Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-04-13
PROBABLY no reader of the BULLETIN


will deem 1t necessary that we should Sc
rieusly undertake to answer the combina-
ton of spleen, Misrepresentation and inn
potent malice directed at US in the col
umns of our contemporary this week.
With willingness to deal a foul blow,
our neighbor has neither the skill nor dis
erection to make it effective. The purpose
of his labored and vindictive screcd is to
make it appear that, whereas the BULLE-
TIN was once Independent, it now wears a
"brass collar; THAT while it once "criticis-
ed Grant and his administration, it after
ward ''ceased criticising," &C. the infer
ence that he would convey being, that
this change (O was owing to the fact that
the editor had become postmaster. Now,
it is easy to make these vague and wild
statements, especially if you do not have
to support them by specification or dem
onstration, and we suppose they furnish
very convenient safety-valve for our
neighbours spleen and jealousy, but we do
not suppose that even he is dolt enough
to think that they will have any effect up,
on the public. We are not called upon
to defend the independence Of the BULLE-
TIN If its columns do not show that it
is the reverse of trucking, servile pa
per, in short, the opposite of the Conser
oative, our assertions in that regard would
have little effect. We are willing to be
judged by the record it has made. Mean
while, regardless of the assaults of puny
and impotent malicc, 1t will continue, as
in the pa st, to demonstrate its true indie
pendence by freely criticising public men
and measures when criticism is demanded,
and refrainihg when there is no occasion
for criticism. Its independence is not of
the sort that needs to be demonstrated by
constant and indiscriminate warfare
against everything done by its party.
ROAD IMPROVEMENT All who have
had occasion to pas s over the road west
Of this city, are acquainted with the Oft
en- horrible condition of that portion of it
between the Burlington railroad track
and the Fair Grounds. Even in the dry.
est weather 1t is rough aud uncomforta-
BILE to ride upon, but In wet weather and
in the spring and fall it is almost lmpassa
BILE, though much of the country trade
reaches our city by that route. 1t is out
side the city limits, and has to depend for
its repairs on the tax levied upon the
property in It's immediate vicinity, which
is utterly inadequate for that purpose.
1t has been proposed in view of its i'm
portance to the trade of the city, that a
certain per centage of the road tax levied
within the city limits be expended upon
it. This can be done according to law,
by consent of the citizens, expressed at
an election, and it is for the purpose of
bringing it before the people for discus
sion, that this article is written. 1t is ar
gued by those who advocate the propo-
sltion, that our city streets are now in
such condition that small per centage
of the street tax can be spared to this
purpose without detrlment to the public
interests. We are not prepared to ad-
vance an opinion as to the merits of the
proposition without further examination
Meanwhile, We throw our Columns open
to those who may wish to discuss it.