The record-union., 1891-06-13


on topics of interest to the general public. The
matter in these communications will be un-
derstood to represent only the views OF the
writers. All communications must be accom-
panied by the name of the writer, not for pub
Gcation, unless so desired, but as guarantee
of good faith.-EDS.
ssAn Old Crank'' on the Sewerage
Question.
EDS. RECoRD-UNIoN: I was reading
the RECORD UNIONS article about sewage,
and says to Tryphenia, II am glad the
papers don't drop the subject, for l have
noticed that the only way to reform any
thing is to keep harping on it. No mat
ter how much thing is needed or how
plainly it is shown, unless you keep
stirring it up it dies out in a little while,
and you hear no more of it."
WELL" says Tryphenia, although
Pm a woman and don't understand
politics. have got little common sense,
and the way you men go at thing ap-
pears to me, sometimes, ridiculous.
Now, of course, it takes mony to do any
thing, and the first thing you men do is
to talk about borrowing here, or borrow
ing there, or trying to get it in some way
SO that you can leave it to posterity to
pay. OF course, this has to be done in
some cases, but there has been too much
VI IL uOIS dlISduy nGI6s 1udI Is "udL ,
the matter with the city finances now.
You say you can't do this, and you can't
do that, because it isn't legal. Of course
you can't Tor shouldn't do thing which
is illegal, but why don't you take the
necessary steps to make it legal, and
levy a tax to raise the needed funds, and
do it in such way that half the tax
payers can't refuse, to pay and leave the
| other half to bear all of the burden.
$40 INV mind thnra IL no hotter UVav to
raise money for any public purpose than
| by direct tax, so long as the people can
raise the money to pay the tax. OF course
| there is limit, but when that is reached
something had better be postponed
''The folly of the idea Of borrowing
| 100000 of the Funded Debt Commission
ers is shown by their conditions. viz: To
raise the assessment-roIl from $I4,4O0, 600
| to S18,000.000 and raise licenses. which (at
! the present per cent? would give Just
about 100000 more available funds. Why
not raise the amount on the present roll
! by an additional per cent? OF course, il
the assessment-roll is raised there will be
| an additional per cent. for State and
| county purposes; and if the per cent, OF
assessment is higher than in other coun-
! ties, that would be an injustice to Sacra-
mentO County.
You men will learn in time that YOU
can't have anything worth having with
| out paying Tor 1t, and you make so many
! blunders that you often pay a good deal
more than you ought. Evidently your
drainage canal was blunder. A woman
| would see that the river, with it's volume
| of flowing water, is much better than
any canal. and it is not far to salt tide
water. Few people below use water from
the river for culinary purposes, and they
can procure what they need from wells
| without serious inconvenience
Your Funded Debt Commission was
another partial blunder. The idea was
all right in the start if l understand it,,
/ that is to wipe out the debt with the fund
provided by law, by purchasing bonds,
and with the interest of purchased bonds
purchase more bonds, dd Gnf1ait1tnl. (Of
course, interest will wipe out most any
| thing in time. 1t has nearly wiped out
| SacramentO.) This was all right, while
| the commissioners could purchase bonds
at low prices: but where the blunder
came in was this-when the outstanding
| bonds could have been purchased at 80
cents on the dollar and refunded, it
ought to have been done; now it is too
| late, and there is probably no better way
| than to let the commissioners go on until
the debt is wiped out. Of course, a
woman can see that this way of doing the
thing has not relieved the taxpayers; nor
can it, until the bebt is paid''
Tryphenia walked away, and I forgot
to bring in my old argument, "You are a
woman, and don't understand politics. +"
OLD CRANK.
Sacramento, June II, 1891,