The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-02-02
COUNTY OF BROAOWA7ER
Gentlemen on Both Sides Of the
Question Discuss the Merits
Of the Measure.
The Arguments Advanced by
Those Who Favor It's Crea-
ton at This Time.
They Say 1t Will he self-Supporting, but
Those Opposed Allege 1t Cannot
De Without High Taxes.

To The INDEPENDENT: The necessit
for local self government arises in
community when the area. populatio
and property meet tho presc, iptiv
legal requirements. When these condition
exist it is clearly the right Of the people t
petition the legislature for such local gov
eminent. and it 10 the duty Of the legisla
ture, after a careful examination and find
ing out of such facts, to grant the same
The parties in interest are the petitioners
The rights of outside communities ar,
affected only whom the proposed new looa
government or county 4 so much OF III,
population and assessable property ss I,
reduce them to a point below what would
be necessary for the organization of new
county.
The inconvenience and expense to th,
people in t'ansacting their public business
sntefs largely into the consideration O
organizing new counties. and should be th,
basis for a petition to that effect. The de
mand for the o Rani2ation of BroadwateI
county is founded upon the lofty PROPOSE
tion OF public necessity and public good.
Ninety.nine and one-haif per cent of all
tho people within the proposed county ~
q unit in this movement. They must be
presumed to have their own welfare at
he's t and have some idea Of the adyan-
tages accruing to them.
When the people Of Crow Greek, st.
l]OulSs i laCel, huN VIZ 11I6SOuTl VAlI0Y per
footed their idea for the creation of Broad
water county they expected protests. re
monstrances and opposition from their
neighbors ut Boulder and White Sulphur
SPRING. The required data necessary to
make our project feasible was gathered from
the only authentic sources. the feliability of
which cannot be seriously questioned, and
We thoroughly prepared ourselves to meet
with facts and arguments all honorable op-
position. Misrepresentation and the evil
dence OF q determination to defeat our
project ut all hazards, and without tegard
to any distinction in means compels us 80
p sesent our case before the public, that we
may be protected from false imp essions
and consequent injury. The last copy of
the Husbandman was largely devoted to our
oause The editor is interested in being
against Us. and presents. perhaps. the
strongest phase Of his side. Like all false
arguments his articles are replete with
Inconsistencies. cont additions and calcu-
lations based uron false premises. He
admits the necessity of some of the
new county propositions. and calls par
ticu!ar attention to the same, while he
ridicules the formation of Bioadwater
county, when the facts are no county pre-
sents any better claims upon the basis of
all necessary requi sments than does ours.
He mistakes our figures in calculating
our e1penees at $4,000 per annum. when
We have never placed them above $50, 600,
and do not believe they will reach
that amonnt. True the levy in
s MsaR oe the '0 basj, of was sss HpaDsna mlll,;
calculation would not be sufficient to meet
the expenses of Broadwater county. Blu
the fact is it would have ,equired twenty
mills on the dollar to have met the expenses
OF Meagher county last year ana because this
amount was not levied there was a defci,
of nearly $4,000. The deficit would pay
the running 6ynanaaa Ne Rfnn1Wptar Va
do not want to enter into an exposition of
the affairs of Meagher county to such an
extent as to show why the indebtedness and
expenses are so abnormally high. 1t is suf-
hclent to state that no one knows more
fully this than MIR. Sutherlip. The argu-
ment OF Commercial relations" is So
premely ridiculous. While it is t ne that
our commercial relations will in nowiss be
affected by county boundaI les, it is also
true that White Sulphur Springs does not
take q ca'load of our grain o. p oduce in a
year. One Missouri valley ranch could
supply the town and probably world if the
expenses OF trti2hting were not more than
the market value. We have no CONNER
clal interests that will be iniuriously af-
fectea by the creation of Broadwater
county and in fact no other save the paying
OF tribute and the pleasure of travelling
nearly fifty miles over a mountain range to
attend to court affairs.
The parental advice and kindly counsel
of White Sulphur springs to a community
seeking to organize itself into a condition
to be tue arblter of its own labor and prop
esty Is something amazing. 1t NAV regret
our poverty. but there is no SORROW for us,
We undertake to affirm that all the opposi-
ton thus far heard from is purely and
simply the avaricious greed Of a little town
cut off from railroad advantage and close
relationship with the outside world, and
whose only solaoe ID to b. perpetuated,
psmpered and enriched by tribute from
6,O0O square miles of territory. w,