The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-04-30
THE wARDELL NOTE.

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finances. He is given this special task,
because he knows nothing OF finance
in general, and is in no wise inter
es,ed in the affairs of the Salt Lake
Citv corporation, his name being among
those who are found to contribute
: notbing to the support OF the city, ex-
cept as they may indirectly do so over the
hairs of whisky saloons, some Of their
money finally reaching the city treas
ury as license fees, and going towards
the pavlnent of police salaries. The
c,tv finances are never mentioned
that this rubicund faced editor does not
fire an article at the City Council; and
he never lets go one OF his TRADES that
he does not write himself down an ass.
At the last regular meeting OF the
City Council, the Mayor was in
strncted TO take up a corporation note
for $4,000, by using SIS, 900 in the city
treasury and negotiating q new loan for
the other $4,000 at s per cent. per
annurn interest. The Tribune jumps at
the business as If it had discovered a
mares nest. and treats the "promissory
note tor $50, 900. purporting to have been
given TO one Thomas Wardell Of Macon.
Missouri" as a new and remarkable
find 1t fancies that it will be. "a sur
prise to the taxpayers to learn that
such a note is out on behalf OF The
city" and also "fancies" a lot more
rot of the same quality and consist
ency. The ignorance Of the Tribune
man is only psralleled by his brief
memory and gross stupidity. There is
probably not q ten-year-old lad in this
city who doesn't know of the existence
OF this Wardell note; it has been men
toned in the City Council with quite as
great frequency as the petition of the
Tribune mans faVorite saloon-keeper's
petition for a renewal of license: every
three months. as regularly as the quar-
tiers come around, .he Wardell note
comes up; it appears prominently in
the Treasurer's and Auditors reports.
and is duly printed in the Tribune. For
eleven years this thing has been going
on. and we will undertake to say that
fully Gfty times has our contemporary
had something to say about the War
dell note" which on Thursday was
preached as a new and startling discov
cry Of a note made and negotiated in
secret " by g" a set of reckless officers"
n there has ever been anything secret
about the Wardell note, the Council
has a peculiar way of doing
things IN secret. for TO our certain
and personal knowledge, the authorize
ton to borrow the money was made in
the open Council in 1875. and every |
thing that has been said or done aboui |
it has been in the regular meetings of |
the Council, in the presence of the Tri-
bUae and other reporters. The money |
was borrowed for the waterworks. and |
it is due to the loan that the Tribune |
man has all these years had pure, cold |
mountain water TO mix with his whisky. |
If there is anything about the corpora
tons affairs that is better known 20 the |
public than the existence OF the |
''WardeI note" and the purpose for
which tn. money was borrowed. we
would like to be told what that other |
thing is. Only last month the report |
of the Auditor Of the city was presented |
and read to the Council, and the Tribune
reporter was handed the document.
synopsis Of which was Published in the
next mornings issue of that paper.
Under the head of FLOATING
Debt" appeared the following:
Mote given to Thomas Wardell. ma
turing May 1st, 1885. at per cent. per
annum, for $4,000" Next Tuesday
night the Wardell note will probably
be mentioned in the City Council. and
on Wednesday the Tribxne will ask If
anybody ever heard of the matter be-
fore, and suggest that some secret bust
ness has been going on.
It is hardly worth while TO argue with |
the Tribune's financial idiot, or beat |
any financial sense into his muddled |
brain. II he wasn't an ass from in
stinct and perverse from training and |
ASSOCIATION, ne would understand that
Salt Lake City corporations affairs |
have been managed so well that the |
city's credit to-day is second TO that Of |
no other municipality in the Union.
bankers and money lenders from all |
parts Of the country all the time solicit |
ing the corporation to accept loans
upon no better security than the cor
poraion note. II there were any
'underhand, secret" involving of the |
city in debt, any crooked business on
the part Of the Council in the matter |
Of negotiating loans. and borrowing |
money without authority. would the |
shrewd fnaneiers at home and abroad.
be so anxious to place their money with |
the corporation and run the risk OF |
losing it through the irregularity of tn
proceedings7 1t is because there is no |
secret business, because the financial