Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-01-25

the road Not satisfied with this debt,
in 1876 the town voted S25, 900 to the
Fort Scott, Humboldt and Western. Il
road known in the West "a the "Old
Fifth Parallel" This road was graded
from Fort Scott to Humboldt. but it was
never equipped. The grade may be
seen today by passengers riding along
the Missouri Pacific. But the grade did
not bring the flood of trade that was ex-
pected and the bonds being sold to the
usual "innocent 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 red-hot election the spring
before, and although there was man
there called mayor, there was in deed
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 Hum
boldt is coming up to breathe the free
air once more as a municipal corporation.
At the present the programme is written
upon tangled web" Every year the
mayor and city council are elected. The
old administration retires and the new
administration comes in-only it doesn't.
1t comes to the threshold, but it doesn't
enter. 1t does not equality"
The council meets without taking the
oath of office. The mayor is merely
chairman of committee of citizens
the councll-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 little money used by the council i:
raised by private subscription among
the residents of the town. and rs it doesn'
go through any red tape machine and as
every one who pays these volunteer
taxes knows just how much he pays fol
everything, the money is not squander
ed. 1t is, in fact, business admins
tration. The city marshal is only fla
} functionary. As city marshal he hai
power to do nothing except scare small
boys who throw melon rnds in the al
leys and to notify owners of pig pens t
clean up, but as constable of Humboldt
E. township he can arrest men and enforc,
the laws as well as the best policeman il
the world.
The street commissioner has no power
save with the consent of the people
, whose property he grades up or down
, He is Il sort of advisory board. Tn
city clerk issues licenes to shows wheel
r are clearly fiat and his records of tn
= proceedings of the council would hav
, no weight IN any court. None of thes
appointve officers qualify. The who'll
machinery of administration in the lit
: tie town is carried on by common con
sent.
{ The present mayor-the man who wa
elected, but who has not qualified an,
will not-is w. Il. McElroy, editor o
+ the Humboldt Union. Mr.. McElrov ha
p been in the little town for thirty ears
/ and his paper is twenty-nine years old
+ He thinks when the citizens get out o
: this hole, the man who offers to vote
: bond on the town site will be hanged.
He says that the city stands ready t
t compromise with the "innocent pul
r chasers" of the bonds for exactly wha
!, the purchasers are alleged to have paC
( % cents on the dollar. This proposition
/. he declares, has been made and reiecte
/. several times. Every few months IA
n officer from some court tries to fin
/ funds of the extinct corporation in som
It bank in the country. Not long ago tn
% officer tried lola. But so far the court
have been unable to get the funds. Th
l. little town seems to have the best of Ill
y contest, and only time will release
q from the trouble.