Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-03-01

Democrat, by citizen Of Watertown. It
is plain, straightforward and truthful
statement of the condition of our STAIRS,
the above named paper to the contrary
not Notwithstanding:
EDS DBaocRAr:-On reading your edi
torial in the Democrat Of Feb. 18th, headed
ga Raid upon the School Fund.- person
acquainted with the facts in regard 10 the
Watertovn Railroad Bonds, and especially
in regard to the bills now before the Legis-
lature, would hsrdly believe that your ia
formants we're pTominen mem bers of ortho.
dox churches, and had the fear of God or
the Devil constantly before their eyes. The
editorial referred 10 does great injustice to
the Inventors Of these bills, and at the same
time unless contrad;cted may do incaleulable
injury to the tex payers Of this city; there
FORE for your information and that of your
many readers, will give condensed his
tory of our railroad bonds AMI the various
attempts made to settle with the holdora
thereof, aud nov and here challenge the
world to prove the fAlsity Of my story.
About eight yatrs ago, otter hsving made
every imag Unable defence 10 prevent judg.
ments against US on these bo4ds, large
proportion Of our citizens, more especially
the hesvy tAx-pay~A oamo to the conclus.
ion thst the 6sbt he'd better 10 compromis-
ed, while enother portion Of the commnni-
IT, advocated rsrudiative 0nd extreme meas
Ares to prevent the collection Of the judg
ments. fhe subject of compromise or no
compromise was discussed aud vrasgled
over for yesr or tao by the common
IN nd n hn At
corners, without result, with the exception
of causing . deal Of crininatlon and re-
criminaton in regard y the vsting and is
suing OF the bonds.
Several pnns were nit upon ono Of
~es to Issue metz bonds, pay
able in fifteen annual irstallments, to be
exchanged for the old bonds At 50 cents on
the dollar Of the principal, al coupons for
interest to be surrendered st the same time,
provided 'thst no new bonds should issue
until, Soy, four-ffths of the bond-hslders in
amount should accept this OFFER"
| The people having become awsrs thst it
| takes two to make a bargain, and that the
| four ffths plan Vas entirely impracticable
on account Of the impossibility Of finding
| tour-6ths Of the bond owners at one time
repudiated that part Of the plan ana order
| ed the exchange to go on ss fast as cid
bonds were prese...sd The compromise
went on quite satisfactorily tor two or three
years, during which time some $53, 600 of
| The old bonds were redeemed with the new
issue above spoken Of. Suddenly the 'pay-
nothing" element again forced itself to the
surface, formed THAT they are pleased to
term the "Ordern of Union League, based
upon the exploded General Settlement"
| humbug, being careful, however, not to
commit themselves to any tangible method,
| how to pay, or how much to pay on the
dollar, but broke up the exchange plan, and
| two years ego, having succeeded in grasp
ing the relns of the city government, even
went so far IS to refuse to levy the tax to
pay the new bonds The more sagacious
| portion of the community deeming it alb
solutely necessary in order to maintain our
position before the courts, that we should
at all times be prepared to compromise in
some manner, conceived the idea of form
| ing the 'City Debt Association
This Association is composed of all tax
| pa ers who approve OF its plans, and the
| projectors were and are DESTROYS that every
tax payer should become a member. In
stead of ''bond-scalpers, its purposes ara
briefly these: Taking the assessment Of
| 1872 as a basis, it was estimated that 10 per
cent. on this assessment would pay all The
| outstanding original bonds if they could be
| procured at As cents on the dollar of the
! prime pal-the 10 per cent. to De paid into
| tie hands of the treasurer Of the Association
in four equal installments as fast o. neces-
sary to pay for bonds-and all taxpayers
| having become members, and consequently
contributed their just and equal proportion
towards the liquidation of the debt, and all
/ the bonds having been compromised and in
the possession of the Association, they were
to be Cancelled by being burned in the pres.
ence of relieved and happy people. But
| ''pay nothing being more popular than
s'pay something" the Association never be
came rs universal as had been hoped, and
consequently the money was not for thcom-
ing when bonds were offered for compro-
mise, only to small amount. Your arti-
Gle speaks about 10 to % cents on the dollar
having been paid tor these bonds, which is
not correct-45 cents on the dollarwas paid
for every one. no more, no less. The Debt
Association again proving failure the
question was, what next? and this brings
me down to the discussion of the bills be-
| IOIC tuC 4CS iSldtulC WulCu lIlUuCEu tI6 com
ments on your part to which we object.
| The bills were designed and drawn up by as
good. honest men as reside in this commun-
ity and though they are not approved in
their entirety even by the .pay something :,
portion CT the people, there was not The
least intention of ga raid upon the school
fund" or ''the taxpayers of that city to be
further bled to satate the greed of money
mougers." The intention is, and was, to
borrow sufficient to settle the whole debt,
from the school fund, in sums as needed,
apply the same to the purchase OF bonds at
SO cents on the dollar of the principal,
honestly and promptly refund the amount
borrowed, and interest, according to the
law, and in this manner relieve the city of
this bond debt without depressing it's peo-
pie Or wronging the state. The bills will
be changed and improved so as so meet the
views and desires of the "pay something"
citizens in our midst and the people of the
state and then we shall ask the legislature
to enact them into law. We ask 20 more
of the legislature than has been granted to
| other localities, and will so frame and
! amend the bills that there will not be the
least danger of loss to the state. The
amount of our debt I do not wish to dis
cuss, s.ffice it to say that the amount to be
| borrowed by this scheme and anplied &C.