The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1895-03-20
3OVO CITY. MARCH 20. 1895
COUNTY BONDING.

The result of the recent vote in Salt
Lake county on the proposition to
bond for nearly four hundred thousand
dollars to pay past Indebtedness and
to provide some needed improvements,
cannot be anything but beneficial. As
an example to the other counties of the
territory its worth is far greater than
10 Salt Lake. 1t is mistaken idea al
together, this thing Of shifting onto
the shoulders of posterity, the conse-
quences Of our own waste, ,eXtraYaeance
or mistakes. We may we'll be guided
by the experience of other states in
matter of this kind. Soon after the
war, in the state of Texas, we were
fercely attacked by this same spirit of
progress" falsely so called. The
bonding scheme was entered into while
the substantial tax-paying citizens
were disfranchised in the troubulous
days of reconstruction, and when the
negroes and carpetbaggers held high
revel in the legislative halls in the
southern states. The consequence was
that the taxes became so burdensome
that to collect them was equivalent to
confscation- Time passed on and then
came the e-enfranchisement of the
people. One of the first things done
by the first legislature after recon-
struction, was tU pass law making it
impossible for the counties to bond for
any save bridges, courthouses, and
school buildings. The good effects Of
this law were at once observable. In less
than ten years the rate of taxation
was so reduced that there was
but one state in the union
Michigan-where the rate was
lower then in Texas. Now, in conSe
quence of the counties having sold
their allotments of school lands, nearly
every county,, instead of borrowing
money, is loaning it. The bonded IN
debtedness established by the negroes
and pet-baggers has long since
been wiped out and only remains as
one of the bitter memories incident to
the times which tried mems souls in a
veIy fierce way.
We do sincerely hope that our new
constitution will contain a section
dealing with this subject in some en-
phatic way. 1t is all very well to have
palatial courthouses and glittering
and luxurious fittings and furnishings
If there were no pay day, but the first
installment falling due lie another
Cning. But If you want to see real
agony let the first payment of the prin-
cipal and accumulated interest come
due. Then you will have cursings and
revilements, and these generally come
from those who have worked and
starved to accumulate something for
rainy day, or for the days when they
can no longer work. The best men we
have. Ask one of these how he likes
that sort of progress and what he
thinks of the policy of placing these
burdens upon the shoulders of future
generations. His reply may not be
classic in its elegance, but it will be
emphatic and easily understood. There
is no more dangerous principle con-
nected with public policy than this
same bonding privilege.
1t should be guarded and hedged
round with the utmost care. There
are times when such things are abso-
lutely necessary, but wait for that day.
Certainly the prevailing hard times is
not the occasion when we car bond the
counties with propriety, thus increas-
ing our tax-rate when ue have less
with which to pay. 1t is a strong plea,
We admit, to say that by inaugurating
public works we thereby furnish en-
ployment to laborers and that they |
will spend the money here, but if we
can do without the improvements for
which we bond, then surely the policy
of bonding just TO furnish work for the |
poor is most wretched one. The ar
gument is untenable. Let US guard |
this matter of bonding as jealously as
we do the matter of subsidy. They |
differ only in degree, anyhow.