Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-02-17
LOCAL. INTELLIGENCE,
THE CITY TAN.

How Il Republican Street Com n.llittee In
creased It.
Mayor iiacGOniges Annual Messi4r; lsci.
TO those who do not watch closely the
current of our municipal events it may
seem strange that while the actual debt
of the city is cut down $l5, 600 for the
year, the taxation for city purposes has
increased two mills or from 20 to 30 cents
ON the 500 valuation. For the solution
of this anomaly the reader mast recall the
operations in the street department in the
summer of 1870. 1t will be recoIlected
that at that time there was work unneces-
sarily and illegally undertaken, such as
laying Belgian blocks in Centre Square,
tearing up and relaying crossings which
would have served good purposes for years,
ordering sewer traps which upon
trial had to be Abandoned, and other
jobs equally unnecessary put through,
aggregating OH the tst of June, 1890,
nearly $4,000. On many of the bills
making up this amount, suit has been
brought and Judgment recovered The
costs, interest and principal OF these bills
now aggregate over 100000. Before 1874
this excess in expenditure could have been
turned into funded debt, and the interest
Of the amount only added to the taxation.
But the new constitution stopped all that,
and where the aggregate Of indebtedness
has been reached allowed under the fun
damental law, as with us, the amount IN
excess of the limit must be paid by direct
taxation. This 500, 900 of indebtedness,
made by the street committee Of two
years ago, must be t!Ius paid; hence the
two mills additional city taxation for this
year. 1t is to be hopei that this expert
ence will have not have been in vain. that
the several departments having the city's
finances to disburse will stop on the hither
side Of that which is illegal.
l shall endeavor from time to time, rs in
the past, to notify councils of the condi-
ton Of the appropriations. The attention
of councils was called by M in special
messages over aud over again to the con
dition of the appropriation for street pur-
poses and to the illegality OF the work
undertaken in the street department nearly
two years ago, the payment for which by
taxation is So loudly complained of now,
but the effective check could not be at
taincd until the court was appealed to and
an injunction granted. How much that
injunction was worth to the city may be
estimated by those ia miIiar
with the reckless extravaganza which had
already fastened upon the city nearly
;16, 900 at the time the court came to the
rescue.
Accident Oh tho Heading Railroad.
On the Reading & Columbia railroad,
about four o'clock Oh Thursday afternoon,
two freight trains, which closely follow
each other, and drawn by iengincs "Osh-
kosh and "Ephrata," were going north.
When the latter train neaced Keller's sid
ing it was cut and the rear cars left to run
on the siding themselves. At that NOM
ent the other train, drawn by Oshkosh"
came laundering along, and, there
being dense fog, the engineer
was unable TO see ahead and
ie ran into the shifting cars. About
4 dozen cars were wrecked and the en-
yine =" Oshkosh " was badly damaged.
The cowcatcher was broken to pieces and
the bell, whistle and smokcstack torn off.
The engineer and fireman jumped from
The engine and escaped. One brakeman
received slight injury. The passenger
train due at Lititz at 4:3j p. m. did not
arrive until Q o'clock in the evening. The
u recl waS cleared ilr;ny jba nirht