The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-04-19

"a l-r- '4'I-4-E..l-re' .h..-' e-t--' --n.-
re.isaad o, tue wisesy men Is our only
excuse far taking up space with The foi-
lowing w4.eh appeared il the GosiHg
last week:
The ..hIgh rate" of four mills county
tax. as-e--.d for the years 1891 and
IS"J. which our hucoiic urighhur, Fat
ana Greasy. refers 20 i'm last week : issue
# ms uaf.nr a= h,iug necessary To sweet
en- the Sai9rv of tn" county treasurer. l.
attributed L. an entirely different cause
II WIS ..niade necessary to pay the bills
Of tn" county Mira eIUudeT the Dem
Coratic reign uI the commissioners who
occupied the office in 1898. who in order
To smoothly pave their way To re cleo
ton. set the tax rate at three mlI!s-
which did not furnish enough money 10
enable them To pay the legitimate eN
penSes Of the county for that year. the
balance had 10 be- paid IN 1874. and IA
matter Of fact. the rate had 10 be raised
Ever after this was done, the treasury in
1894 was 50 depleted toy the payment OF
bills for that year and OF the balance due
from 1871 that the rate of four mills be-
came "a necessity for 1898. and with the
times as they are and have been, even
now. II runs the receipts down so that IL
l. difficult to meet the expenses.
Since the famous declaration of the
Gosling that it was 1.-The Mckinley bill
that created the fuIIness in the treasury
during CIeveland's first administration, "
we have not seen anything to equal the
above in pure, clean-cut ignorance OF
the subject written about, as the above
The Gosijngs readers may not know
it but most other people do. that the re
ceipts and expenditures of the county
are audited at the end of each and every
year and a statement published of the
assets and liabilities Of the county.
The assertion by the Costing that the
high rate of taxation was made neces
sary to pay the bills under the Demo-
cratic reign OF commissioners who occu-
pied the Office in 1888 must be taken
with considerable allowance when We
have the sworn statement of the county
auditors, W. c. Berry, J. W. Daily and
/ W. J Jones, the two latter Republicans
that the entire liabilities of the county
on the 2Gth OF January, 1895, were &2s, =
S44.S4 and to meet this the county had
assets amounting to $40, DO % or $12,>
/ 10142 over and above the liabilities
! OF this amount $37, ,l76.44 was turned
over in cash to Treasurer Barker.
! Among the liabilities was one item of
| $4,000 for outstanding bonds, which,
according to the statement of the audi
tors on the 31st of January 1885, Is not
yet paid and Is still an Indebtedness
/ against the county; so that the commits
/ SiOners Of 1898 turned over S37.l76 II
in cash to the commissioners of 1891,
| and the commissioners of 1891 after
paving SIS, ,S44 81 Uhe $4,000 bcnd>
not being paid had SIS, 292 60 surplus
| cash to do business with.
In 1898 the amount of the duplicates
of taxes collected for the year WAS SIS
| 80, -. In 1891 the amount collected
was S1O7 HIP or SIS. $50 % more
than under the Democratic reign Of tn,
previous year and at the end OF lo94
according to the auditors report on the
3lst OF January, 1895, published in til,
Costing, the county had an indebtedness:
of SIS, ,2IO 90 with assets OF $34, 7O2 3
leaving the assets to exceed the HabiIi
ties, only 81, ,5923I
The Costing goes on to show that sev
cral items of Indebtedness for 1898 wcr
paid by the commissioners Of 1894, in
siuuating that they were paid out of tin
taxes Of 1894, when the plain matter O
fact Is that there was S37, ,17G.4f left il
the treasury out OF which the commi,
sioners only paid old liabilities amount
ing to SIS, SS4,s4
Taking the auditors reports for 1S9
and 1891. they will plainly show tina
the treasurer : Office. whose salary dt
pends upon the amount received an
paid out, was largely swcetened for tn
year 1894, and that he who asserts tina
the tax rate had to be increased in lS9
'.to pay the bills of the county contracl
ed under the Democratic reign of tn
commissioners who occupied the oflic
in 1899 must be either liar or a fooI
There is no other aIternative-it is a
plain as the MONDAY sun and our neigh
bor, the Costing, may take whicheve
horn of the dilemma it prefers.
The Costing winds up its nonsense wit
the following interrogation:
Who is ii that is 'sweetening'' tn
salary of the county treasurer, Mr.. Mu,
ty; you claim to have knowledge of tn
affair. Why not make a clean breast {
: it2
As the Republicans have majorit
on the present board of commissioner,
the Costing should be better able to al
swer its own interrOgatOry, than tn
FREEMAN. We have shown by facts an
figures, plainly stated, that the Demo
cratic commissioners of 1898 admins
tered the affairs of the county at one
third less cost than the commissioners {
1891 and it should be the pleasure an
duty of our Republican contemporaric
to stand by their own officials if they ar
r misrepresented-
u