New-York tribune., 1875-01-27


the principal of the debt be paid of. Six
hundred thousand dollars is equivalent to
contribution of two dollars from every adult
male inhabiant of the city. ..
Really it Is time to ask il the city debt Is
ever to stop growing. The TRIBUNE for sew
eral days past has contained an advertisement
inviting proposals for S6i5y0O0 Of dock and
other bonds, which are to be awarded by the
Controller at two o'clock tomorrow. This, OF
course, is nothing remarkable 1t is as COM
mon an occurrence as frosty night in Winter.
We see the city groaning under @ three per
cent tax and at the same time expendlng
round ten million dollars in excess of the
amount the taxes produce. The brooklyn
bridge, the gigantic sChemo OF granite piers
and sea wall the end ess chain OF Douie-
ward. mark. and avenue improvements
and the half-dozen other projects 1or
which bonds are necessarily issued may be
very desirable, but we confess our inaDillty
to account for tho want oil toresignt
manifested on every side in regard to
the increase of the city debt for such
purposes. by means of borrowing, our
citizens have been able, with the smallest
possible increase Of taxes, to raise ana
expend annually the largest possible sum
of money. For example, by adding only SIX
hundred thousand dollars to the taxes they
obtained last year ten million dollars 10
spend. Yet they complain of the tores! DO
they expect to invest ten million dollars IN
boulevards, docks, bridges, &c., without tax
ing themselves at ALI
1t is now nearly four years since Mr.. Green
Al. A. Of tha OF
we seem to be as far as ever from dispensing
with what Adam Smith calls the "ruinous e1-
"pedient" of raising money by the issue oi
bonds. We trust that posterlty Will be o.
honorable and strictly punctilious In the dis
charge Of every obligation TO tho public credi'
TOR AZ we ourselves conceive ourselves to
be. Yet, if such should be tho case,
grievously heavy taxes are reserved tor
| posterity. In spite of the most industrious
borrowing, it is plain to sec that our taxes
steadily increase. The foreign and domeSllc
trade Of the city, its manufactures, and the
employments offered to its population, have
for the time being visibly ceased to increase,
vet the taxes and debt go on doubling up.
We have waited to hear from tho Legs
lature, the Mayor the Governor, or any
public officer, or any influential body OF citl-
zens, an earnest, manly protest III plain En-
glsh against this ruin0uS aggregation OF mu-
nicipal debt. There is always grumblng
enough about the taxes, but no honorable
citizen ought to object to tax sulh-
cieat TO pay the expenses. Either
three per cent on the assessed valuation OF
property is moderate rate or it Is not. IL 1t
is, there IS nothing to complain OF. II II is
not by what right do we undertake 80 spend
ten million dollars moro than the present.
heavy taxes producef One thing is certain,
that those WHO furnish the city that sum ox-
pect to receive back the full value of their
money. The people do not get the ten mil
lioas for nothing. So far a. the effect on The
private citizen is concerned, each owner OF
property might as well mortgage his estate
and nay his share at once. All taxable prop
erty ON this island is worth its due proportion
less on account of the city dcbt than
it would be did not the debt exist.
There is no honorable escape from tdc
burden. On the contrary, there is danger IN
this headlong increase OF our permanent o5li-
cations. The growth of our city might receive
permanent check, and the corporation
actually be forced TO compromise with its
creditors. How would our merchant princes
and old KnickerbOcker families like that I
Were such bankruptcy the result of war or
of desperate struggle for national existence,
t. would be sufficiently humliatinR. but ii 1t
should be the consequence OF profuse eXpendi-
lures for boulevards and parks, granite sea-
walls and Brooklyn bridges, it would be more
than humiiiating. lt would be disreputable.