Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1893-08-24
Public Indebtedness.

county the county debt 8pprOxlmates
the debt limit, and its town and town
ship debt is nearly, or quite az much as
It's county; for instance, Lakota town
and township owes $4,000 village, and
$4,000 school, and every organized town.
ship we believe has bonded school
debt.In Ramsey county and Devils Lake
the comparative debt condition is the
same as in Nelson county and Lakota
village, these three hardly average
counties, for the whole state have rest
ing on their people in various forms, over
half million Of public debt, and their
condition Is approximately that of nearly
every county and village and city west
of the Red river valley, such as Kidder,
Morton, Eddy, McHenry, Bottlneau,
Rollette, Towner, Cavalier, Foster, Suits
man and city Of jamestown, LaMoure,
Griggs, Steele, Barnes, Ransom and
others.
In the Red river valley the county IN
debtedness is less, but everywhere as a
rule, that you see school honse you see
a bond behind it drawing interest to be
discharged by tax, and it's towns and
cities are deep in debt. What is true of
public indebtedness in North Dakota, is
approximately the case with every other
western and with every southern state.
Less than ten days since, we were
reading statement that the public IN
debtedness of the county and subord,-
nate organizations, in the county where
in is situated New Whatcom in Wash
ington, was two million and one
hundred Thousand dollars.
This is not only the condition of public
Indebtedness west, and south, but it is
much the condition of things in all the
central and eastern states. In addition
to this, almost every railroad in the
United States is mortgaged for over half
its value, the mortgage IS owned in
Europe as rule, and the stock IN this
country.
When we go over to gold basis, the
world will 90 there also, and prices will
shrink one-half for the reason that there
is as many silver dollars OF money in the
world approximately as there Is Of gold
and the production of silver is greater
than gold and the gold Of the world at
this time is not found III placer mining
ss formerly, but in quartz ,nlsid with
silver, and when silver mining stops, the
production of gold will greatly lessen;
therefore, while the demand and uses for
money will be increasing,its quantity will
have lessened one-half and by all the
laws of money as fixing price, price will
have fallen on everything one-half.
When these county, city and school
debts come due, they cannot be replaced
by loan, because assessments and val
ues will have shrunken so as to place the
county, city or school district assessment
below the debt limit when it will no
longer have any legal power to bond,
even to pay an existing bond debt. The
public creditor will then apply to the
courts for a judgement and then for
mandamus order in the United States
court to have a tax levied to pay the
public Indebtedness. The tax will have
to be paid or all delinquent property sold
to pay this public indebtedness, and the
man who has never given mortgage,
and who thinks he does not owe dollar,
will have to meet this tax or be FORE
closed, and also let this tax debt cut out
the mortgages he holds against others,
unless the creditor advances it, and then
take the land, unless the mortgage re-
deems from both tax and mortgage,
when the mortgage will become ten
ant or with his family step into the street
as tramps.
Every senator and representative who
votes with the Cleveland and Sherman
crowd on the issues now pending in con-
gress, will vote to create this condition
OF things in every part of the United
States, and to foreclose the majority Of
all the railroads in the United States and
cut out American ownership and control
of them and transfer this to Europeans,
and in those cases where the railroads
shall be able to escape foreclosure, the
patrons of the road who are the public,
IN paying for the traffic which those ROADS
will do for the public, will have to meet
the double debt on the roads thus
created by single standard.
Don't fail to write to your senators
and representatives to have no dealing
with the Cleveland and Sherman crowd.
It is not question of party, but of ma
tioral and self-existence.
WILLIAM n. STANDIsH.
Bismarck, n. u.
The Fargo Argus has decided to re-
duce Its size. Hereafter the Monday
morning Argus will be issued in four
page form; all other days of the week it
will be the usual size, eight pages. The
Associated Press and other news service
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