Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-10-26
COUNTY MANAGEMENT
A Business Matter for the
Careful Consideration
of Every Taxpayer.
IT is. Evident that the Eek.
penses of the County Are
Far i'm Excess Of q
Reasonable
Amount.

The county campaign has been
conducted, by the Republicans, as
nearly as possible ON the legitimate
lines Of issues regarding the public
interests, AS far as possible person
al issues have been kept in the back
ground. and the public Interests
considered. The plea to give q GER
tain man an office for his own sake
ia u rather narrow one, and can
have only a limited influence. A
plea to provide a better manage
ment of county matters is on
higher plane, and appeals to abetter
citizenship. While the Republican
county ticket is excellent In the per-
sonai character of the candidates,
and many voters will favor them
because of their knowledge that the
men who ask for their votes are in
every way qualified and competent,
the campaign Of the Republicans as
a whole is on the broader basis OF
promising the county greater econ
omy and carefulness in the control
of county affairs.
1t IS not very necessary to argue
the point as to- whether the present
! Democratic management Is such
that the people care to endorse it,
The results OF the present rule are
plain for all to learn and under
stand. 1t il a fact that none have
attempted to directly deny that dur
ing the last year, 1898, the county
revenue expenses Of Morrison county
exceeded 1925, 1000. There were no ex-
traordinary conditions that would
warrant such Il great expenditure.
The usual expenses of such county
as Morrison, with Il. valuation OF
about SO, 2O0, 900, are not over $l5,-
600. 1t is only possible to raise $1G.-
900 of county revenue fund by q levy
of 5 mills for revenue tax land chat
is the highest rate allowed by law
What right or excuse is there, then,
for creating an unusual expense OF
many thousand dollars more than
the full tax levy can bring into the
treasury? 1t is a procedure that IL
unwarranted, and heavy burden
to-. the property owners OF the
county, because every dollar must
be paid ut some time. 1t is not only
Il heavy burden for the future, and
with no benefits that the future
can receive. but 1T has other
disadvantages. The deficiency
has grown year after year until ON
Jan. l., 1894, it has reached nearly
$685. A small part of this was
"overdrafts'' ON other funds to pay
county revenue orders, but there
were outstanding ON Jan. l, 1894,
over $1S, 900 of county orders, bear
ing Z per cent interest; and the
county is paying between 81 200 and
81, 300 interest per year ON that
That is a direct burden to the TAX
payers, but there is another burden
on all who have bills against the
county, including jurors, witnesses,
men who perform any work for the
county, those who bring cleo.
ton returns, and perform
various other services. When
such u man gets a county
order at the present time he dis.
counts 1t at from 8 to 10 per cent,
and with small orders sometimes is
compelled to make greater sacri-
flee in order to get the cash. The
public will not waste Il great deal OF
sympathy over the county officers
who control the affairs Of thecounty
and are responsible for the condition,
but those who are not in politics for
a living, and cannot afford to hold
their orders, and who also have no
facilities for turning their orders in
as taxes, do have a grievance. They
have performed the county's work
or supplied it with goods, and
yet have to lose part Of their dues
by reason OF the long time before
| the county can pay it's orders. ~.
One of the best WAYS in which to
illustrate the extravaganza and mis-
management of county affairs is to
compare the records OF Morrison
county with other counties. We
| therefore make the following brief
table OF comparisons: 4.
County Popula- Valua- Rev.
ton ton Expense
1880 1898 RI
Morrison. .13 1876 So, 2S6, 666 $25, 3S7 %
Todd. IL, $3.50 2,S26,31O 1870 So
Doug las IA ,606 3,299, 465 l4,256 OF
We take these counties because
they are neighboring ones, and much
the'same in character. The valua-
ton Of Douglas county is for 1891, as
no later figures are at hand. tits not
Il question for Republican supporters
to quarrel over details, and show
that some particular expense was
too much. The figures are there to
snow for. themselves that other