The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-03-16
NO GOVERN 4ENI.

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4 Kansas Town That Has No
7 Municipal omosrA
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The town Of Humboldt, Kan, l. IN
organized city Of the third class with
fifteen hundred people, and for
eighteen years there has not been
. municipal odacer in the town,
although the city election has
been held every year. Thereby hangs
o tale, told BY the Memphis CONNER
cial Appeal. And as It contains warn
ing against the voting Of bonds and go
ing into debt it should be told. In the
spring Of 1o7o there was projected south
from junction City to Parsons . rail-
road called the southern branch Of the
Union Pacific. Humboldt was not .
young town then, but bond voting was
the fashion, and Humboldt, which was
old enough to know better, voted
bonds to the extent Of one hundred
and seventy-five thousand dollars
for the road Not satisfied with this
debt, IN 1875 the town voted twenty
1--WE thousand dollars to the Fort Scott,
Humboldt q Western, road known in
the west ~ the ''Old Fifth Parallel"
This road was graded from Fort Scott
to Humboldt, but it was never equipped.
The grade may be seen to-day by pas
sengers riding along the Missouri Pa
ci1ic. But the grade did not bring the
flood Of trade that was expected, and
the bonds being sold to the usual sin
nocent purchaser" the town began to
skirmish around the courts to keep from
paying an unjust debt. The inevitable
came, and in 1876 the town as legal
corporation dissolved into thin air.
When the officer Of the court came to
Humboldt in 1876 to compel the mayor
to turn over the interest due on the
bonds he found that, although there
had been q red-hot election the spring
before, and although there was man
there called mayor, there was In decd
and in legal truth no mayor at all. The
situation has remained the same for
eighteen years. In two years more the
debt will be outlawed. Then Humboldt
is coming mp to breathe the free air
once more as . municipal corporation.
At present the programme is written
upon . tangled web" Every year
the mayor and city council are elected.
The old administration rctircs and the
new administration comes in-only it
doesn't. It comes to the threshold, but
it doesn't enter. It does not qualify"
The council meets without taking
the oath Of Office. The mayor is mere
ly chairman Of committee Of citizens
the council-and the meetings Of the
committee are held regularly. Ordi-
nances are passed giving the city mar
shall and the street commissioner power
to keep the town orderly and clean.
The council cannot handle any public
money. The httle money used by the
council Is raised by private subscrip-
ton among the residents Of the town,
and a. It does 60 through any red tape
these volunteer taxes knows just how
much he pays for everything, the
money Is not sqnandered It lis, in fact, .
business administration. The city mar
shall il only Cat functionary. As city
marshal he has power to do nothing
except scare small boys who throw
melon rinds In the alleys and to notify
owners Of pig pens to clean mp, but -
constable of Humboldt township he can
{ st men and enforce the Laws -
well o. the best policeman in the world
The street commissioners has NO power,
save with the consent of the people,
whose property he grades up or
down. He Is = sort Of advisory board
The city clerk Issues licenses to show
which are clearly f1at, and his records
Of the proceedings Of the council would
have no weight in any court. Nome Of
these appointive officers quality. The
whole machinery Of administration in
the little town Is carried on by common
consent.
The present mayor-the man who
was elected, but who has not qualified,
and viii not-is w. T. NcElroy, editor
Of the Humboldt Union. Mr.. McElroy
has been in the little town for thirty
years, and his paper il twenty-nine
years old. He thinks when the citizens
get out Of this hole the man who offers
to vote bond on the town site viii be
hanged. He says that the city stands
ready to compromise with tho 'sinno-
cent purchasers" Of the bonds for cx-
actly what the purchasers arc alleged
70 have unA tweuty.Avo cenfa On the