The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1895-04-20
WITHOUT OFFICIALS.
HUMBOLDT, KAN, HAS NO LEGAL
GOVERNMENT.

The tow of Humboldt, Kan, is an
organized city of the third class, with
/, 500 people, and for Is years there
has not been a municipal officer in the
town, although the city election has
been held every year. Thereby hangs
a tale. And as it contains a warning
against the voting of bonds and going
into debt it should be told, writes n cor
respondent of the Memphis Commercial
Appeal.
In the spring of 1870 there was pro-
jected south from Junction City to Par
sons a railroad called the southern
branch of the Union Pacific. Humboldt
was not a young town then, but bond
voting was the fashion, and Humboldt,
which was old enough to know better,
voted bonds to the extont of $175, 900
for the road. Not satisfied with this
debt, in 1876 the town voted $40, 900
to the Fort Scott. Humboldt and West
ern, a road known in the west as the
''Old Fifth Parallel" This road was
graded from Fort Scott to Humboldt,
but 1t was never equipped. The grade
may be seen today by passengers riding
along the Missouri Pacific. But the
grade did not bring the food Of trade
that was expected, 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 1875
the town rs n legal corporation dissolv-
ed into thin air.
When the officer Of the court came to
Humboldt in 1879 to compel the mayor
to turn over the interest due on the
bonds, he found that, although there had
been a redhot election the spring be-
fore, and although there was q man
there called mayor, there wa In deed
and In legal truth no mayor at all.
The situation has remained the same
for 10 years. In two years more the
debt will be outlawed. Then Humboldt
Is coming up to breathe the free air
once more rs Q municipal corporation.
At present the programme IL written
upon a tangled web" Every year the
mayor and city council are elected. The
old administration ~retires. and the new
administration IN in - only IL
doesn't. It comes to the threshold, but
it doesn't enter. 1t does not qualify"
The council meets without taking the
oath of Office. The mayor is merely
chairman Of a committee Of oitizens-
the council-and the meetings of the
committee are held regularly. Ordi-
nances are passed giving the city nj
shall and the street commissioner power
to keep the town orderly and clean.
The council cannot handle n public
money. The little money used by the
council Is raised by private subscription
among the residents of the town. and as
1t doesn't GO through any red tape ma
chine, and as every n who pays these
volunteer taxes knows just how much
be pays for everything. the money 10
not squandered. II ia. In fact, . bust
ness administration. The city marshal
10 only q fiat functionary. As city %
shal he has power to do nothing except
scare small boys who throw melon rinds
in the alleys and to notify owners Of
pigpens to clean up. but a. constable Of
Humboldt township he can arrest men
and enforce the laws as well as tho best
policeman in the world.
The street commissioner has no power.
rave with the consent Of the people,
whose property he grades up or down.
BE Is q sort Of advisory board. The CITY
clerk issues licenses to show which are
clearly fat, and his records of the pro-
oeedings Of the council would have no
weight in any court. None Of these ap-
pointiye officers qualities. The whole
machinery of administration In the liz
sls town Ia carried ON by common oon-
sent.
The present mayor-the man who was
elected, but who has not qualified and
will not-is W. T. MoElroy. editor Of
the Humboldt Union. MI. McElroy has
been in the little town for 80 years, and
his paper Is 80 years old. He thinks
when the citizens get out Of this hole
the man who offers to vote q bond ON
the town site will be hanged.
He says that the city stands ready 10
compromise with the innocent pur-
chasers' Of the bonds for exactly what
the purchasers are alleged to have paid,
2b cents on the 81. This proposition, he
declares, has been made and rejected
several times. Every few months an
officer from some court tries to find
funds of the extinct corporation in some
bank in the county. Not long ago the
officer tried lola. But SC far the courts
have been unable to get the funds. The
little town seems to have the best of the
oontaat. and only time will ralaasa L.