, 1890-02-27
TREASON IN THE CAMP

treason IN The CAMP.
This u the sort Of buncombe the Sun
deals out to it's unsuspecting readers:
The Larapie DELEGATION in the council
was unable to defeat the six per cent bill
even With the support Of The LEADER,
bat = record has been made which will
rive them serious trouble at some future
election.
Now here was . question which despite
every effort to give it . political cast. was
simply . question Of judgement Five
mon in the council. three Democrats and
two Republicans. believed that the alter.-
ton OF the existing law would result in
injury to the credit Of the counties and
ssveu men flour Democrats and three Re
publicans) believed the contrary. The
majority, irrespective Of party. carried
the bill. TIE LKADKR believes the min
ority va right but time sioue will demon
strate which Of the two opposing sides o.
cupied tho correct position.
But 4 question Of this kind sinks into
insisni6cance when compared with the
enormity Of such . bill - that presented
in the house BY Nj. Schnitser and backed
and carried through BY Republican in
huence- On it, face the bill seems to Be
. fair measure. Il provides briefly that
taxes for municipal purposes shall be A.
sesssd By the county assessor and COL
lected BY the county treasurer. thus ap-
parently making . saving to the city in
tho cost Of collecting. Tho bill wa
sprung At time when economy" was
the public watchword and therefore to
those who viewed the matter specifically
the measure commended itself. It va
moved smoothly but persistently to it,
passage. aided By sdroit lobbying,
and for some time it looked ~
though it would pass the house without a
dissenting voics. But soon some Of the
outside delegations. particularly that
from Albany, began to inquire into the
possible effect Of the bill upsn their own
constituents in the event Of its passage.
They discovered that tho actual effect Of
bill would be to practically relieve the
railroad companies from municipal taxa.
ton. Then they entered a vigorous and
earnest protest A good deal ofpalaver
followed. during which no attempt was
made to dissuise the real purpose Of the
bill.
MIR. Burritt of Buffalo, then intro
duccd this amendment; Section IL.
This act shall only apply to incorporated
cities In this territory having = population
exceeding 5000. according to the national
census Of the year A. D. $780,"
The reader will observe that under this
amendment, and - the bill finally passed
the house BY . vote of Is ayes, the 70
naming 1--WE being absent, it applies only
to Cheyenne. The Laramie county Re-
publican delegation were perfectly willing
to accept any compromise which would
permit the Union Pacific and Burlington
to escape paying any taxes to the city on
the plants which they have located here.
With a public p~retense Of economy, with
q loudly expressed desire to tighten the
burtheus Of the taxpayer. they loeroll
through = scheme TO take away from the
city OF Cheyenne an assessable valuation
which last year amounted to $93. O.40
for the Union Pacific alone, and this year
should undoubtedly foot up several times
that amount for both companies. Every
other county and every other town in the
territory looked out for its own interest,
but Laramie county's Republican repre-
sentatives we're perfectly willing to have
the most vicious bill introduced during
the present session 20 upon the statute
books As q law and thus to w~antonly an6
vilfully increase the burthen of taxation
upon the very people who honored them
by n election.
Tho bill is now in the hands Of q coun-
Gil committee, and 1t should be killed With
an emphasis that will show that Laramie
county and the territory have elected
some representatives who have considera-
ton for the good of the Who'll, people and
who are not members of the brass collar
brigade, ready and willing At any moment
to sell their birthrisht for . mess Of pot
taee to any corporation which will simply
AJAX for il