The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-02-24


Council, as appeared by our report in
yesterdays JOURNAL, Mr.. STEELE
asked the Mayor to submit to the
Council a statement embracing the
following facts: q
l. What amount and character of
city bondssare now outstanding; the
amount ofinterest and date of ma
turity.
2. The amount of city orders out
standing at this date. =.
3. The amount of bank loans no"
existing.
4. An approximate estimate of the
city indebtedness to date, mot IN
cluded in the three former items.
It is customary in all corporations
and political or legislative bodies, to
ask for and receive specific or gen
eral statement of financial matters, at
any time chat il may be deemed nee
essary. Aud ;t-pever. was considered
a good answer to such inquiries that
it was customary to submit an annual
statement. That comes as a, matter
of course. utthere= are times when
it is peculiarly important to know at
once how the financial affairs of cor
poration stand.2 If one Of our Nation
al Banks was zthought to be IN
doubtful condition, and the Board of
Directors asked the President to sub
NIT to them, within areasonable time,
a statement Of its affairs, no man Of
integrity or business capacity would
decline to giveit, and state as rea-
son for refusal that at the end of the
fiscal year, it was his custom to make
such a report, and that itwould be time
enough then for them to ask for it.
Such an answer would secure his i'm
mediate removal aud disgrace.
But wher the Republican members
of the City Council united in re
quest to Mayor WALKER to furnish a
statements of the financial condition
of the city. they met with the reply
that he would make his annual state
ment atthe close Of the year, and the
Democratic Councilmen at his in
stance, refused to call for the report,
giving as a reason that it was g estab
Hsl,ing anRea0 Precede,ai = And the
Mayor very gravely said that it could
not be made up in less than two
weeks. 81 81 a " E XII Fl
1t may be asked, why should such
report be called for at this time ?
We answer When the complaint is
very generally made that the taxes
have been increased thirty-three per
cent. in one year, the Mayor and
Democratic Councilmen give As the
reason for it that they were compelled
to levy the increased taxes to pay The
debts Of he former Mayor and old
Council. The total amount of taxes
levied in 1868 was, according to the
Mayors figures, $52, 557 48 more than
In 1861. 1t is important to know
whether this largely increased amount
of money, levied oStensibly to pay the
old debts of the City. has been used
for that purpose; and there is no way
10 which it can be made known unless
we geh such a statement as the one
called for by Mr.. STEELE. And this
fact. should be made known to the
tax payers Of Evansville 500. IF
more than fifty thousand dollars have
been taken from the pockets of the
people for this purpose, it is highly
important to know, before tte 4leet
election, whether the present Council
and Mayor have rightfully appropria-
ted it, or whether they have squan-
dered it upon extravagant and lazy
officials, and unnecessary improve
ments, which might have been post
poned. + ~. . I, Z. {. NJ II
We allege that a full and truthful
statement of the City finances viii
show that, in place ofreducing the debt,
the Mayor ard present Council haze
largely increased al. ~ While the PEG.
pie have paid heavier taxes than ever
before in the history Of the City, the
debt of Evansville to-day is larger
than it ever was. If this is nos the
fact, let Mayor WALKER comply with
the earnest demand of taxpayers
and show what he has done with the
money. We affirm that never in any
past administration has there been so
greatan expenditure for City officials,
never such Liberal allowances to ia
vOrite political iob5ers, never such
unprecedented Bank discounts. never
such financial mismana cement and
extravaganza. Mayor WALKER knows
this, and he further knows that such
a report a. that seslIed for at the last
session Of Che O0nneil would scensien
him and his party to hopeless defeat
and disgrace at the April election.
And he and his DemoeFatic assoc
ciates in the Council, have shown
their P6lftfcat sagacity IN refusing the
reasonable inquiry demanded by tax
payers. EA 4E4Aha & Ta8ENEF
1t is a fimsy pretext set up by the
Mayor that it would take two weeks
TO make such report; but if it would
require two weeks for him to get it
up, why did heSnot ask for that time,
and like faithful officer. who was
not afraid to let the people know ,the
facts, give them cheerfulIy? 1t is a
small matter to ascertain the amorint
of City Bonds. outstanding. He has
a record Of them IN his POSSESSION,
and that could be given in a few min
utes. Less than two days would suf-