Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-02-10

this. Lime street is unpaved and ungraded,
and while it is 30 the macadamizing of this
square of James street is without the
shadow of public advantage"
His Resolute Efforts.
From the Lancaster Examiner u nj Expire ss
Aug. Is, 1878,
We express but the sentiment of all
right-minded, considerate, tax-payins citi-
zens, of both parties, when We extend to
Mayor MacGonigle thanks for havin. call
ed the attention of councils and the public
in genelal to the illegal and extravagant
acts of the street committee or rather the
ring which has been running it and the
tool called the street commissioner. We
hope the mayor will not stop at - protest
ing" and calling the attention of councils
to their extravaganza and illegal proceed
lngs, but will, if necessary, proceed by in
junction to restrain them, and also hold
the ringleaders individually lia ble when
they shall run the city in debt. 1t is no.
toriOus that there has been in this depart
ment at least RECKLESSNESs AND EXTRAvA-
GANCE II NOT CORRUPTION, and so far as
We are concerned WE SHALL SUSTAIN
THE MAYOR in his efforts to compel an
observance, at all events, of the forms of
law, and We hope he will not hesitate
when occasion requires to call the attention
OF councils and the public to the short
comings Of those in authority.
Calling q Halt.
Philadelphia Times, Sept. 4, 1872
mayor MacGOnigle, of Lancaster, has
been trying to call a halt on the councils
of that city in the matter of municipal
finances. The mayor sees that the coun-
cils either won't see or decline to rccoS-
nize, that gradually growing debt must
| sooner or later lead to trouble, that it must
sometime be paid, and that it isn't by any
means as easy to pay a debt as it is to make
| it. If the mayors advice is listened to
and arrangements made to spend money
no faster than it is collected, Lancaster may
stop its financial pyrotechnics in time
| to save itself from embarrassment.
Its credit stands high-some city bonds
which were called out by councils, financial
| recklessness having been easily placed re-
| Gently drawing only five per cent-hut it
cannot hope to retain any such position if
the increase Of debt is allowed to go OH
| regularly from year to year without any
| apparently good reason for it. A number
of the municipal corporations of the state
have got into trouble in this way and some
of them have sought to repudiate their OBJ
legations, but have been baf,ied in their
efforts by the courts. With population
of some twenty-seven thousand and a
property valuation for taxation of about
twelve and a-half millions, the bonded debt
of Lancaster is s594, 454, and the tax rate
20 cents on each one hundred dollars of
valuation. 1t may we'll bo doubted if any
tax paying citizen cares to have either the
debt or the tax rate increased, and yet that
! is the inevitable tendency of the policy
against which the mayor SO sensibly pro-
tests and in which protest he is most likely
sustained by large majority of the citi-
zens. 1t will occur to anybody, with the
history of so many financial disasters still
fresh in the mind, that it is not a good
time for anybody to go into debt, and it is
particularly undesirable that any munich
pal corporations should so any further
that way