Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-11-12
OLYMPIA. WASHINGTON TER.
OLYMPIA, FRIDAY EVENING, nov. u, 1856.
A Subject for Serious Thought.

A Subject for Serious Thought.
Now that the political goose is
cooked, the crane swung back, the
fire out and the broth settled, it may
be we'll for those who are not specially
hidden to the repast to turn their at
tention to something else for obtain
ing "square meal" Ben. Franklin
has told us that " A penny saved is
two-pence earned" and if this some
what anomalous assertion of this very
respectable authority is to be credited,
it behooves all OF us to cultivate the
virtue of frugality and begin doubling
up our savings at the earliest possible
moment
Many people of our county, and es-
pecia.iy of this town, have of late years
imbibed morbid hatred of the tax
gatherer. This feeling does not orig
mate from any abnormal conditions Of
the people, or form any unusual trait Of
character that has become impressed
upon the community as whole. Our
citizens are just as liberal, just as en-
terprising and public spirited, as any
other people possessing like advanta-
ges and capabilities. They are just as
willing to take step forward, if they
see their way clear, just as eager to in
vest their hard-earned means in any
thing that gives promise of adequate
returns in any tangible form. Why is
it, then, that every proposition for a
special tax levy meets with strenuous
opposition ? Is it because the objects
have not been invariably worthy? Is
it because there has not been an appa-
parent need for all the objects that
have been submitted requiring the cx-
penditure of more money than the reg
ular levy places in the public purse !?
No. We must look further for the
cause.
A retrospect of the management Of
town affairs may throw some light on
these queries. Our City Council has
generally been composed of men of
fair business standing and average in
tegrity, but their services have been a
gratuity, and as "Poor pay insures
poor work." it is probably not unfair
nor ungenerous to attribute many of
the mistakes of Judgment in the past
to the fact that competent men cannot
afford to serve the public with that
heartiness and zeal that would ade-
quately protect their interests with
out money and without price" It
will be remembered that few years
ago thousands of dollars were needless
ly poured into the bay in the construc-
ton Of Eastside bridge, which might
have been saved had the Council exer-
cised the same care and foresight man.
ifested in the management of their in
dividual affairs. Then the costly liti-
cation, which has already run up into
the thousands of dollars of loss to the
people, ON account of defective
sidewalk, resulting in a broken leg, a
calamity predicted times without num-
Der without eliciting the slightest at
tention from the Council, either of
whose members would surely have had
sense enough to obtain judicial test
and final determination of powers pos
sessed and liability involved, had the
matter been one of private concern.
A test suit to have settled all doubt
would have cost but a trifle and avert
ed all danger of accident. The ten or
twelve thousand dollars spent in plac-
ing sand-bags in the Deschuttes chan
mel in the vain endeavor to compel the
waters to wash out deeper one, was
about as PLAUSIBLE an undertaking as
the endeayor to extract sunbeams from
cucumbcrs.
A very recent blunder was commit
ed when the city located sewer 80
near one Of the fire cisterns that the
enormous pressure of tide-water that
set back in the conduit broke in one of
the plank sides and washed big pile
of dollars out Of the peoples purse.
In all these matters, there must have
been exceedingly poor judgment used,
or else the town has had most re-
markable siege of ill-luck!
The current expenses of the city are
likewise too large; at least the people
hold to a deep-grounded and abiding
belief that they are. The payment Of
$75 per month for man to keep the
water hot in our steam fire engine, is
out of all proportion to the service
rendered or the ability of the people to
pay. The Marshal might manage to
put on few shovels' full of coal, four
or five times day, without conflicting
much with his other light duties. Nine
hundred dollars per annum is a saving
that would make an appreciate diff
ference in the heft of any pocket that
pays taxes. And speaking of taxes re-
minds us that a collection of the delin-
quent taxes the past three years would
have placed in the treasury many hun
dreds of dollars that have been lost, and
would have given employment to Off
GERS already paid for their services.
Taxes to be just must be uniform and
collected from all. If i; favored few
are allowed to stand off" the city,
year after year, there is no wonder
that people oppose special taxes, nor
will it be surprising if in time they re-