The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-11-14
A PROPOSITION FOR THE RELIN-
GUISHMENT OF OUR COUNTY
DEBT.

GUISHMENT OF OUR COUNTY
DEBT.
But the greatest evil is our guilt"
says the German bard Schiller in one of
his poems. The terms guilt and debt
being synonymous in German, the quota
ton has become household phrase in
this form, 1.-The greatest evil is our debts. !"
That may seem exaggerated; but debts
certainly are a great evil, whether they
be private or public obligations.
1t strikes the writer, that our Manlto-
voc county is loaded down with debt
Bonds. which were issued in 1870 accord
ing to decision of public vote. The
railroad, In whose favor the bonds were
given, has certainly been a great benefit
TO the county as we'll as to our city. But
it must be borne in mind, that the debt,
which resulted from the building of that
road, has paralyZed the county's finances
and dwarfed its enterprises to such an
extent, that the debt may properly be
termed "the greatest evil of the county.
Nineteen long years has this depressing
condition of things existed. And if moth
ing is done in the future TO cast off this
burden, the county's interests will not
only be sorely affected, but our City of
Manitowoc will also feel the consequence
of this unbearable load, and we need
not look for the extension of commercial
and manufacturing interests. Already
it has proved an obstacle in the growth
and development of the city. And is this
surprising?
Debts-o course-will not run away;
but they are nevertheless very danger
GUS affair." because their tendency is to
grow cancerlike until they double and
redouble the original amount. That is to
say, debts tax their victims with con-
tinuously increasing percentage of inter-
est. And it IS fact, however sad it may
be, that by the constant payment of such
interest, many q man has been totally
ruined. 1t may be, that the amount of
interest at first appears but tritie. But
let it be paid one year after another and
what is the result? Why, within a
limited number of years, the interest will |
far exceed the principal.
On our r. r. Bonds for instance we
are only paying per cent. which |
amounts to the neat little trifle of S15,-
$1,000. But multiply that amount by |
twenty and you have in round numbers |
$500, 10000, the amount of money which |
we will have paid by next year and which |
interest only, but which ex-
ceeds the principal about one half. In |
other words, We have been paying an
amount about half again as large as the |
principal and that has only been the in
terest, while we are owing nearly the orr
ginal amount, we owed twenty years ago.
All we have paid of on the capital thus
far, is S20,000.OO, to which may be added |
another $16,0O0.GO next year.
If we continue to pursue the course we
have, heretofore, the prospect is, that
within the next twenty years the princi-
pal will not only be doubled, but tripled |
and quadrupeled, which cannot be done |
without hurting the interests of the
county most sorely. No private man
would allow his finances to be thus man.
aged, nor could he afford such treatment |
of his funds for any length of time.
Now, we have been expert in managing
the county moneys in that way for the
last twenty years, but our taxpayers had |
to "bleed" for it.
That there has to be stop to this sort |
of thing is self-evident. There must be |
way out of this calamity. The debt must |
be paid within a reasonable number of |
years and plan must be agreed upon to |
accomplish that end. The sooner this is |
done the better.
The undersigned would therefore sub
NIT to the public the following plan. In |
his opinion the bonds may be paid with
in ten years, if a course is pursued, simi- |
lar to the one already started by the |
County Board of paying about 1884,
10000 every year, including capital and |
interest. For, if we pay the amount of
100000 this year.on the principal, there
Will be a balance left of S1S0,0O0.00. For
this amount new ponds will have to be |
issued, of course. The plan of payment |
of this balance during 10 years would
then be this: