Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-08-07
SHELBY'S SAVINGS.
Wonderful Change in the Management
of County Finances in the Past
Sixteen Years.
From a Floating Debt Of S750,OOO to
S35,600-COunty Scrip Doubled
in Valae-The Causes.

Have you ever thought OF the wonderful
improvement made IN county financial sf-
fair-?" remarked 3 county fuancier to an
APPEAL man yesterday.
"Why?" was asked.
Because, if not, you would find much to
interest the public. The average citizen
thinks very little OF thtss things. As a rule,
he pays his taxes and never questions where
they 90 to. Not thst he does rot take an
interest, but simply becau-e he has net the
time 10 go about pubic offices asking ques-
tons, and because he knows, If he did, the
Information he would get would be Of such a
di-joinled nature ne could not pu; il together
connectediy. He is too busy, VIXEN reports
ara made, TO study a dreary tabulsted state
meut of expenses. After a while be grows
10 look on all public officials with q
CERTAIN DEGREE OF DIsrRUsr
and regards them ss necessary ev. IL. He
never hears a discussion in the County
Court-to visit the courthouse il so ~iutolera-
bic bore. And yet this is an unnatural feel
ing. The man Of business takes the s~,rictest
account of every cent of money be pays
out TO other claimants. But his tax bills be
flies away in some forgotten place and there
they lie unheedsd. He never asks, How was
the money expended He has a vague idea
that 1t goes 10 grease the
WHEELS OF GOVERNMENT,
10 pay court costs and jail fees and pave
streets and build Bird ges-the tulk of it be-
irg paid out in salaries. But he does not
stop 10 parlicularize. He never calculates
how much this work or that work cost The
county and how much it should have cost.
II he does go at all ii IL in a l~anguid, half.
hearted sort Of a way. and his conclusions
are soon forgotten. With very SIN all public
work he does not worry himself al ali, and
| hiu anntra ef5 ba nboottat,nn .
big job, and it must be confessed he is in a
great measure juslii BILE. Every man in
Shelby county Is 20. But the trickery and
iobbery Cf the past will never be repealed 10
the future. The vast changes that have
been made in the
ASPECT OF PUBLIC NANCE
in the past fifteen or twenty years is simply
startling. l. shows at once 10 what an out
rageous extent the people were robbed Of
their money. The debt Of Shelby county six.
teen years ago was over 81 100000. In 1867
the tioatiog debt WAS $4,000, the bonded
debt OF the Memphis and Louisville railroad
S30O,O00. and that of The Selma railroad aud
Padncah railroad about the same. The debt
OF $4,000 has been paid, and tue ou,stsnd-
ing bills OF the county to-day are not more
than $50, 900. Tn bonded debt of the Pa
duch railroad has been settled, that of the
Selma half paid and the 100000 Mem
pul7 II IdlITOdu DJUC5 are 10 De
settled on easy terms. Oae hundred thou
sand dollars will be funded next year, a like
amount IN 1885 and the remainder in 1886
Ii will BE- an easy matter to pay the interest
~ them. With the same hlatirg debt
speak Of, and our present cheap system q
government, and with 1900 600 or $500, COZ
Of back taxes 10 collect, and which IAN easily
be collected under the new law, the future
looks very bright. This cou'd not ave bsen
done had there been much of the jobbery by
which the heavy debts l speak Of were piled
up. There he's been but one ilb-the court
houso. II cost $4,000, which was
"a PURE WASTE or MONEY.
The running expenses ere necessarily
heavy and the county has had come misior
tunes, notably that Of 1877, when all the
bridges In the county we're carried away by
a flood and had to be rebuilt. An expansive
iron bridge, costing about 500, 0GO, has slso
bsen built at Easley's, and q poorhouse fol
$4,000 that in the good cid times of rings
would have cost three times that amount"
Speaking Of the Poorhouse, there CT be nc
better means of illustrating the force of The
above than by a reference 10 its AFFAIR.". Prior
to the year 1876 there had been the greatest
abuses there, aud so much criminal careless
ne's, TO say the least, 10 its In management that
it WAS much as a MAS reputation was worth
TO touch il. Cooks and solutions and ofics
boys ordered what they wanted and had il
charged. Thets were ne vouchers 10 amcua
10 anything, and a sineularly careless aud
reckless manner Of doing business prevailed
----s VICE n greuu
EAL or SCANDAL
about the ~intefior Workings Of the poor
h0use; and the orgies that rere held there,
aut lie Gaily press Wss ioGi III lis deuaud
for reform. In 1876 justice J. NJ. Coleman
was elected commissioner, and he at once
bsgan a rigid system Of bookkeeping, with a
written order and voucher tor every dims
expended. From an annual expenditure OF
about $4,000 a year the cost of running the
poor house dropped down at one single leap
TO 1890 35 for The year 1876. The expense
for the following six years were, s95CS 65,
$500, SS267 OS, SS434 So, 1892 rs. and
1923 70, respectively, a total of S60,536 As
for seven year,. For the seven years prevI-
Gus the exact expensee are not and never can
be known exactly, but the books Of 1875
shoT as much as S27, 600 and his is said by
those who know TO be a low average. TAX
ing it as a fair basis, however, the
EXPENSES FOR THE SEVEN YEAR
prior TO 1876 were no less that 1889 COO, a
difference in a favor Of reform Of SIPS
463 52-nearly 100000 paved after building
a splendid asylum for the poor. As the
average number of INN ltos was the same, il
liz not difficult to decide in what manner 30
much money was Consumed.
The fact OF the Increased value OF country
scrip alone may be cited as a proof Of the
long strides made 10 thess sixteen years tc-
ward reform. 10 1876 it was worth forty-ive
cents and TO day it floats almost dollar for
dollar.