American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-03-08
Guriey to the People.

our city affairs, at least LOT SeNeEai
t,ys to come.
No citizen is capable of managing
his own interests, ii he has any,
W 10 looks to the present only nor
are any set of atlm.niS ra;GrS IA
liable of managing isnblic inter. SIS
unless they predicate their policy Oh
principles which look to the future
good OF their constituents. This IL
what we call eu.ial-prOSi
ing for the future NOT the project
ing of expensive public lEp:Ovp.
ments by which overwhelming
Indebtedness is incurred, aud, AZ a
consequence, Ivy which the people
are reduced to mere bearers of
burden, hS q continual depicting
taxation, but so s:nanasin. current
means as to ultimately cOisluce to
the greatest good of the whole peO
pie, AMI this, by the strictrst ec"n-
Omy and wise forecast as to future
wants.
Has snch policy been pursued .
II ND, where are the results? As
We have said before, the collections
and disbursements Of this city sincr
1866 have been abOu. 100000 !;
more than $4O,OOO Of which have
leen under the present mayOrait, i,
since September, 1870. Now, bow
much OF this money haS bpea tx
pended for the i~nhr of the people.
at laryea Why. just IA" more. than
the officers could gtudgi".'y sis,rs'
from their gOrmanslizing packets.
Like the horse lteci,, they were ever
crying give, while ut the same time
the present and prospective respoW-
sibilities of the city were continually
increasing, aud now they are vastly
greater than ever heretofore.
| How long. fellow cItizens, caE sou
staud this sGrt Of AL uini~trAiinu :?
How long will you? And If some
of you are determined 70 stand it,
how long do you intend to enforce
it, ii they can help themselves We
read, not ten days ago. that the
good citIze.is of the city Of New
York were almost in a state Of in
surrectiOn against the pluntlpiin.
ripgs of that city. The peaceahle
taxpayer, pursuing his avnc. tinn.
relying on the sworn fidelity of the
officer, gives the subject of govern
ment very little attention, until,
finally. he finds himself, family,
property and business all mOrtgaged
the proceeds squandrred and con-
sumed by the licentiOus and extrav-
agant living of their falthless and
corrupt officers; aud unless the ppO-
pie arise and give these subjects
some attention, and exercise the
most wholesome and Restraining ill.,
fiuences ON society in general, and
public officers particularly, such will
he the case, to great extent,
thr. ughOut this country. Whether
we have sympathiSerS or NOT, we,
like the citizens of New York, are
III insnrrectiOn against all such
and, if heaven preserves us in sound
mind, intend to live aud die 80.
+" Well, Gurley, what remedy do
You propose?" "FideIiry to public
good, sir. "But to be more particu
lar: We propose to resiuc,. all sal
aries to u reasonable amount, cor
responding to what other prOficients
obtain for their labor or services;
to enter Into no contracts at enOr
rIOusly high rates; to see that
all work for the city is done at
reasonable prices; to see that all
moneys collected are paid in its
kind; to allow no POPULATION or
trading in city warrants by amy Off
Ger. and make penal to do SO, by
requiring the Mayor, at least quar-
terly, to submit Il full report of all
his receipts, and from what sources,
aud how he has disposed of the
same. And we may ~ we'll say
hereby assisting street Taxpayers or
others who wish to do SD, to pay
their taxes in employing them 10
work on the street for a longer pc
riOd than necessary to absorb their
taxes, should such work be needed.
In a word, husband all resources
and guard well the portals of the
treasury.
Ard i'm furtherance of such ends,
we would, instead of placing in
solvent offenders in Jail at the ex-
pense of the city, place them
on the streets, and save. the
city both the fine and expense of
keeping them, and the officer his
cost, and thus take away from the
latter one pretext for high salaries.
Aud suspicious persons should also
he warned to leave in some short
time. or AlispOsed OF in the same
way, and ot imprisOn them at the
expense OF pub ic funds.
We now come to one of the most
important subjects that concerns
the people, that of education. Our
common school system is exceeding
~ defective and wholly inefficient.
and too expensive for the term held.
How long will it take to educate the
people with the present system? why
just always, aud then not. The
term ought to he inci eased and that
might be effected withOr any fur
theI increase of taxation and that
would he an actual decrease to the !
extent that it would save tuition
and school houses should be erected
in convenient localities. where they
would accommodate the greaternum-
Der, aud give permanency to the
system. The present practice is to
Law school tax the trustees get to- |