The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-03-21
Judge Snow Gives Some Figures
On the Subject.

*
le studies to the public through the
L press. In doing so, I beg first tC
e cali attention to few things which
y each one knows, or must know il
: attention is called to them:
First-lt is known that land and
n water are both gifts of God; yet man
e uses both, and Of necessity must con-
q tinue to use them.
Secondhand is immovable, bat
! water is movable. Land can be seq.
e regated, and one piece given to one
o and another 10 another person. with
il reasonably accurate limits. Water,
Q generally, can net It fnctuates.
j evaporates, runs and flows. With "a
. the land is good with ,hs water, and
the water with the land. The water
and the land must be used together.
We cannot depend solely on rains.
LAST season lhs water was scarce
and by reason OF that scarcity the
!; attention Of all was turned to the
subject. I have Stat d that nay bust
ness lead me 10 understand to q
limited extent the condition of the in
habi;ants Of tne county who reside
out ide of this city. 1t appeared to
me that theiT condition was worse
than ours as to water. l heard much
also of the condition Of the inhabi-
tants CT the city who reside On the
! Twentieth Ward bench. All these
are, or at least may be, well known,
and ally are not needed in the re.
marks, | have to make except 10
show the Importance of all consider
ing them in their vote on the ques-
ton OF the loan.
Before noticing further the statute
| will state a few maXims of law
which have an influence on this sub
ject. One is, The first in point Of
time is first in right" And the
other is: So use your own property
as not to injure others, which by
implication may include so exercise !
your own rights as not TO take away
the rights of others. It Is not a re-
cognized principle OF law that an
exclusive right to the use of water |
may be acquired by appropriation |
and lost by Abandonment.
With this before me, / go to the |
statlte. The statute conters the |
power on the City Council for the
purpose of providing money where
with 10 construct a canal and other
works, by means of which to supply |
the inhabitants OF said city with
water, and borrow money to an
amount rot exceeding the sum of
$3.50, 900, either by theis of coupon
bonds or other negotiable securities,
as said City Council shall deem most
conducive II the interest Of the city.
Here arises the frat point to be
considered. / will compute il little
in erteRSo. l will suppose the money
borrowed at s PEI cent. per snnum,
the interest payable annually and the
principal in fifteen years, and allow
annually for the costs of assessing,
collecting, and disbursing the money
and nothing for delinquency. The
assessment roll Of the taxable prop
erty Of the city is now about 81 ,0O0,-
600.
The interest On this sum, $3.50, 600,
at s per cent. will be $50, 600 per an.
mum, to which l will add for costs OF
collections, etc., only $1,000 an
nually, making an expense in ad
dition to our other expenses, OF SOL
600 per annum. This will be an an
nual tex on the present taxable prop
erty il the city of So per $1,000. a
persoD, then, who owns taxable
property in the city to the amount
Of 50 coo must psy Sc per annum;
one that owns SO. 900 must pay $50
per annum, and one who owns
800, 600 must pay $500 per aBnum
to pay the interest. The person who
pays s. per annum will in fifteen
years pay $40; the one who pays
Sc will pay $50; the one who pays $50
will pay $3.50; the one who pays $500
will pay 81 800; and still the principal
of $3.50, 600 is to be raised.
Any person who now has taxable
property in the city, and knows the
assessed value thereof, can with a
little computation fill in the balance
for himself, This you zee, Mr.. Editor,
Is counting the cost. This Is the
burden OF the matter, assuming that
the value of property continues for
fifteen years the same as 1t now ls, ,
without increase or dlminutlon,
which We al know will not be the
case. Allowances must, therefore, be
made for this change Of value; it may
be increased value. if SO, the burden
grows less annually. Each voter
must estimate this for himself. You
see, too, I have been minute in this.
l have descended to Particular. TEis,
is supposing no part of the
to be paid during the fifteen
years. When payments are made 90
the principal the interest diminishes-
We lock further to the act. Section
two REQUIRES the City Council to set
apart semi-apuually one-fith OF Its
revenue, II pay the II tsrest and prln
cipgl. We will look to this little.
do not know the annual amount Of
the city revenue. Suppose it to
be sos. GEO, then the amount
set apart pays only the interest.
Suppose il to be $50, coo per annum,
then $4,000 per annum Is set apart,
S2I 600 OF which to pay the interest,
and $1,000 on the prinCipa! will be |
annually paid. This pays m fifteen |
yesrs the interest and something in |
excess of S135, 900 OF the principal.
Here it i necessary to bear in mind |
that when we pay $1,000 on the
principal each year, We, as before |
said, diminish the interest. II a
computation was made-I have not
done tit might be found thst the |
payment of the $4,000 per annum
would in fifteen years nearly, per
haps quite, pay the interest and
principal.
[Since penning the above, ! have
made a rough estimate, and hnd
the amount thus annually applied will
reduce the principal 10 something
less than O,O00 in the fifteen
years.
When our present revenue act was
under consideration before the com.
mittee of the House on revenue, l re-
marked then that, IN my judgment,
the cities, by their charters, have
conferred on them greater means to
obtain a revenue in proportion to their
duties than the Legislature have ever