money
are nothing but ordinary debts. To re-
quire the instant payment Of them in
preference to her other debts, by compen-
sating them against taxes, is to s.arve the
city as municipal government; it is yir
tually to arrest her functions, and leave us
without any city government, When the
question is reduced to this issue, common
sense must understand it at last.
Hence, We now see various propositions
for the collection of city dues in greenbacks,
and for the funding of city money in bonds,
bearing certain rate of interest. If the
Legislature can at last see the necessity of
either abrogating the municipal govern
ment entirely, OF of permitting it to
collect taxes in money which can be used
for necessary expenses, the whole vexed
question of city money vanishes like an evil
dream. Everybody viii then be willing
and anxious to exchange such paper for
bonds. A clause prescribing all of it out
standing after one year, will effectually put
period to all fraudulent re-issuing of it
after being once paid in.
In the meantime, instead of being at
forty per cent. discount, the bonds bought |
with it, their interest being regularly paid
every six months, will soon rise to par, and |
city credit will be completely restored.
Let no poor person holding city money be |
deluded into selling 1t at the present rates, |
If he sees any prospect of getting bonds for |
it. From the first he can raise money on |
those, if necessary, by depesiting them as
collateral security, and he will probably
soon see them rapidly rising in the market !
ST. JosEPH's PARoCHIAL School, GRETNA.
We very much regret our inability to attend
the annual exhibition of this establishments,
which took place last Thursday and Friday
evenings. The rains are so constant in