Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-06
WHO KILLED COCK ROBINl
Another Letter from Judge H. U. be"''y
Upon the City Bond Question.

NHU hlIItD tUCh hVbiAs
Anofher Letter from Judge III. o. Beatty
Upon the City Bond Question.
EDS. REcoRp-UYIeN To be capable OF
genuine gratitude for real iavors Is an
amiable and lovely trait OF character, ana
sufficiently rare to call for commentator
whenever it appears but to have dispose
ton SO exuberantly grateful as to rush INTO
print with public proclamation OF thanks
for the very reverse of favor, is phe-
nomenon so wonderful that its occurrence
ought not to be allowed to pass unnouced.
| Our worthy Mayor, in his last communl-
cation on the city debt, after relteratlng
certain statements that have been conclu-
sfyelv shown to be incorrect, makes the
charge against me, upon the authority Oh
ex-Mavor Turner, that certain agree
ment by which one class OF coupon
holders were given an advantage over
another class was not only concocted by
Judge Beatty, but at every meeting to push
said agreement with few favored bond
holders was urged upon the Trustees by
Judge Beatty, and that he was the MOVING
spirit and spokesman in the whole affair
Then, after five years, IN 1886, Judge beauty
gets up before q meeting OF the Cltzens
Association and denies his completely IN
the matter, and says he was opposed 70 IT,
In your next issue, Mr.. Turner comes
out in a letter over his own signature, in
which he fatty contradicts the Mayor in
every particular, and fully corroborates me.
For which, Mr.. Brown feels called upon TO
thank him publicly, and, as | also thank
him. there seems to be but little lett to say.
As for my advocating the one per cent.
levy which Mr.. Brown is so exceedingly
thankful to be able to prove by Mr.. Turner
he will perhaps consider that his thanks
have been wasted when | tell him that he
could have proved it by me. If there Is
one fact in connection with this whole
business that has been more notorious than
any other, it is my opinion entertained
from the beginning, and publicly stated on
all proper occasions, and many times IN
conversation with Mr.. Brown, that the city
was legally bound to levy this tax, and
would surely involve herself in litigation
if she refused to do So This opinion and
prediction of mine have been yindicated by
the result, and it is now perfectly clear that
if nv advice had been followed there would
have been no favored bondholders and no
litigation. The first Commission would
have gone on paying off the city debt, and
bv this time it would have been nearly
paid off
will tell the Mayor a few other things
said about the litigation. told a great
many persons, the Mayor among them,
time and again, that if the Trustees refused
to levy the per cent. tax the bOndholders
would certainly go to law with them, and,
in my opinion, would compel them not
only to set apart the So cent tax for the
bondholders, but also 5000 of the gross pro-
gNff J, he hot how
also sue to set apart $500 of all the special
taxes, such as school tax, fire tax, sewer
tax, etc; that, whilst | did not believe the
Courts would set apart any of these special
taxes. still it was possible they might.
Now two suits, one by Meyer and one by
Bates, are pending TO set apart 5000 of the
gross proceeds of the water works. If
either of these suits are in proper form and
proper parties defendant, have no doubt
it will be decided against the city. Meyer
also has suit against the city to set apart
55-100 of the special taxes-school fund,
etc.-and another to take all money re-
naming in the treasury at the end of the
year and transfer it to the creditors sinking
and interest fund.
How these will terminate l do not know.
but they have all been brought on the city
by the Trustees refusing to do what the
were implicitly directed to do. But they
substituted their sweet will for the law, and
the taxpayers are paying the penalty. 1t
seems rather useless to point out any mis-
statement of facts made by our worthy
Mayor, for if you show by the most incon
testible evidence that his statement is in
correct, he only reiterates the statement,
and then adds to it something still more
absurd and further from the truth. He
first charges that the scheme which Judge
Beatty concocted to favor one set of cred
itors at the expense of another, brought
about all the litigation and raised the price
OF bonds and coupons. Then, when his
own witness proved | had nothing to do
with that scheme, he turns around and
saws my advising the Trustees to levy the
one per cent. tax caused the the city bonds
to rise from IS to 81 per cent. Now l will |
say that neither one Of those things, nor |
did both of them together, raise the price |
of city bonds from 50 to 81 per cent !
The two causes together land | suppose one
had as much to do with it as the other)
caused the price of bonds to raise about
three cents, that is, from 80 cents, the aver
age price we had been paying for bonds, to
Sc cents
After this arrangement was made Meyer
offered sc cents for bonds. We raised our
offer to 30 cents, which was as high as the
law would allow us to go. Of course
Meyer got most of the bonds, as he offered
one cent the higher price. But some parties
who were selling us coupons, sold us a
bond or two, rather than send to San Fran
cisco for the difference in price of one cent.
We continued buying as long as we had a
dollar to buy with. The very last purchase
that we made, except one. was $1,000
bond we purchased in April, 1882. Just
after this, our supply was cut off. This
was sixteen months after that famous con-
tract was made.
Could we have got this bond at 80 cents
if bonds were worth "a cents? Bonds
were never worth 81 cents; never worth
much if any over SO cents until Mayor
Brown got the decree of the Supreme Court
directing an annual levy of the 90 per cent.
tax until the debt was paid. After this
the bonds rapidly rose in value, until now
they are worth 60 cents.
So Mr. McClatchy with his reputation,
and Beatty with his one per cent. tax,
raised the price of bonds three cents.
Brown, with his litigation, raised them "a
cents yield the palm to the Mayor.
II O. BEATTY