Hand County press. (Miller, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1893, 1888-09-20
THE COURT HOUSE QUESTION


is now before the voters. The position
The PRESS assusRes in the discussion we
freely acknowledge is open to the charge
OF selhshness, modified Ivy the sincere
belief that IT ss likewise the interest of
the people at large except one little sec
tien NJ tins maramoth county upon which
is located a rIyal team. Tins the aues-
tion. str%is,ed of dts verbiage, SINNERS
dewn to ara sctaVe advocacy originally by
MiIiez because Of personal interest, and
an active sppos.tioa by st. Lawrence for
an sqyasS selfish Interest, which consists
in the delasive hope of some time having
a conrt house erected in that toya. II
becomes as natRrsi for ST. Lawrence to
oppose the qxestioa as for Miller u favor
II, A2d as WIS expected the Journal of
that toEw last week began the warefme
aaaintt the bonds. The two towns aud
two napers being similarly affected Iy
thn.r surroundings and conditions IT be-
Games ReoessaGy for the outside voters.
who care less for the location of tie count
house 90 decide which exponent of either
side oil this question presents the fairest
line d argHment and rises hight st above
the plane Of human seltishness in dis
cussingm matter Of public policy.
We eisim that ST. Lawrence's opposi-
tioL is based eatireiy upon the selfish de-
sire to postpone the erection OF auv kid
of county buildings because. possibly,
something might happen in the futn.e
to place those buildings in st. Lawrence
instead OF Miller. While Miller is fair TO
acknowledge like selfish interest, Mt the
same time We claim it is a matter Of ne
cessity and economy ior the voters and
tax payers Of Hand comfy TO issue bonds
NOW aud cease this more than useless
annual payment of 5000. 90 for a building
wholly Enfit for the county BUSINESS. ST.
Lawrence does not dare say Hgad county
should furnish an isolated ir 3tance of
never owning court house. but does the
next closest thing TO il III advupating an
indefinite postpoDement of such possess
stoR. II, then, We have the taqit admis.
sion that We must sometime h.!ye coult
AoGse, why shOuld the voters of HanI
comfy refuse to erect a court house in
Mil er now when it is TO theig every m
terst simply Ia gIatlfy an equally selfish
hope On the part of st. Lawrence Our
rival char.cterlzes it Mile scheme"
Ii there be any political capital i'll that
ST. Lawrence is welcome TO 1t. Her poll
Gcians aud prominent men have ucyer
been able to rise above the standard of
-schemers," hence the APT licdtion of
that trr,n to every public m Nement.
Bat suppose it is Miller scseme? All
questions OF public p licy must originate
with some one person or locClity. This
one may as well he accredited TO Miller as
any place. The opposit on is a Sc. Law
renee scheme" simply to .ljure rival
town If, by any act of her own, st
Lawrence could prevent Miller securing
any vantage ground, she would naturally
do so, without thinking or Gazing or tie
interests of Hand county at lrge.
The position OF st Lawrence is so un-
tenable that it will be abandoned before
The dis :usi ion ends. The basis of her
present position is to show, that Hand
county would be In debt to lle extent OF
Si2. 900 if the bond question carries.
Some extremely shrewd people may learn
II they live long enough tliat there are
hundreds of people who make no preten-
sion TO shrewlness, but who are neverthe-
less many degrees removed from idiocy.
The faculty of reflection is pretty gener-
ally exercised Ly the people OF this en-
hghtcned age, and no one persons opin-
ions are gulped down as a whole. II this
truth was more universally accepted many
Ingenious schemes to delude the public
would be abandoned. The effort to show
that Hand county is in debt 10 the extent
OF $40, 900 is ridiculous, when il is gerer-
ally known she owes less than ten thous-
nud dollars The last call OF the treasurer
shows warrants to be paid mp to within
II months, and those outstanding now
an,oant to about $1,000. With such
recu,d the Sl2, 1000 bonds could be fioated
at per sent. AND AT A PREMIUM. The
town of Miller bonds sold for q premium.
No one will dispute the statement that
Hand ounty bonds weuld be sought more
engerly than those Of any town. They
could most certainly be disposed OF for a
much larger premium, which would ma
teraily reduce the interest. We believe
the bonds could be made to stand us ut
abont per cent animal interest for the
use OF the money to build court house.
We would have the sum total Of 5000 in
te-pst to pay-or $3.50 less than we now
puy for building which all the county
officers agree in saying is nnfit to pr per'y
conduct tho bus ness. These bonds can
be made to run 10, - or as many years as
desired, or renewed at their expiration.
So that all this time we will lie occupying
good house at an actual yearly saving
Of $500. Is il then economv to build the
court house ? Why, there seems really
no ground for the opponents OF The bonds
10 stand upon when this question is con-
sidereI solely as a problem of political
economy.
st. Lawrence says 10 wait. Don't puild
the court house until better days dawn.
We say this is false ecoromv. for We
would be paying out rent for several
years which would lie thrown away. Sup
pose the court house be built now with
bonds to ran Is years. We would actnal-
save S4, 500 in that time,: because the In
terest on the bonds would be $500 per
wear less than the rent paid Mr.. Hill, and
no doubt before the 10 years were mp bet
ter days would dawn.
The Journal presents the following
table
Present debt. .,...,i,'. ~. ','' sli'oo
Tax list ...... ....s..t'....,.' -"'oVo
Proposed bend. ................. l2,ooo
d aan