St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-07
GRIST OF RICE FOR MILLER.

The object Of the law is to collect the as
| sessments, and this has been done, which
should be we'll borne in mind.
Some people think that a public OIL ce
owes a duty and some consideration to the
individual citizen as well as to the city at
large.
How is 1t that few Democrats and few
| persons against which the present city treas
urer has personal spite are picked out from
| these lists covering nearly every person in
the city?
A few years ago the former city govern
| ment was made to appear ss a set of robbers;
| now they are trying to make it appear that
they should have extorted more under an ar
bitrary law.
| 1t should not be forgotten that the assess
| ments were always collected in full, and that
the receipts given by the former treasurer
| read only for what was actually paid and ac
| counted for
| The burden of assessments for improve
| ments made from 1882 to 1890 was certainly
| severe enough, without constituting an arbi
trary law so as to squeeze the last drop of
| blood from the poor taxpayer.
If the former treasurer had refused to carry
| out the views of the former council and
| board in their agreements with property
| owners. it would have only made delays and
! expense to the city and trouble to the tax
| payer.
The public examiner finds that ali moneys
| received have been properly accounted for,
| and the remainder of the report simply al
| leges that more extra penalties and costs
| should have been extorted under an arbi-
| trary law
| The reform administration can find no
means of paying the poor police matron, but
| they never have any difficulty in finding a
way to pay for extra clerk hire to further
their political ends, even if it is under the
Bell charter
Some years ago special assessments became
due sixty days after coming into the treasur-
er's hands; afterwards this was reduced to
thirty days, which makes very short time
when heavy assessments are being made be-
fore the work is begun.
To saddle as much expense as can be un-
der an extreme construction of an arbitrary
law and thus make the already heavy bur
den of the property owner still more oner-
Gus. is now being attempted in trying to
make it appear that more extras should have
been collected.
The theory of the former administration
in regard to the making and collection of
assessments was not to enforce the arbitrary
collection OF penalties until the progress of
the work was well insured, and also that
there would be no legal complications i'll OBJ
tanning judgment.
While the present reform administration
has been so kind as to relieve Mr.. Miller of
the greater portion of responsible work in
the office. the remarks of the public having
business at the Office are generally known to
ma i'm nj to
OF the Office, as to highly exasperate the
present incumbent which is finding vent in
different ways and particularly in a persist
ent persecution Of the former treasurer
Among the numberless senseless attempts
to injure Mr. Refs reputation, with which
Mr.. Miller has occupied his whole time since
he has been in Office, he has several time
sent bills into the council for the pay
ment of newspapers delivered at the city
treasurer's office, covering a portion of Mr.
Refs time. AS usual no explanations were
asked, and Mr. Refs was kept IN the dark
When he found out what had been going
on 1t did not take him long to find the re-
ceipts by which he had paid for these papers
privately, specified in detail. black on white,
of which the reform administration knows
nothing.
If Mr. Refs had been so careful in looking
after the interests of the individual taxpayer
as we'll as TO the city's. many thousands of
citizens would have lost their property by
city deeds given to tax sharks, and many a
poor fellow would have had to pay couple
of hundred dollars for quitclaim for tax
deed obtained perhaps for q trivial assess
ment. The records show that scarcely any
were issued during his time excepting to the
property owners or to parties interested in
the property themselves. If city deeds had
been issued during his time at the same rate
as prior to 1884. there would have been 10, OOO
and probably more. Because of the large
number of assessments more would have
been overlooked by the taxpayer to the bene-
fit of the tax shark. Numerous city deeds
are now being issued, more than had been
issued for long time before, against poor |
property owners, as no one cares or needs to
care under the present construction of our |
arbitrary assessment law.
1t was the practice of the former city gov |
eminent, we'll understood and agreed upon |
after careful consideration, that unless an ]
apparent hindrance or delay in the work did >
occur, the treasurer should take these assess !
ments into court as soon as possible |
after becoming due. Unless delay in the |
work occurred. this was always done
as soon us tney pecane que, ana whenever II |
appeared that there was no hindrance to OBJ |
tanning judgment the penalties were charged. |
No penalties or interest were charged to any |
body before this time, and if it had been |
done, this would have resulted in Furnishing |
the honestand willing taxpayer, and letting |
others escape by legal process The result of |
attempting to charge penalties before obtain |
ing judgment would have only been to in J
crease the number of litigantS which was |
already too large at times, and make more |
cost and expense to the city. The schedules |
of items contain many thousands of such |
cases. An attempt to enforce them would |
have only resulted in the recall of the assess
ments by the council and board.