The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-06-04

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January 16-Fixtures. .... 1873 10
AIaroh 27-62, 900 lbs pipe and
fixtures 384O rs
March 3l-14, 200 lbs. pipe and
fixtures .1.133 90
fixtures .1,4O5 40
17,4o1 16
Total. .s21 $3.50 23
Upon these accounts, the committee
make the following observations: That the
Expenses for the Department. Of Police and
Guard House, for the year ending March
|31, 1870, cost the city 50, Al 30; and it is
believed that this sum is sufficient now for
jail useful purposes-in other words, that
the Police Department costs about twice
what it should cost; the whole amount
|spent on detectives is not included in this
account, some of the payments amounting
Ito 9412, ,25, having been charged to contin-
gent account and 30 posted. At this rate,
(it requires tax of between three and four
mills per annum to pay the expenses of the
Police Department alone.
The Street Department seems to have
been conducted on the same scale of ex-
travagance as that of police. The expenses
for the two years under examination are
double the expenses of the year ending
nAhkcn oo, AotO, duO SO laT RS In0 Clty mas
Improvements to represent it, there is no.
thing that the committee can mention. I'll
is believed that this department could bel
efficiently kept up at an expense not above
that of the year mentioned-say about
1000 There are lnrge number of per-
sons liable to street tax, who have not
heretofore paid in money, nor discharged
the obligation by labor, who should be re-
|quired to do one or the other. 1t is be-
lieved that if these persons were systemnti-
cally organized into gangs. much of the
nothing in money. The present Clerk,
BIZ. Richard Jones, has begun plan to
utilize this labor, which, it is hoped he
will be sustained by the City Council in
carrying out.
In this account, the committee find n
charge of Ga, 900 paid the Charlotte, Colum-
bia and Augusta Railroad for opening
Upper Boundary street. The Charlotte,
Columbia and Augusta Railroad crosses
this street to the East of the Insane Asylum,
and it seems to have had permission, when
the road was constructed, to fill it mp. Of
course, this permission was subject to re-
call by the City Council Mt any time when
it was desirable to have the street opened
The committee are not able to see any rea-
son why the city should pay $4,000 for
what it had right to demand without
cost. The payment was not for any ser
vices or advantages rendered, and ought to
be refunded.
| The Aims House Department presents
waste. The expense for the thirteen months
ending April 80, 1874, aggregates over
\ S10,0 900. For this period, the payments to
! the "indigenI poor" receiving assistance
Out of doors, averages nearly $500 per
month. Only two or three of these accounts
pretend to be itemized. Some of them are
approved by the Overseer of the Poor, but
there is generally no evidence to whom the
assistance was rendered, nor any definite
information upon whose order. For a
month, the accounts nre condensed into
half dozen entries. Such loose system
should be ended at once, as it is not only q
wasteful mode of dispensing charity, but a
great encouragement to idleness and yaga-
bondage generally.
] Section Of the Act of March 2, 1871,
vests the Mayor and Aldermen of the city
Of Columbia with all the power and au-
thority over the poor within the city, which
may belong. to the County Commissioners
:. Of Richland County over the poor Of said
County. 1t provides, also. that the Mayo,
and Aldermen may assess and collect O
poor tax, to be used for their support,
limiting said tax to ten per cent. on the
lamount Of taxes paid to the city. At the
time of the passage of this ACT the total
taxes authorized to be assessed upon the
real and personal property of the city was
limited to one per cent, and it would seem
to have been the intention of the Legisla-
ture to. authorize special tax of one mill
per annum for this purpose aud no more
The committee recommend that hereafte,
suoh tax be levied and collected as 9
! ..poor fund" and that all expenditures for
the support Of the poor shalll be limited
thereto. This ,tax would produce from
l94, 900 TO $1,000, and exceeds the amount
spent for the Aims House Department for
Iany year previous to that of 1874.
/ In the Water Works Department, your
committee find that during the fifteen
months ending with April so. 1874, about
lS22, GOO of new work was done, all OF
which large sum went into the hands OF
MIR. John Alexander. The committee. ex-
lpress no opinion as to the necessity for
|these improvements or additions, but con-
fine themselves 10 the following remarks:
That so large an amount Of work should
have been opened to competition and le.
\ TO the lowest bidder. This was not done,
and the committee Is informed that no con.
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