The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-08-13

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lnvestigated bet it must not be under.
stood thst thi1 Mn Mphclty can be a.
readily applied 70 bstnGtng the corpora.
fion ost of debt ~ to,x khorsugh Under
stAndl1gof tho question - ,sas...s..s 's -,
ThS matter can be- resumed 80 fol.
lows: Undet a the k.ameuded budget
sdcptsd tseentiy thS N.s r1a tSSlr n
counts when they go out OF Office. eib
rHr GREAT DIFFICULTY
lies In keeping the streets and markets
clean and In ret,nir. the running Of the
draining macbfDes, and the payment OF
the employees In the Depsrtment OF
renaiuing months OF the year. II Is
true That Il Is proposed TO add 80, 900 to
the budget Of this department., the
amount to be taken from q similar sum
ret apart as a contingent to satisfy
judgments against the city. This would
z give twelve thousand dollars per mouth
TO the department.; bat tsunfortunately,
according to Mr.. Burke's figures, nearly
ten thousand dollars monthly 10 needed
TO remove the garbage from the refuse
boxes. placed every morning 10 front o. y
clean; to pay the bridgc-keepers and
garbage bumpers, and run the drain
age mHchineBs all absolute necessities.
Then whore - the money +? come from
to meet tho expenses which Mr.. Burke
also claims are absolutely necessary to
prepare the commercial thoroughfares
of the city for the approaching business
season, and to lnaintA1n the flying gangs
requisite to clean the cutters and sew.
ers, fill up the rnts Ia the streets, and
II is si.lsolclaimed that the current cx-
penses Of the other departments must
be psid az they are Incurred, and, there
fore, the .ss. i s4S6h
THE ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS
which it Is proposed 70, obtain as an ad-
vance from private athena, would have
twofold purpose. 5q.llla. .fff eaF .,pa
But TO begin at the beginning, 1t Is
we'll to learn she exact state Of the city's
financial condition, that Is, so far as the
necessity OF these one hundred thou
sand dollars is concerned. gs s,
The books st the CITY Hall, beyond
question, show y delinquency IN the tax
receipts Of five millions dollars or more !;
an extraordinary amount II 10 true, but
according to the following figures OBJ
tanned from Mr.. Pilsbury, our Admins
trntQr Of Finance: aaG Asla :. sas tn6R,
On the 3oth June, 1876, the estimated
value Of the tar bills then outstanding,
including the year 1876, was $2, ,525, 900.
Since then, tue taxes of 1876. amounting
to t1,7O0,000, became due, and which.
added to the above, make "a, ,225, 900.
Since June, 1876, there have been col
lected on all years, up to and including
1875. et .301 ,00O,s and on the Tux OF 1876
balance Of $1 ,591 900 still due on to the
estimate Of collectablc, taxes, $500, ,OOO. Of
which are sttll duo on the taxes of 1875.
The estimate mentioned, which figures
on the. budget, is based on the fact that
that sum only can be realized on the
total Or $5 900, 900, from the following
causes A large amount 1t Is claimed Is
due on personal property, slaves,
capital and SO on, debtors having
passed away. either physically or
pecuniarily; another portion Is pre-
scribed by irregnlarity OF charges,
the mortgage Office tax jmbroglio,
and the differences existing between the
present owners OF the Opelousas and
Jackson Railroads lsay about $50, 900 IN
the latter cases,) and q further decrease
occurs through the operation OF the
legislative enactment authorizing the
receipt by the city. .of one dollar OF scrip
for two d. liars OF taxes for the years
1850 to 1865 inclusive.
The next question which arises Is
WHY THE TAXES ARE NOT COLLECTED
under the estimate. This is answered
by the statement that one. third OF the
property In the city Is not occupied, and
either the property ownersare unable to
pay or sre Indifferent a. TO whether they
pay their taxes Or not. indifferent. be-
Is seized and advertised for sale, conf
dent 10 they are that there are no
In fact. such PROPERTY alone u offered
for sale by the Sheriff as he thinks will
not be sHcrihced BY its owners who. can
afford TO settle. Even In these cases
the seized properties are so numerous
that they can be put up FOR sole only In
batches, the process being necessarily
slow. and consequently the money
comes into the city treasury slowly.
But even admitting that the entire
amount OF back taxes were paid, It
would not assist the city In the least SO
THIS YEAR IS CONCERNED.
No portion would relieve the city, be-
cause every cent OF the taxes OF each |
year is pledged to the payment Of the
floating debt OF the years for which they
are coliectable. The case is the same
for the present year. 1876.
We now return TO the actual necessi-
ties Of the. city. The proposition to